Vibrant Environment

Climate Change And Sustainability


All | Biodiversity | Climate Change and Sustainability | Environmental Justice | Governance and Rule of Law | Land Use and Natural Resources | Oceans and Coasts | Pollution Control

All blog posts are the opinion of its author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of ELI, the organization, or its members.

For inquiries concerning ELI’s Vibrant Environment blog, please contact the Blog Editor at blogeditor@eli.org.


South Pole Sign - 6248 KM away
By Stephen R. Dujack

Something Was Messing With the Earth’s Axis. The Answer Has to Do With Us.” I have to take that headline in the New York Times personally, as a potentially responsible party more at fault and liable for damages than most.

Plastic Alien - photo by derekGavey / CC by 2.0 Deed
By Nick Collins

In late June, ELI co-hosted Moving Beyond Plastics: The Environmental Justice Impacts of Plastic Production, along with the Monterey Bay Aquarium and WilmerHale LLP.

Plastic bottles
By Taalin RaoShah, By John M. Doherty

Over the past decade, the issue of plastic waste has received growing attention, as powerful images of plastic in the natural environment have reached global audiences.

climate protest
By Jarryd Page

In 1972, amidst calls for reform and on the heels of the nation’s first Earth Day, Montana amended its constitution to include an inalienable “right to a clean and healthful environment.” According to Art.

fashion
By ELR Staff

The fashion industry is growing exponentially, as are marketers’ use of claims about “sustainability” and other environmental attributes of fashion garments. This month’s featured article in ELR—The Environmental Law Reporter explores recent instances of greenwashing in the fashion industry and efforts to address the problem, and proposes specific ways that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should improve its guidelines for environmental marketing claims and expand enforcement.

corn
By Peter Lehner

What we grow and consume in America has a profound impact on our lives. It is also directly influenced by federal policy, and most importantly the Farm Bill, a collection of government programs that requires renewal every five years. This sprawling legislation governs initiatives from farm subsidies to low-income nutrition support. In our second blog of this three-part series, we discuss the many sustainable practices that could improve our climate and environment, farmer livelihoods, and communities’ health.

Youth Protestors - There is no Planet B
By Jarryd Page

In June, arguments wrapped up in a Montana trial that was both routine and historic—Held v. Montana. Routine, because plaintiffs are calling upon Montana 1st Judicial District Judge Kathy Seeley to determine whether certain provisions of Montana law violate their rights under the state constitution. That will involve statutory interpretation and constitutional law, as applied to the facts—standard fare for a state trial judge of general jurisdiction.

By Peter Lehner

What we grow and consume in America has a profound impact on our lives. It is also directly influenced by federal policy, and most importantly the Farm Bill, a collection of government programs that requires renewal every five years. This sprawling legislation governs initiatives from farm subsidies to low-income nutrition support. In our first blog in this three-part series, we explain the severe environmental and climate impacts of modern industrial agriculture.

Planet Earth held by two hands in a green tint
By Kristine Perry

By formally recognizing the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment through two separate resolutions in 2022, the United Nations has set the stage for a more just and inclusive world. Big headlines like this often overlook all the background work necessary to make it happen. That’s what makes the 2023 UN Human Rights Prize incredibly exciting.

lightning bolt superhero style
By Jordan Diamond

My youngest child adores the superhero Flash. He slips a felt mask over his eyes and has me run around after him, feigning exhaustion and the inability to keep pace with his three-year-old legs. He is enamored with the idea of superspeed.

After reading the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released in late March, it seems we all must be. The IPCC found as a baseline that we are on track to exceed 2 degrees Celsius warming by the end of the century. How far we exceed it depends on what we do over the next two decades.