Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Long-Term Problem With Electric Vehicle Batteries: A Policy Recommendation To Encourage Advancement For Scalable Recycling Practices, Lauren Fricke

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental & Innovation Law

With the growing popularity of electric vehicles, the demand for lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries, which are the dominant energy source for electric vehicles, are skyrocketing. By default, this means a growing demand for the raw materials needed to manufacture these complex batteries such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Economic, environmental, and political supply chain factors bring into question the sustainability of these batteries as a solution to the issues surrounding gasoline powered transportation, creating a need for large scale Li-ion battery recycling. By 2030, 140 million EVs are predicted to be on the road worldwide. In that time, eleven million …

The Lasting Impacts Of Mass Consumerism And The Disposable Culture: A Proposition For The Development Of Plastic Shopping Bag Bans In Texas Law, David Brewster

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article addresses the developing state of plastic bag bans in Texas municipal and state jurisprudence. The Article recites the history of plastic bag bans and their impacts on the environment, the issues pertinent to municipal powers as regulatory devices, and analyzes the most recent case regarding bag bans in Texas, which is the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in City of Laredo v. Laredo Merchants Association. The Article makes suggestions about how to move forward in developing municipal plastic bag bans for the benefit of the environment, and addresses the immediate impacts of bag ban litigation and legislation in …

Resource Nationalism And Zambia’S Oscillating Mining Taxation Regime, Edna Kabala, Rosemary Mapoma, John Lungu

Zambia Social Science Journal

The parcelling and privatisation of the large state-owned mining conglomerate Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) involved the signing of Development Agreements (DAs) between the Zambian government and the new private investors. These DAs were concessionary to the new investors, offering low taxation rates, tax exemptions and deductions. But in 2008, under political pressure from the opposition, then President Mwanawasa abrogated the DAs with a new Mines and Minerals Act, removing exemptions and deductions and increasing taxation rates. This action set in motion a decade long period of contestation over mining taxation in Zambia, with the introduction and retraction of numerous …

Vedanta Resources Plc And Konkola Copper Mines Plc V Lungowe And Others 2019 Uksc 20, Pamela Towela Sambo

SAIPAR Case Review

This case was initiated in the court of first instance, the England and Wales Technology and Construction Court (hereinafter referred to as the UK High Court Division) on 31 July 2015, by 1, 826 Zambian citizens who are resident in Chingola, Zambia. The claimants sought damages for personal injury, wide ranging environmental harm, damage to property, loss of income and amenity and enjoyment of land arising out of alleged pollution and environmental damage caused by the second appellant, Konkola Copper Mines (hereinafter referred to as ‘KCM’) at its Nchanga copper mine from about 2005 to date.

The first appellant, Vedanta …

Venezuela Undermines Gold Miner Crystallex's Attempts To Recover On Its Icsid Award, Sam Wesson

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

New Materialism: An Ontology For The Anthropocene, Melinda Harm Benson

Natural Resources Journal

This article argues that the Anthropocene is not simply a new geologic epoch; it is an opportunity to embrace a new ontology. In it, we can reconfigure our orientation to the material world. The current, dominant ontology casts humans as villains responsible for mass extinctions, polluted oceans, and climate change. This ontology reinforces a familiar binary—one in which humans are separate from and doing things to nature. Humans are ruining the planet, causing it to fundamentally change in ways that are not “natural” precisely because humans are the agent of change. This view is perhaps best described by environmentalist Bill …

Tthe Requirement Of Domestic Participation In New Mining Ventures In Zambia, Muna Ndulo

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Scott P. Stedjan

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

No abstract provided.

Geopolitics Of Resource Scarcity, Kent Hughes Butts

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

No abstract provided.

Symposium - The 9 Billion People Question: The Challenge Of Global Resource Scarcity

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

No abstract provided.

From Scarcity To Abundance: The Changing Dynamics Of Energy Conflict, Michael T. Klare

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

Energy security and geopolitics have played a pivotal role in international affairs for a very long time, ever since the development of oil-powered vehicles and weapons of war. Until recently, the geopolitics of energy have largely been governed by perceptions of scarcity—the assumption that oil and other energy reserves were relatively limited, and that competition over their exploitation would lead to recurring crisis and conflict. However, the recent utilization of advanced extractive technologies—including deep-sea drilling and hydraulic fracturing—have resulted in unexpected production gains and fostered a sense that abundance, rather than scarcity, will govern the future energy picture. …

Food As A Key Resource For Security And Stability: Implications Of Changes In The Global Food System 1950-2000, Bryan L. Mcdonald

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

Food security remains an urgent problem affecting the national security and interests of states, as well as the human security of people and communities around the world. This article examines the changing landscape of food security threats and vulnerabilities by examining three sets of concerns that are converging to amplify, disrupt, and transform food relations: nutrition, food safety, and global environmental change. Ensuring food security will require utilization of a range of capabilities from the state, private, and non-state sectors to confront world food problems and build a sustainable and resilient world food network.

Land Is Not The New Oil: What The Nigerian Oil Experience Can Teach South Sudan About Balancing The Risks And Benefits Of Large Scale Land Acquisition, Scott P. Stedjan

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

Recent global food price volatility combined with the growing use of agricultural land to produce biofuels has sparked a global scramble for land, with Sub-Saharan African countries serving as the main targets for investors. Derided as “land-grabbing” by those opposed to the practice, the phenomenon of large-scale acquisition of farmland by governments and private investors sparked a global debate since the global food crisis of 2008. Although international investment in agriculture plays a vital role in development and poverty reduction, large scale international investment poses some serious risks to both communities and international investors. Because there are no signs of …

Not In My Backyard: Unconventional Gas Development And Local Land Use In Pennsylvania And Alberta, Canada, Nathaniel L. Foote

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

Pennsylvania has struggled with rapid expansion in the state's unconventional oil and gas sector with the development of the Marcellus Shale formation. Likewise, Alberta, Canada has experienced similar growth. Yet Pennsylvania and Alberta's approaches to local land use and resource extraction differ considerably. This paper discusses each region's experience with oil and gas development, and contrasts their approaches to land use regulation in this context. The paper concludes that the Canadians' approach holds important lessons for Pennsylvania.

Geopolitics, Oil Law Reform, And Commodity Market Expectations, Robert Bejesky

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Paul Timmermans On Invisible War: The United States And The Iraq Sanctions. By Joy Gordon. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 2010. 359 Pp., Paul Timmermans

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Invisible War: The United States and the Iraq Sanctions. By Joy Gordon. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. 359 pp.

Oil. The Geopolitics Of Oil And Iraq, Issam Al-Chalabi

New England Journal of Public Policy

The author deals only with the recent developments that will shape the destiny of Iraq and determine whether it will remain a unified country or disintegrate. He is not optimistic.

Racial Profiling In The Persian Gulf: Ethical, Moral, And Legal Implications, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article describes attributions about race and ethnicity that color the discourse on the ethics, morality, and legality of profiling.