Abstract: This is the second in a series of critiques of the Supreme Court's jurisprudence on environmental law. The first series described three cases notable for their manipulation of facts and law and ill-concealed bias against environmental plaintiffs. One crippled the National Environmental Policy Act, the second crippled citizen standing to sue, and the third pivoted to undermine the safety of nuclear power plants.The instant trio of cases add yet another troubling element to the canon. What distinguishes them, beyond the usual sleight-of-hand, is their failure to demonstrate the slightest understanding or concern for the plight of some of the most disadvantaged people on the planet. All of them brown.The first case discussed, Northwest Indian Cemetery, denied First Amendment protection from the destruction of an entire Native American culture. The second case, Sandoval, effectively destroyed Title VI of the Federal Civil Rights Act. The third case,... PubDate: Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +000
Abstract: California's growing unhoused population, alongside the increasingly devastating impacts of climate change, necessitates action by California's state and local governments to protect unhoused communities from the current and anticipated impacts of climate change. Despite the public discourse surrounding both climate change and homelessness in California, policy-makers have frequently treated the two as separate and unrelated issues. failing to acknowledge how catch issue interacts with the other.This failure has allowed unhoused persons' unique vulnerability to water insecurity, heat-related illness, and the spread of disease to remain divorced from policy discussions on how California must adapt to a new and harsher climate. In addition, sea level rise and wildfires will further contribute to California's housing shortage and overall unhoused population. The collective failure of California's state and local decision-makers to address this intersectionhas led to a patchwork... PubDate: Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +000
Abstract: Assembly Bill No. 52 (AB 52) amended the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in 2014 to mandate early tribal consultation prior to and during CeQA review, and it positions California Native American tribes as the experts on cultural resources within their own geographical areas. AB 52 affords tribal governments a seat at the decisionmaking table alongside public agencies and California local governments. The law also provides greater legal protection and demands more stringent consultation requirements than other historic and cultural resource protection statutes. However, despite formal advancement in tribal resource protection and recognition of tribal expertise, implementation of AB 52 is flawed. The purpose of this paper is to identify problems with the legislative language of AB 52 and gaps in its implementation to provide a point of reflection on how to improve government to government consultation. PubDate: Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +000
Abstract: Climate change has, and will continue to have, a disproportionate impact on communities of color. Already, it is clear that systemic racism has led to increased temperatures in predominantly Black neighborhoods as compared to white neighborhoods in the same cities. A legacy of discriminatory housing policies in California is correlated with worse air quality and health disparities, both of which could be further exacerbated as temperatures rise. As cities and states begin developing climate change adaptation plans, it is imperative that they develop equity-based solutions that take into account how discriminatory practices are leading to disproportionate climate impacts. If such impacts are not accounted for, they will be exacerbated in the future. This paper analyzes equity-based climate adaptation strategies for heat, which is already the deadliest weather-related disaster in the U.S., and how they could be applied to Los Angeles. PubDate: Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +000
Abstract: It is time to wake up and push for the protection of the environment and against climate change. Vulnerable communities around the world are living in polluted, highly toxic, and unsustainable environments. It is time to protect them through a human rights-based framework. This article proposes that the Inter-American right to a healthy environment provides the possibility of protecting the human rights of the most vulnerable in the Americas by providing a rights-based framework for them to vindicate their environmental human rights. This article focuses on vulnerable populations who have been historically marginalized and discriminated against and/or who are reliant on the natural resources in their environments. This article posits that the "greening" of human rights, which is the traditional approach to the protection of environmental human rights, is not sufficient to protect vulnerable non-indigenous populations without protection. It is for this reason that we, as a society,... PubDate: Wed, 30 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +000
Abstract: Two of the most commonly discussed responses to climate change are mitigation and adaptation. It is necessary that the world continues to mitigate greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to prevent the most severe effects of climate change, but it is just as important that adaptation measures are implemented to prepare for the unmitigable effects. With the ongoing Israeli occupation—now reaching its fifty-third year—Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) are prohibited from accessing resources and pursuing necessary measures to repair their existing infrastructure or prepare for the environmental effects of climate change. As such, this Comment sheds light on the Palestinian voice, struggle, and experience while examining climate impacts under occupation by analyzing the environmental, political, legal, and humanitarian impacts of climate change on Palestinians in the OPT. PubDate: Fri, 19 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +000
Abstract: Fracking must be regulated from a tribal perspective and ultimately phased out by renewable energy sources in order to prevent environmental contamination and threats to health and safety. Like many other components of extractive industry, fracking disproportionately harms indigenous communities due to the socioeconomic status of indigenous communities, their unique relationship to the land (and specifically to water), and other harmful effects of colonization and racialization. This Comment explores the proposed and ongoing fracking near Chaco Canyon and discusses the environmental justice issues this raises for indigenous communities in New Mexico. This discussion is timely, as the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs recently released the long-awaited Farmington Mancos-Gallup Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement, which amends the original Environmental Impact Statement for the Chaco Canyon area.... PubDate: Fri, 19 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +000
Abstract: This Article responds to environmental justice arguments that undermine, rather than safeguard, health and environmental quality for low-income and minority populations. Efforts by scholars and practitioners to clearly define “environmental injustice” to facilitate use of racial discrimination legal frameworks have had minimal success and are ultimately limiting the ability to embrace a broader arsenal of weapons in the fight against injustice. The greatest weapon of the environmental justice movement is its people. Environmental justice must evolve more rapidly beyond efforts to merely give communities voice, and actually redistribute power and decision making to open up opportunities for social movement intersection. The struggle to define environmental justice is difficult because it attempts to crystalize the efforts of converging social movements that continue. This Article advocates more explicit acceptance of environmental justice as a movement... PubDate: Fri, 19 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +000
Abstract: Can the U.S. Constitution encompass a right to a stable climate' Courts around the world are finding that their constitutions afford a right to a clean and healthy environment, including to a safe climate. In the United States, this claim is being tested in the case of Juliana v. U.S., brought by 21 children arguing that governmental actions and inaction have caused or contributed to an “environmental apocalypse” in violation of a fundamental constitutional right to a stable climate. In concluding that the Constitution can encompass a right to a stable climate, we make three principal arguments. First, the Constitution is relevant to the protection of people’s lives and liberties—a position that should be beyond cavil after more than 230 years of our constitutional experiment. Second, the Constitution’s protection is not abrogated simply because the threat to life and liberty comes from decades of governmental action contributing to climate... PubDate: Fri, 19 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +000
Open Access journal
[72 journals]
