The Revival of Climate Change Science in U.S. Courts

Science never has been the obstacle to the recognition of climate change. Since Arhennius did his original calculations in 1896, the scientific world was quite aware of the prospect that industrial-age levels of carbon dioxide pollution would result in increasing global temperatures and acidification of the world’s oceans. The brilliant—and striking—graphical display that we know today as the Keeling Curve started in 1957, and year after year it records the relentless upward march of these atmospheric pollutant loadings. Through the years, necessarily, a vast number of scientific warnings, publications, findings, and predictions would be offered to the public at large, urging action to combat climate change. The pages in this journal devoted to the issue of ocean acidification are but the latest manifestation of this relentless march of science towards more understanding and deeper appreciation of the gravity of these issues. In contrast to the slow (if erratic) march of science, the political response to climate change—particularly in the United States—has been enthusiastically absent. Even the sufferers from this political nullification policy have tipped their hats, conceding an insidious effectiveness of “just say no” tactics. There is an eerie concordance of interest between the corporate takeover of Washington, D.C. by lobbyists and the conspicuous inaction on climate change. This political denial of climate change in Washington, D.C., has endured for close to thirty years

The Revival of Climate Change Science in U.S. Courts

Science never has been the obstacle to the recognition of climate change. Since Arhennius did his original calculations in 1896, the scientific world was quite aware of the prospect that industrial-age levels of carbon dioxide pollution would result in increasing global temperatures and acidification of the world’s oceans. The brilliant—and striking—graphical display that we know today as the Keeling Curve started in 1957, and year after year it records the relentless upward march of these atmospheric pollutant loadings. Through the years, necessarily, a vast number of scientific warnings, publications, findings, and predictions would be offered to the public at large, urging action to combat climate change. The pages in this journal devoted to the issue of ocean acidification are but the latest manifestation of this relentless march of science towards more understanding and deeper appreciation of the gravity of these issues. In contrast to the slow (if erratic) march of science, the political response to climate change—particularly in the United States—has been enthusiastically absent. Even the sufferers from this political nullification policy have tipped their hats, conceding an insidious effectiveness of “just say no” tactics. There is an eerie concordance of interest between the corporate takeover of Washington, D.C. by lobbyists and the conspicuous inaction on climate change. This political denial of climate change in Washington, D.C., has endured for close to thirty years

The Sense of Justice and the Justice of Sense: Native Hawaiian Sovereignty and the Second Trial of the Century

In 1993, Congress apologized to the Native Hawaiians for the political funny business of a century ago when the pineapple and sugar interests overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii with tactical help from U.S. officials. Another apology will be in order for an unconscionable political trial now underway in the islands to punish one of the sovereignty leaders, Dennis Bumpy Kanahele, for a variety of imagined offenses that amount to the infliction of embarrassment on the U.S. To put this essay in context, it should be understood, first of all, that the struggle for Native Hawaiian lands and sovereignty is a longstanding one, with more than the usual historical, political, and legal complexities. It is accurate to say that Native Hawaiians today are frequently landless in their own ancestral lands although a full account defies a summary restatement. My approach in this Essay is to look at the conflict through a lens suggested by evolutionary theory, sometimes described in the law schools as Law and Biology. In this world, the sense of justice is a set of expectations about how others should behave, backed by a proclivity towards moralistic aggression against deviators. The sense of justice entails both cognition and emotion, with a match of expectations and then the fit that follows if there is no fit. Compare and despair is the name of the game

Executive Orders and Presidential Commands: Presidents Riding to the Rescue of the Environment

Presidential executive orders are legal and political documents. They are also uniquely personal utterances of the president and the administration. The right words at the appropriate time can motivate and move the human spirit, and they can link this president and this moment to the strongest of ideas. Being personal and tending to the heroic, the executive order can thus be perceived as accomplishing a great public good. This article will explore the pros and cons of the executive order tool. I will then evaluate a number of executive orders that have impacted contemporary environmental policy. I will conclude by offering my nominees for the Ten Most Influential Executive Orders in the annals of environmental law