Law Commons^™

Worst Case And The Worst Example: An Agenda For Any Young Lawyer Who Wants To Save The World From Climate Chaos, William H. Rodgers, Jr., Anna T. Moritz

Articles

Wherever you turn with regard to climate change, you'll hear about the worst, and the worst of the worst, and the worst that will happen after that. Young lawyers should put themselves in the right frame of mind to tackle all these "worsts" that are headed our way.

In the interest of keeping it simple, we would suggest a personal strategy for every young lawyer that would entail: (I) Honoring Knowledge and Learning; (II) Protecting Your Institutions and Loving Your Country; (III) Planning and Conducting Your Personal War on Bad Law; and (IV) Rejecting Defeatism and Impossibility Theorems.

Let's consider …

From Environment To Energy: China's Reconceptualization Of Climate Change, Dongsheng Zang

Articles

Domestically and internationally, by the first half of 2009 it was already questionable whether the Copenhagen Conference could achieve anything. Anthony Giddens warned-in an otherwise inspiring book on climate change-that "doomsday is no longer a religious concept, a day of spiritual reckoning, but a possibility imminent in our society and economy." In such a context, it becomes imperative to revisit some of the fundamental issues in the Kyoto Protocol framework. Are timetables and targets really the best way to regulate climate change? Does the current framework create bad politics? Where are the powerful driving forces towards a low-carbon society?

This …

Combating Global Climate Change: Why A Carbon Tax Is A Better Response To Global Warming Than Cap And Trade, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

Global climate change is the most significant environmental issue facing our nation and the world. There no longer is any question that global warming is occurring. Nor is there any serious debate about whether human activity is the root cause. If we fail to make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the next ten to twenty years, we face the possibility of catastrophic environmental harm by the end of this century.

From Warranted To Valuable Belief: Local Government, Climate Change, And Giving Up The Pickup To Save Bangladesh, Jerrold A. Long

Articles

Although the public discourse about efforts to address global climate change understandably focuses on national- and international-level efforts, in the United States much of the authority for regulating greenhouse gas emitting activities resides with state and local governments. Many local governments have initiated efforts to address global climate change in some fashion. But this article argues that there remains a disconnect between the local causes and global consequences of climate change sufficient to prevent the adoption of durable and effective local efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, individuals remain largely unable to connect their personal decisions with …

Green From Above: Climate Change, New Developmental Strategy, And Regulatory Choice In China, Dongsheng Zang

Articles

This essay discusses a developmental strategy formulated in China between 2004 and 2007, with a strong emphasis on energy efficiency in response to growing pressure from global concerns of climate change. It tries to show how a top-down regulatory structure was reinforced in the process.