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Display AllClimate Change and the Law
Climate change is the most profound social and environmental issue of the 21st century. This course will integrate the emerging science and law of climate change along with economic and inter-generational equity aspects of the problem. We will consider how existing federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and NEPA may be used to address climate change as well as how new more comprehensive laws may be fashioned. Different policy instruments will be considered including carbon taxes and emissions trading. State and regional approaches will be considered along with questions of federalism and preemption. Both supply-side and demand-side energy options will be evaluated, along with the transportation and land use sectors. Measures to reduce tropical deforestation and wetland loss will be included. Corporate responsibility, risk disclosures, and the role of socially responsible institutional investors will be examined. The development of new international agreements in a "post-Kyoto" world will be reviewed. Guest speakers will provide a variety of perspectives.
JD/MELP: Distributional requirements - Regulatory, Policy, and Resource Management/Planning.
Climate Change Litigation
The heat is on, in the courts as well as the biosphere. Seeking to prod faster governmental response to the growing menace of climate change, advocates are turning to the courts to seek injunctions against sluggish agencies and damages against industrial sources of greenhouse gases. Climate litigation has brought together an intriguing coalition of states, environmentalists, and "green" economic interests. Emboldened by the landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA, federal courts across the country have handed down a number of important decisions with more to come. This course will review the various statutory and common law claims being tried, the kinds of remedies being sought, and the jurisdictional and evidentiary obstacles that must be overcome. Grading will be based on a litigation memo and mock hearing.
Regulatory, Policy
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Extinction and Climate Change
Human activities are causing a global mass extinction of plants and animals that rivals the five great extinction events over the earth's geologic history. Historically, habitat loss, overharvest, introduction of invasive species and pollution have been the principal causes of this "Sixth Great Extinction." There is now a strong scientific consensus that the greatest threat to global biodiversity is climate change caused by anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide. Some scientists estimate that a third to a half of all species on earth may disappear by the end of this century unless atmospheric concentrations of GHG are stabilized over the next two decades. Ecosystems are shifting and changing, and some-- such as the arctic, coral reefs and high elevation habitat-- may disappear altogether. This course looks at the ecological, social and ethical consequences of this biological impoverishment and considers various legal and policy options to address the phenomenon of climate change. The course will address the extent to which laws like the Endangered Species Act of 1973, can be used to address both conventional threats to species as well as the more challenging threat of climate change. International laws such as CITES and the Convention on Biodiversity will also be considered. The course will include a brief review of the policy instruments, such as debt forgiveness and tropical forest preservation, that combine habitat conservation and carbon sequestration Insights from the fields of conservation biology and ecological economics will be integrated into the discussions, and guest speakers will help round out the understanding of the richness and complexity of the issues.
JD/MELP: Distributional requirements - Regulatory, Policy, and Resource Management/Planning.
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