Law Commons^™

Introduction: Shale Gas And The Future Of Energy, John C. Dernbach, James R. May

John C. Dernbach

Shale Gas And The Future Of Energy: Framing The Sustainability Questions, John C. Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

Facing Down The So-Called Agenda 21 'Conspiracy', John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Can Shale Gas Help Accelerate The Transition To Sustainability?, John Dernbach, James May

John C. Dernbach

The sudden and unexpected development of shale gas has the potential to accelerate or hinder the transition to sustainability, depending on how it is handled. Sustainable development is a useful evaluative framework for shale gas development. It would have us analyze its environmental, social, economic, and security dimensions at the same time, and look for ways to make all four dimensions mutually reinforcing. This article suggests that sustainable shale gas development: 1) requires a sophisticated and comprehensive regulatory system to protect the environment and public health as well as a legal and policy framework capable of both ensuring significant social …

Essential Reading On Sustainable Development Law, Andrea Ross, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This short bibliography identifies and describes twelve key readings in the law of sustainable development.

The Growing Importance Of Sustainability To Lawyers And The Aba, John Dernbach, Lee Dehihns, Ira Feldman

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Hitting The Sustainability Accelerator: 51 Sustainability Experts, 4 Approaches, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Acting As If Tomorrow Matters: Mapping The Obstacles To Sustainability, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

What Motivates Sustainability Efforts In The U.S.?, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

U.S. Sustainability Efforts: Modest Progress But An Increasingly Distant Goal, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

As If Tomorrow Matters: Accelerating Progress Toward Sustainability, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

The Unfinished Story Of The Rio Plus 20 Conference, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

Reporting on the 2012 U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (or Rio+20 conference) has generally followed two lines: the conference was essentially a failure because of its tepid official response to the enormous and related problems of global environmental degradation and global poverty; and the conference successfully managed to mobilize hundreds of voluntary commitments and at least $513 billion for specific sustainability goals. A third story line has received little attention, however, and may redeem the account of official failure. This article addresses that story line, reviewing a series of processes set in motion by the parties to the conference that …

It Takes A Global Sustainability Movement, John C. Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

When Will America, World Make Sustainability A Priority?, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Acting As If Tomorrow Matters: Accelerating The Transition To Sustainability, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Sustaining America, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This essay summarizes U.S. sustainability efforts over the two decades since the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (or Earth Summit) in 1992. It also summarizes basic findings and recommendations from Acting as if Tomorrow Matters: Accelerating the Transition to Sustainability (Environmental Law Institute 2012). Drawing on the expertise of more than four dozen sustainability practitioners in a variety of fields, the book teases from the limited progress made in the United States over the past two decades the overall patterns for that progress. It also reviews the most significant obstacles to sustainability, again showing patterns in those obstacles across …

Legal Education For Sustainability: A Report On Us Progress, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This article is an overview of sustainability efforts in US law schools. It describes two sets of drivers for these efforts—inside and outside the legal profession. Drivers from within the legal profession include the American Bar Association as well as several state and local bar associations; law firms and other law organisations; and current and prospective law students. Drivers from outside the legal profession include clients, universities and colleges, nongovernmental organisations, and government. This article then describes what US law schools are now doing in the areas of curriculum, research, buildings and operations, community outreach and service, student life, and …

Federal Energy Efficiency And Conservation Laws, John Dernbach, Marianne Tyrrell

John C. Dernbach

This paper provides an overview of U.S. law and policy concerning energy efficiency and conservation. The United States appears torn between two narratives - one expressing the abundant demonstrated opportunities provided by energy savings and the other based on a fear of deprivation from using less energy. Rather than choosing between the two, U.S. law and policy splits the difference - embracing efficiency and conservation more or less halfheartedly. Energy efficiency and conservation policy thus has a Groundhog Day aspect, in which the same or similar arguments are made year after year, decade after decade, and often (it appears) to …

Perspectives On Law Firm Sustainability, Howard S. Dakoff, John C. Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

