Environmental Law

Ethan Elkind, director of the Climate Program at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, UC Berkeley School of Law discusses what it would take to make cycling safer in California, and how can we improve the state’s biking infrastructure to encourage more riders?

“Like affordable housing, mobility and transportation are a basic human right,” said Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program for the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at University of California Berkeley law school.

“Just as cities don’t wait for rush hour to erect traffic lights, the state shouldn’t wait until widespread water scarcity strikes again to empower the Water Board to respond effectively,” write Nell Green Nylen, senior research fellow at the Wheeler Water Institute in the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at Berkeley Law, Michael Kiparsky, director of the Wheeler Water Institute and Dave Owen, professor at UC College of the Law San Francisco. 

“Gadfly, provocateur, contrarian,” said Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at UC Berkeley, after being asked to describe the group. “They present themselves as, ‘We’re basically liberals, just ones who arrive at different conclusions.’ ”

“The fish don’t care if the lawyers are trying to figure out who’s right or wrong if they’re dead,” said Michael Kiparsky, water program director at the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law.

Michael Kiparsky, director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the UC Berkeley School of Law, said it’s vital that state officials look ahead now to improve how the system functions to respond to the next drought.

State law mandates that California switch to clean energy and achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. Offshore wind could play an important role, said Ethan Elkind, director of the climate program at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, because the power it generates is somewhat more constant than land-based wind or solar.

The community action group Clean Cape Fear in North Carolina, US, has joined forces with the University of California Berkeley Environmental Law Clinic to formally request that the United Nations investigate multiple alleged human rights violations related to chemical manufacturer Chemours’ release of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from its Fayetteville plant along the lower Cape Fear river.

If the UN human rights commission chooses to investigate, a special rapporteur would fact-check the allegations in the communication, then issue “pointed” allegation letters to regulators, Chemours and other culpable parties detailing problems and posing questions, said Claudia Polsky, director of UC Berkley Law Clinic.

“The Special Rapporteur can’t compel any action,” said Claudia Polsky, director of UC Berkeley’s Environmental Law Clinic. “But if he decides to investigate the allegations and recommends the companies or agencies take any of the requested actions, the public attention often spurs alleged offenders to respond publicly.”