Environmental Justice

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, using cultural burning to generate carbon credits by way of the Australian savanna burning program annually provides $50 million AUD ($33 million USD) in revenue, achieves a reduction of more than one million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and provides jobs, training, ...

As climate change experts increasingly warn that the world is approaching a breaking point, the question feels less theoretical and more urgent: can international law offer answers to the prospect of mass displacement in relation to climate change? This paper provides a concise overview of the conversation, examining the variety ...

“America, America has a problem.” That problem is lead: a highly toxic metal that contaminates our drinking water. Health disparities emerge, disproportionately impacting Black communities. This Article delves into America’s history of lead in drinking water, recent regulatory efforts, and proposed rulemaking that will lead to a lasting solution.

In Mulberry, Tennessee, residents have begun noticing the growth of a suspicious black fungus. The most likely culprit? Whiskey. This article explores the various challenges and opportunities associated with the community’s use of state law to address the growth of this fungus and find recourse for themselves.

In Part I, I review timber trespass under Louisiana law, including its triple damages provision. In Part II, I discuss the availability of mental distress damages for timber trespass. Finally, in Part III, I use Critical Race Theory to analyze the 1988 case of Johnny Evans v. B.R. Bedsole Timber ...

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has underscored the racial, social, and economic disparities that have long plagued every part of American society—including the health of our environment. Given the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on minority communities across the country, government officials have focused their efforts on an equitable COVID-19 response. These ...

While much attention is shed upon the climate crisis, intimately intertwined—and arguably a bigger threat to human stability—is the biodiversity crisis. In particular, current industrial agricultural systems accelerate biodiversity loss and amplify climate change, which in turn intensifies widespread food insecurity and has left over 800 million people without adequate ...

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency turns 50, the federal government remains a laggard on environmental justice. We offer three forward-facing remedies to provide more just outcomes for environmental justice communities through the legal system: refocusing criminal enforcement efforts to prioritize environmental justice communities, further conceptualizing environmental justice communities as ...

Michael Zielinski Michael Zielinski is a 3L at William & Mary Law School.[1] This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).    I.      Introduction In 1971, the Peruvian theologian and Dominican priest Gustavo Gutiérrez published his seminal work, A Theology of Liberation, in which he advocated an activist ...

Eric Anthony DeBellis Eric DeBellis is a 3L at Berkeley Law, where he is Senior Executive Editor of the Ecology Law Quarterly. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate. Introduction The overwhelming majority of environmental enforcement actions settle out of court, but overlooking settlements as merely a ...

Shea Diaz Shea Diaz is on the Georgetown Environmental Law Review. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate. In the United States, poor people and people of color experience higher cancer rates,[1] asthma rates,[2] mortality rates,[3] and overall poorer health than their affluent and white counterparts.[4] The ...

The Berkeley Exchange: Celebrating Berkeley’s Contribution to Environmental Law Scholarship Friday, February 7, 2014Symposium 8am-5:30pmAll-Alumni Reception 6pm-8pm [Download the Berkeley Exchange event flyer] On Friday, February 7th, Berkeley Law’s Ecology Law Quarterly and Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment are proud to host their symposium, The Berkeley Exchange: Celebrating ...

By Penni Takade* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] California’s ambitious cap and trade program for greenhouse gases (GHG) began operations in 2013. The program is one of the centerpieces of the state’s climate mitigation plans. As with any major initiative, there are obstacles and weaknesses that can ...

by R. Trent Taylor* [ Click Here to Comment ] [ download PDF ] Obsolescence, the process of becoming obsolete, is a staple of our lives in the twenty-first century. As new and better technologies develop at a faster and faster pace, our existing technologies—smartphones, televisions, computers—become obsolete almost as ...

Matthew Thurlow* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ] <<< See Update, January 2, 2013, below >>> Sulfuric acid mist, also known as H2SO4 or SO3,[1] is one of the least publicized air pollutants associated with emissions from coal-fired power plants. Long overshadowed by nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, ...

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Anna Lund, Michelle Ben-David, and Ubaldo Fernandez* [ Click Here to Comment ][ download PDF ]  The following articles are student responses and observations of a selected few panels at Berkeley Law’s 2010 Symposium “Empowered Partnerships: Participatory Action Research for Environmental Justice” hosted by the Thelton E. Henderson Center for ...

Kara Cook, Maria Stamas, and Meredith Wilensky* [ Clck Here to Comment ][ download PDF ]    The Role of the Environmental Justice Lawyer PANELISTS: Kara Brodfehrer, Attorney, California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.;Alegria De La Cruz, Directing Attorney, Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment;Helen Kang, Director, Golden Gate University, ...

Fraser M. Shilling* [ jump to end/comments ][ download PDF ] California is not unique among states by virtue of having both a sizable urban fishing population and environmental pollution leading to fish contamination. Nor is it alone when it comes to having both highly diverse communities actively engaged in ...

Mark Vallianatos* [ jump to end/comments ][ download PDF ][ download Errata ] Food justice is the notion that everyone deserves healthy food and that the benefits and risks associated with food should be shared fairly. The concept borrows its distributional equity framework from the environmental justice movement, its focus ...