Over the past fews days I lectured at the University of Vermont about food and agriculture policy, and lectured at Williams College about my book “Everyday Environmentalism.” The drive down Route 100 in Vermont to Williamstown, MA was beautiful and the Williams’ campus is equally gorgeous, as were the Green Mountains, Taconic Mtns, Berkshires, and my view of the Catskills from my friend’s house in NY.
Environment
Archived Posts from this Category
May 10, 2011
Lecturing at Univ. of Vermont and Williams College
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Environment, LawLeave a Comment
May 8, 2011
Wisconsin Governor “reversing green initiatives”
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Environment, PoliticsLeave a Comment
See here.
May 6, 2011
“Obama administration floats draft plan to tax cars by the mile”
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Books, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, TransportationLeave a Comment
May 4, 2011
Vermont Law Prof Gus Speth in NY Times
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Climate Change, Environment, LawLeave a Comment
“Climate Activists Target States With Lawsuits.” Apparently, like using the common law in AEP v. Conn., the idea is to use the public trust doctrine to protect the atmosphere. I’m skeptical that courts will allow such an expansio of the doctrine. My colleage Gus Speth seems more optimistic.
May 2, 2011
Tilapia, Good or Bad for the future of Food & Ag?
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Consumption, Energy, Environment, FoodLeave a Comment
Most food/ag gurus I know are generally supportive of farm raising tilapia given the perceived lower environmental foodprint of the fish, its use as a sustainable ag tool especially in the developing world, and the ability to more effieciently create a protein source. Here’s a the flip side argument.
April 29, 2011
Does China get too much credit for being green?
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under China, Energy, EnvironmentLeave a Comment
The Post has an opinion piece titled “Hold the accolades on China’s ‘green leap forward’.”
April 29, 2011
China’s energy and carbon emissions outlook
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under China, Climate Change, Energy, EnvironmentLeave a Comment
China’s Energy and Carbon Emissions Outlook to 2050
Abstract
As a result of soaring energy demand from a staggering pace of economic expansion and the related growth of energy-intensive industry, China overtook the United States to become the world’s largest contributor to CO2 emissions in 2007. At the same time, China has taken serious actions to reduce its energy and carbon intensity by setting both a short-term energy intensity reduction goal for 2006 to 2010 as well as a long-term carbon intensity reduction goal for 2020. This study presents a China Energy Outlook through 2050 that assesses the role of energy efficiency policies in transitioning China to a lower emission trajectory and meeting its intensity reduction goals.
Over the past few years, LBNL has established and significantly enhanced its China End-Use Energy Model which is based on the diffusion of end-use technologies and other physical drivers of energy demand. This model presents an important new approach for helping understand China’s complex and dynamic drivers of energy consumption and implications of energy efficiency policies through scenario analysis. A baseline (“Continued Improvement Scenario”) and an alternative energy efficiency scenario (“Accelerated Improvement Scenario”) have been developed to assess the impact of actions already taken by the Chinese government as well as planned and potential actions, and to evaluate the potential for China to control energy demand growth and mitigate emissions. In addition, this analysis also evaluated China’s long-term domestic energy supply in order to gauge the potential challenge China may face in meeting long-term demand for energy.
It is a common belief that China’s CO2 emissions will continue to grow throughout this century and will dominate global emissions. The findings from this research suggest that this will not necessarily be the case because saturation in ownership of appliances, construction of residential and commercial floor area, roadways, railways, fertilizer use, and urbanization will peak around 2030 with slowing population growth. The baseline and alternative scenarios also demonstrate that China’s 2020 goals can be met and underscore the significant role that policy-driven energy efficiency improvements will play in carbon mitigation along with a decarbonized power supply through greater renewable and non-fossil fuel generation.
April 22, 2011
Oral Argument in AEP v. Conn.: The Common Law and Climate Change
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Judges, Law, Supreme Court, Uncategorized[2] Comments
I have been irresponsible (especially since I brought the case up in my class this week) in not blogging about AEP v. Conn. (here’s an earlier post), the case considers whether common law nuisance can be used to abate greenhouse gas emissions. The case was argued before the US Supreme Court this week. So here are some resources, from bloggers more timely than I, to get my readers up to speed.
The oral argument transcript can be found here.
SCOTUSblog’s case page and Argument Recap.
Commentary at Legal Planet here and here and here (my students will be interested in this last link related to nuisance and remedies).
April 21, 2011
Climate Change and a Sad Commentary on Modern Politics
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Climate Change, Environment, PoliticsLeave a Comment
Is is really true that the politics of “no” are so pervasive that compromise immediately ceases because politicians can’t be perceived as agreeing with the opposing party? In “What went wrong for cap-and-trade?” Ezra Klein, states:
So the question has to be how the Republican Party swung from a position of partial support for efforts to address global warming to unified opposition. But you won’t find the answer by looking into environmental politics. After all, the same thing happened to the individual mandate in health care, which went from being a Republican position in the 1990s and 2000s to a policy Republicans considered an unconstitutional monstrosity in 2010, and deficit-financed stimulus, which Republicans agreed with in 2009 but turned against in 2010. This “you’re for it so we’re against it” phenomenon is increasingly common in politics, and not limited to any one issue. Cap-and-trade is, for now, a casualty of the way party polarization has become policy polarization. And no one one has yet developed a reliable strategy for interrupting that process.
April 21, 2011
Vermont Law Prof in NY Times – Wildlife
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Environment, Natural ResourcesLeave a Comment
Vermont Law School Professor Pat Parenteau in the NY Times. See here.
Patrick Parenteau, a professor and endangered species expert at Vermont Law School who was special counsel to the Fish and Wildlife Service in the 1990s, said he could empathize with both sides. “The agency does seem to be reaching a political tipping point,” he said. “They feel overwhelmed, they feel politically vulnerable, they can’t handle the job, and all these petitions makes it harder and harder.”
“But from an endangered species conservation perspective, the environmentalists are doing exactly what the science demands,” he added. “If you want to save these species, you have to list them, designate their critical habitat and spend money.”
JASON J. CZARNEZKI 