The Essential And Growing Role Of Legal Education In Achieving Sustainability, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This article suggests that law schools need to play a leading role in the national and global effort to achieve sustainability, including the effort to address climate change. The article first describes the various drivers for sustainability in law schools. Clients are increasingly demanding that their lawyers 'walk the talk,' as many businesses and corporations already are. The universities that provide an institutional home for most law schools are also adopting sustainability policies and practices that influence their law schools. Within the legal profession, the American Bar Association, as well as many state and local bar associations, have adopted a …

Creating The Law Of Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This article argues that a key to sustainability is redirecting the law of economic development. From a historical perspective, sustainable development is an effort to integrate environmental protection and restoration with development. As a result, it is not possible to fully understand sustainable development unless we understand what development means. While that term is reasonably well understood at the international level, our closest analogue in the United States is not development in general but rather economic development. A great many recently enacted laws that move the United States toward sustainability can be understood as economic development laws. By understanding these …

The "Cash For Clunkers" Program: A Sustainability Evaluation, Marianne Tyrrell, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

This article describes and evaluates the effectiveness of the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act of 2009, also known as the “Cash for Clunkers” legislation. Under this law, Congress authorized persons trading in older and less fuel-efficient motor vehicles for newer and more fuel-efficient vehicles to receive a voucher worth up to $4,500 toward the purchase of the new vehicle. The article reviews various studies assessing the effectiveness of this legislation based on economic, social, and environmental criteria. Because these criteria are consistent with the goals of sustainable development, the legislation provides important lessons for future efforts to achieve …

Environmental Laws And Sustainability: An Introduction, John Dernbach, Joel Mintz

John C. Dernbach

In this introduction to the special issue of Sustainability on environmental laws and sustainability, we attempt to synthesize key lessons from the issue’s ten substantive articles. These lessons involve the use of law to achieve integrated decision-making, the use of pre-existing laws to foster sustainability, the centrality of sub-national governments in achieving sustainability, the background law of unsustainable development, the growing importance of climate change, the need to use law to protect and restore ecological integrity, the importance of judicial review and nongovernmental organizations, the need to translate sustainability into specific legal principles, the challenge of creating an appropriate national …

Energy Efficiency And Conservation: New Legal Tools And Opportunities, John Dernbach, Robert Mckinstry, Darin Lowder

John C. Dernbach

Many new and ambitious energy efficiency and conservation laws are being enacted at all levels of government—and with greater financial incentives than provided previously. These innovations are intended to overcome or minimize market barriers such as principal-agent problems, information and transaction costs, high internal discount rates, and up-front capital needs that discourage cost-saving investments. Innovations such as public-private partnerships also require significant legal input and creativity for the client to reap the often remarkably large energy and cost savings. This article reviews a range of these tools, especially financial legal mechanisms, that could help significantly reduce U.S. energy consumption.

Making The States Full Partners In A National Climate Change Effort: A Necessary Element For Sustainable Economic Development, John Dernbach, Robert Mckinstry, Thomas Peterson

John C. Dernbach

This article explains why states and localities need to be full partners in a national climate change effort based on federal legislation or the existing Clean Air Act. A large share of reductions with the lowest cost and the greatest co-benefits (e.g., job creation, technology development, reduction of other pollutants) are in areas that a federal cap-and-trade program or other purely federal measures will not easily reach. These are also areas where the states have traditionally exercised their powers—including land use, building construction, transportation, and recycling. The economic recovery and expansion will require direct state and local management of climate …

Agenda For A Sustainable America, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Navigating The U.S. Transition To Sustainability: Matching National Governance Challenges With Appropriate Legal Tools, John Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

Sustainable development would require the United States to maintain and improve human prosperity while at the same time greatly reducing its consumption of energy, materials, water, and land. The scope of the challenge includes, but is not limited to, climate change. This Article suggests the elements of a legal structure for achieving sustainability.

Because achieving sustainable development is a significant learning experience, the United States will need to employ a form of governance—reflexive governance—that requires constant learning and supportive citizens and stakeholders who are also working to ensure sustainability in their own activities. The two basic problems reflexive governance must …

Why Lawyers Should Care, John C. Dernbach

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.