Category «Environmental Law»

An Economist’s Guide to Climate Change Science

An Economist’s Guide to Climate Change Science. Solomon Hsiang, Robert E. Kopp. NBER Working Paper No. 25189 Issued in October 2018. [h/t Mary Whisner] “Climate change management is a global challenge that requires social science as much as it requires natural science. We provide a brief introduction to the physical science of climate change, written …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law

Flip side of UN climate report’s findings – change is a mandatory choice the world must make

The Nation: “Ask me when they learn that I study climate politics. Fair enough. The science is grim, as the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just reminded us with a report on how hard it will be to keep average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But it’s the wrong question. Yes, …

Subjects: Climate Change, Energy, Environmental Law

America is warming fast. See how your city’s weather will be different in just one generation.

Weather 2050 – “Our world is getting warmer. This we know. Just look at Los Angeles, which experienced all-time record heat in July, topping out at 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Dozens of other heat records across the United States were smashed this summer alone. But how much will temperatures in US cities change by 2050? By …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

Research finds large buildup of heat in oceans suggesting a faster rate of global warming

Washington Post: “The world’s oceans have been soaking up far more excess heat in recent decades than scientists realized, suggesting that Earth could be set to warm even faster than predicted in the years ahead, according to new research published Wednesday. Over the past quarter-century, Earth’s oceans have retained 60 percent more heat each year …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

Report – astonishing 60% decline in size of populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians in just over 40 years

“The Living Planet Report documents the state of the planet—including biodiversity, ecosystems, and demand on natural resources—and what it means for humans and wildlife. Published by WWF every two years, the report brings together a variety of research to provide a comprehensive view of the health of the Earth. We are pushing our planet to the …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

Federal Prosecution of Environmental Crimes Continues to Drop

“The latest available data from the Justice Department shows that during the 12 months of fiscal year 2018, ending in September, the government reported prosecuting 109 new environmental crimes. Of these 29 defendants were businesses. The rest were individuals. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research

Single-use plastics ban approved by European Parliament

Plastic Oceans: MEPs back EU ban on throwaway plastics by 2021 single-use cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers to be banned from 2021  MEPs added oxo-plastics and certain polystyrenes  plastics where no alternatives available to be reduced by at least 25% by 2025  measures against cigarette filters and lost fishing gear     National reduction targets for …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Health Care

The Corporate Research Project

The Corporate Research Project assists community, environmental and labor organizations in researching companies and industries. Our focus is on identifying information that can be used to advance corporate accountability campaigns. We play this role by: producing unique research  tools carrying out research projects, especially corporate and industry dossiers, for activist organizations and training activists in …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research

WSJ data visualizations that illustrate the rising costs of hurricanes in US

“The Wall Street Journal  [paywall] has created several data visualizations that illustrate the rising costs of hurricanes in the United States. Maps and graphs illustrate that the populations of coastal counties have increased significantly more than those in the rest of the mainland, which means there are more homes susceptible to damage. In addition, the …

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law

New data tool can help scientists use limited funds to protect the greatest number of endangered species

The Conversation: “A large majority of Americans strongly support the goal of preventing the extinction of endangered wildlife and plants. Today, over 1,600 U.S. species are listed under the Endangered Species Act, and more are added every year. The list includes well-known species like the manatee, grizzly bear and green sea turtle, as well as …

Subjects: Environmental Law

Department of Interior’s proposal to destroy records may be of interest

“As I mentioned a while back, I’ve started a new project to bring much-needed transparency to the process whereby agencies get permission to destroy their records at fixed intervals (chosen by the agencies and okayed by the National Archives). I’m obtaining and posting every such request, which have never appeared online before. This project is …

Subjects: Censorship, E-Government, Environmental Law, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Libraries