Digital Commons Network^™

Constituting Bodies Into The Future: Toward A Relational Theory Of Intergenerational Justice, Jessica Eisen, Roxanne Mykitiuk, Dayna Scott

Articles & Book Chapters

Questions of justice now unfurl on spatial and temporal scales at once global and microscopic, immediate and spanning through the ages. Legal and political concepts of causation and responsibility are complicated and reconfigured by our growing awareness of the intergenerational consequences of contemporary choices. In this context, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development ("Standing Committee") recently recommended that the Government of Canada create "an advocate for Canada's future generations."' The Standing Committee's report expressly cites growing transnational and international attention to the demands of "intergenerational equity''. noting that various jurisdictions have experimented with institutional committees …

Towards An Anishinabe Research Paradigm: Theory And Practice., Deborah Mcgregor

Articles & Book Chapters

As this volume attests to, in recent years there has been a remarkable emergence of Indigenous research scholarship both internationally and within Canada. Indigenous theory, paradigms, and methods inform research practices which take on many forms, reflecting the diversity of Indigenous nations. Many scholars, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, have sought to decolonize past and current research approaches and advance Indigenous approaches and methods of research (Louis, 2007). Some more recent efforts have focused specifically on the revitalization of Indigenous research traditions (Archibald, 2008; Kovach, 2003; Wilson, 2008). Anishinaabe research is a form of reclaiming our stories and knowledge through personal …

The Long Environmental Justice Movement, Jedediah Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

The standpoint of environmental justice has become integral to environmental law in the last thirty years. Environmental justice criticizes mainstream environmental law and advocacy institutions on three main fronts: for paying too little attention to the distributive effects of environmental policy; for emphasizing elite and professional advocacy over participation in decision making by affected communities; and for adhering to a woods-and-waters view of which problems count as “environmental” that disregards the importance of neighborhoods, workplaces, and cities. This Article highlights the existence of a “long environmental justice movement” that, like the long movements for racial equality and labor organizing, put …

Managing Cumulative Risk, Lauren R. Roth

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Holding Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable For Their Contribution To Climate Change: Where Does The Law Stand?, Michael Burger, Jessica A. Wentz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The judge who called for a climate tutorial in a federal court in San Francisco accepted the science that says that human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide play the central role in rising average global temperatures, increased sea levels, and coastal flooding – but threw out a lawsuit calling for financial reparations from the oil companies for causing these problems. Why? And what might the decision mean for other cases in other states, along similar lines, that are still in the works? Two environmental lawyers, one of whom was in the courtroom for the tutorial, explain.

Fertilizers And Nitrates In Drinking Water: State Water Board Tackles The Public Health Threat Of Contaminated Groundwater, Emel G. Wadhwani

UC Law Environmental Journal

No abstract provided.

Symposium-The Human Right To Water: Turning Principles Into Action Introduction, Jennifer L. Harder, Jennifer L. Harder

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Torture Of Children And Adolescents Living And Dying In Guatemala’S Institutions, Madeleine M. Plasencia

Articles

In this article, Professor Madeleine Plasencia examines the legal context of treatment of disabled children in Guatemala living in institutionalized environments. The article explores evidence that children confined in orphanages and other public care facilities in Guatemala endure conditions that violate the provisions against torture and other cruel or degrading treatment or punishment provided under various international instruments, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The article discusses the growing world-wide desperation from poverty and food scarcity that drives families to place their children with and without disabilities in state-supported institutions. The article argues that foreign funding and …

Bridging The Safe Drinking Water Gap For California’S Rural Poor, Camille Pannu

Faculty Scholarship

Spurred by decades of inaction and continued exposure to unsafe drinking water, community leaders from California’s disadvantaged communities (DACs) advocated for the creation of a human right to water under state law. Shortly thereafter, the California Legislature put forward a bond to finance much needed water infrastructure improvements and drought relief interventions across the state. Voters approved the $7.45 billion bond, which reserved millions of dollars of funding for DACs with persistent water quality problems. In setting aside those funds, the Legislature acknowledged that decades of disinvestment in rural, disadvantaged communities had created severe water contamination, limited water access, and …

The New Anti-Federalism: Late Term Obama Environmental Regulations And The Rise Of Trump, Elizabeth Glass Geltman

North Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Green Economy: A Marketplace Of Ideas About Our Common Future, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

This issue of the UMKC Law Review is dedicated to Professor Fred Cheever who lived an authentic life in the law and in nature, exemplifying commitment to learning about our natural environment and to protecting it though law and advocacy. Professor Cheever began his legal career with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, which later became Earth justice. Professor of Law at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law since 1993, Cheever was the primary organizer of a conference for natural resources law professors through the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. After returning from a gathering of this organization …

Introduction, Selena Sauer

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples, And The Global Climate Crisis, M. Alexander Pearl

Faculty Articles

The global climate crisis is an ongoing event the likes of which we have yet to experience. The science is clear, the phenomenon is traceable, and the effects are far-reaching. But, the consequences of the climate crisis affect particular populations more so than others, and often times the affected populations are voiceless. Among those most impacted are indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples stand in a unique place in the context of climate change. In general, indigenous peoples have a comprehensive relationship with their place and surroundings, which incorporates culture, livelihood, economy, and a defining sense of self. Land and resources are …

A Tale Of Two Casinos: Unequal Spaces Of Local Governance, Alexandra Flynn

All Faculty Publications

Local actors, including resident and business associations, do not simply influence decision-makers, but can also reshape the purportedly neutral governance model within which decision-making takes place. In big cities like Toronto, this reshaping exacerbates the existing geographic and socio-economic unevenness. The work of James Scott, Mariana Valverde, and Cheryl Teelucksingh helps to explain how local actors interface with seemingly neutral governance bodies to have their interests heard, particularly in relation to locally undesirable land uses. The paper considers two case studies detailing the governance practices at work in differing decisions about casinos in the City of Toronto. A 2012-2013 debate …

Legacies Of Industrial Contamination: Voices Of Resistance In White Lake, Michigan, Elizabeth A. Revord

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research presents a case study of resistance to contamination from three large chemical plants by activists in the communities of Montague and Whitehall located on White Lake, Michigan. Although clean-up efforts have met state and federal guidelines for brownfield and Superfund sites, the people and community of White Lake have continued to be vigilant regarding environmental protection and harbor many concerns regarding their future and redevelopment of sites that are likely still contaminated.

The connection to place and sense of community that the residents of White Lake honor is the foundation of their resistance. Using data collected from semi-structured …

The Many Sins Of Nepa, Richard A. Epstein

Texas A&M Law Review

Forthcoming

'Fraternité' In Echr Jurisprudence, Andrea Scoseria Katz, Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque

Scholarship@WashULaw

Solidarity rights can increasingly be found in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the preeminent rights-protecting body in the world. This article examples three specific spheres in which the ideal of solidarity has left its mark on the Court’s jurisprudence: (1) society’s obligation to its most vulnerable members; (2) the right to collective enjoyment of public goods like the environment; and (3) the rights of particular groups to self-development. It examines the manner and extent that such rights have been instantiated and the theoretical difficulties they pose to a human rights court.

Prison Preparedness And Legal Obligations To Protect Prisoners During Natural Disasters, William Omorogieva

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Since at least 2004, the intensity of hurricanes and the damage they have caused in America has increased significantly. After the turbulent hurricane season of 2017, citizens should recognize the elevated risks to safety that occur when individuals stay put, especially during high-intensity hurricanes (Category 3 and higher). States of emergency and evacuation orders have been declared recently in many states and cities that anticipated extreme hurricane conditions. However, even with increased calls for evacuations, warnings from public officials, and around the clock media coverage, a significant portion of the population has continued to be overlooked during times of natural …

Biased Damages Awards: Gender And Race Discrimination In Tort Trials, Goran Dominioni

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

Current U.S. tort law incentivizes potential tortfeasors to target members of underprivileged social groups by using gender and race-based statistical tables life expectancy; work-life expectancy and average wage) to award damages. Legal scholars have long criticized this practice from the point of view of distributive justice but supported it on welfarist grounds. Recent research in law and economics has however cast doubts on the efficiency of this practice. On this basis, some propose abandoning it in favor of gender and race neutral tables. In this article, I contribute to this debate by analyzing from a behavioral law and economics perspective …

The Long Environmental Justice Movement, Jedediah S. Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

