Setzer, Joana, and Rebecca Byrnes. “Global trends in climate change litigation: 2019 snapshot.” (2019). Headline issues • Climate change litigation continues to expand across jurisdictions as a tool to strengthen climate action, though more evidence of its impact is needed.…
Tag: Teaching Materials
The Precautionary Principle
Bourguignon, Didier. “The precautionary principle: Definitions, applications and governance.” European Parliament Research Service Paper (2015). Treaty on European Union, Article 191 2. Union policy on the environment shall aim at a high level of protection taking into account the diversity…
The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992)
PDF for printing – The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992)
The First Climate Treaty – The Montreal Protocol
Chlorofluorocarbons and Ozone Depletion – A National Historic Chemical Landmark Molina, Mario J., and F. Sherwood Rowland. “Stratospheric sink for chlorofluoromethanes: chlorine atom-catalysed destruction of ozone.” Nature 249.5460 (1974): 810. (the first ozone hole paper) The Montreal Protocol on Substances that…
Decarbonization
Legal Pathways To Deep Decarbonization In The United States: Summary And Key Recommendations (Publisher’s WWW site) Dernbach, John C., The Dozen Types of Legal Tools in the Deep Decarbonization Toolbox (September 10, 2018). 39 Energy Law Journal 101; Widener Law Commonwealth…
The Paris Climate Change Agreement
Paris Mismatches: The Impact of the COP21 Climate Change Negotiations on the Oil and Gas Industries Withdrawal from International Agreements: Legal Framework, the Paris Agreement, and the Iran Nuclear Agreement – CRS 2017 President Trump’s Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement…
Climate Change Risks to Mountain Ecology and Communities
Alfthan, B., Gjerdi, H.L., Puikkonen, L., Andresen, M., Semernya, L., Schoolmeester, T., Jurek, M. (2018). Mountain Adaptation Outlook Series – Synthesis Report. United Nations Environment Programme, and GRID-Arendal, Nairobi, Vienna, and Arendal. www.unenvironment.org, www.grida.no – Original Link Also see: Alfthan, B., Gupta,…
Hurricane Florence and Climate Change
The human influence on Hurricane Florence – a real time forecast based on climate change information For Hurricane Florence, we present the first advance forecasted attribution statements about the human influence on a tropical cyclone. We find that rainfall will…
California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment – Executive Summary (2018)
WWW site – http://www.climateassessment.ca.gov/ California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment – Statewide Summary (2018) The Statewide Summary Report presents an overview of the main findings from California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, to translate the state of climate science into useful information for…
The Children’s Climate Case – Juliana v. United States
Court Documents Juliana v. United States, No. 6:15-CV-01517-TC – First Amended Complaint Juliana v. United States, No. 6:15-CV-01517-TC – Federal Defendants First Motion to Dismiss Juliana v. United States, No. 6:15-CV-01517-TC, 2016 WL 6661146 (D. Or. Nov. 10, 2016) –…
South Asia’s Hotspots : Impacts of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards
The Report – Mani, Muthukumara, Sushenjit Bandyopadhyay, Shun Chonabayashi, Anil Markandya, and Thomas Mosier. “South Asia’s Hotspots.” (2018). From the World Bank site: South Asia is highly vulnerable to climate change. Average temperatures have been rising throughout the region, and rainfall…
Judge dismisses City of Oakland climate case based on nuisance – 2018
From the Opinion: It may seem peculiar that an earlier order refused to remand this action to state court on the ground that plaintiffs’ claims were necessarily governed by federal law, while the current order concludes that federal common law…
Assessment of the Potential Health Impacts of Climate Change in Alaska
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Assessment of the Potential Health Impacts of Climate Change in Alaska (2018) (This is an excellent, detailed report of the present and potential impacts of climate change on health in Alaska.) Over the…
ARkStorm – The weather equivalent of the Big One for California
California – The Flood that Could Change Everything
What would happen if the Mississippi River changed its course to the Atchafalaya?
PDF – What would happen if the Mississippi River changed its course to the Atchafalaya?
GAO – DOD Needs to Better Incorporate Adaptation into Planning and Collaboration at Overseas Installations
The expected impacts of weather effects associated with climate change pose operational and budgetary risks to overseas infrastructure according to the Department of Defense (DOD), but DOD does not consistently track the impacts’ estimated costs. Operational risks (including interruptions to…
Arctic Report Card 2017
Arctic shows no sign of returning to reliably frozen region of recent past decades Despite relatively cool summer temperatures, observations in 2017 continue to indicate that the Arctic environmental system has reached a ‘new normal’, characterized by long-term losses in…
Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment
Highlights of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Climate Science Special Report The climate of the United States is strongly connected to the changing global climate. The statements below highlight past, current, and projected climate changes for the United States…
From Bali To Marrakech: A Decade Of International Climate Negotiations
From Bali To Marrakech: A Decade Of International Climate Negotiations (2017) MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY Since its entry into force in 1994, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been at the centre of international efforts to…
EPA – Climate Change in the United States: Benefits of Global Action. United States Environmental Protection Agency – 2015
EPA. 2015. Climate Change in the United States: Benefits of Global Action. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Atmospheric Programs, EPA 430-R-15-001. About this Report This report summarizes and communicates the results of EPA’s ongoing Climate Change Impacts and…
Trump, The Koch Brothers and Their War on Climate Science
TRNN SPECIAL: Trump, The Koch Brothers and Their War on Climate Science
Well Under 2 Degrees Celsius: Fast Action Policies to Protect People and the Planet from Extreme Climate Change
Well Under 2 Degrees Celsius: Fast Action Policies to Protect People and the Planet from Extreme Climate Change. Report of the Committee to Prevent Extreme Climate Change (2017) Climate change is becoming an existential threat with warming in excess of…
Standing Rock/Dakota Access Pipeline Resources
PBS Newshour: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/tribes-across-north-america-converge-standing-rock-hoping-heard-2/
The First Earth Day
The History of Earth Day
Unfinished Business A Comparative Assessment Of Environmental Problems Overview Report – 1987
This is a pivotal report in US Environmental Law. It looked at whether the EPA was spending too many resources on low level toxic exposures, at the expense of other environmental risks, including climate change. It later became a…
2017 – Draft of the US Climate Change Report
2017 – Draft of the US Climate Change Report A draft report by scientists from 13 federal agencies, which has not yet been made public but was obtained by The New York Times, concludes that Americans are feeling the effects…
Climate Change Communication and Denial
A primary issue in addressing climate change is that many people either deny its existence or deny or downplay man’s role in driving it. The usual answer is that we need more education about climate science. Cultural cognition research questions…
THE ROAD TO ACTION: Financial regulation addressing climate change
THE ROAD TO ACTION: Financial regulation addressing climate change (original link) Our report finds that investors, asset managers and banks urgently need a way to identify and measure how companies are responding to the risks of climate change. The cost of…
The Conservative Case for a Carbon Tax
The Climate Leadership Council: The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends (2017) There are many traditional conservatives who understand and believe in climate change. Consistent with their small government beliefs, they see a carbon tax as the best approach to reducing…
A bitter scientific debate just erupted over the future of America’s power grid
A bitter scientific debate just erupted over the future of America’s power grid Scientists are engaged in an increasingly bitter and personal feud over how much power the United States can get from renewable sources, with a large group of…