The standpoint of environmental justice has become integral to environmental law in the last thirty years. Environmental justice criticizes mainstream environmental law and advocacy institutions on three main fronts: for paying too little attention to the distributive effects of environmental policy; for emphasizing elite and professional advocacy over participation in decision making by affected communities; and for adhering to a woods-and-waters view of which problems count as “environmental” that disregards the importance of neighborhoods, workplaces, and cities. This Article highlights the existence of a “long environmental justice movement” that, like the long movements for racial equality and labor organizing, put …

Black Swan Reconfiguration: Legal Separation Of American Powers, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

In a legal Black Swan event, the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented action, stayed and blocked implementation of the Obama Administration’s core domestic and international agenda — years before a legal challenge to the regulation would ever reach the highest Court. This decision underscores major changes in the legal separation of U.S. governmental powers, and alters long-standing Chevron deference to the executive branch.

The Clean Power Plan served as the foundation of the Obama Administration’s goal to reduce climate-warming gas emissions from power plants. It provided the legal mortar cementing the U.S. commitment to the 2015 International Paris Agreement on …

Water Supply Planning In Virginia: The Future Of Groundwater And Surface Water, Jonathon Lubrano, Jeffrey Moore

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

This paper begins by exploring the current state of water resources planning and permitting. Then, considers current water demand in Virginia, as well as future challenges. Next is an examination of management structures from other states and a discussion of potential solutions to the water scarcity issue, including wastewater purification, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District’s (HRSD) Sustainable Water Initiative For Tomorrow (SWIFT) project, and desalination. The paper concludes with various next steps and policy recommendations that the Commonwealth should consider as dwindling water resources could hamper economic growth and threaten drought conditions, such as regional planning to achieve the optimal …

Vacant Housing Study: An Examination Of Vacant And At-Risk Housing In The Middle Peninsula, Todd Scheid, Kean Devine, Eric Mccoy

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

In collaboration with Virginia Coastal Policy Center- William & Mary Law School, this report addresses the issue of vacant housing in the Middle Peninsula region with possible solutions. This report contains the results of a survey conducted by the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission (MPPDC) and demographic data of the region to more clearly express the issues that the Middle Peninsula faces in relation to vacant and at-risk housing.

About The Authors

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Therapeutic Jurisprudence And Environmental Law – One Missing Link, Michael L. Perlin

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Black Snake On The Periphery: The Dakota Access Pipeline And Tribal Jurisdictional Sovereignty, Andrew Rome

North Dakota Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Environment In An Era Of Federal Retreat: The View From New York City, Rebecca Bratspies

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Community Participation In Development, George K. Foster

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A remarkable series of legal reforms and private innovations has given municipalities, indigenous peoples, and other local groups vital opportunities to influence development projects and secure economic benefits. This Article demonstrates the existence of this global trend and offers a model for explaining how and why it has manifested, as well as why--despite impressive gains--many communities still lack what they would consider sufficient influence or benefits. First, the Article argues that all of the formal rights and powers that local interests have secured in recent years result from pressure by communities and their supporters and are designed to address specific …

Sink Or Sell: Using Real Estate Purchase Options To Facilitate Coastal Retreat, Richard T. Henderson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Despite the political contention surrounding climate change, scientists almost universally agree that sea levels are rising and will continue to do so. In light of this inevitability, commentators and policymakers have begun to recognize that retreat-the withdrawal of people and development from coastal areas will become necessary, at least in certain areas. Even so, many still question the viability of retreat given the exorbitant economic, political, and legal costs it generally faces. In particular, hardline opposition to retreat runs strong among many coastal landowners. This Note introduces a device for implementing retreat with the potential to overcome these obstacles: real …

Empirical Environmental Scholarship, Robert L. Fischman, Lydia Barbash-Riley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The most important development in legal scholarship over the past quarter century has been the rise of empirical research. Drawing upon the traditions of legal realism and the law and economics movement, a variety of social science techniques have delivered fresh perspectives and punctured false claims. But environmental law has been slow to adopt empirical tools, and our findings indicate that it lags behind other fields. There are several clear benefits from an empirical agenda to explore how to make environmental law more effective. But no previous article has applied the lessons from empirical scholarship in other fields to environmental …