What's New in Environmental Law

By Alice Min, S25 Environmental Clinic Student For 32 years, John Hickey worked at the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics factory in Hoosick Falls, New York. He died soon after his retirement at age 68 due to a sudden and aggressive kidney cancer. In 2014, his son Michael Hickey, suspicious of the… read more 

By Amberlynn Beck, S25 Environmental Clinic Student Texas is making significant strides in expanding public lands with the recent purchase of over 2,000 acres in Burnet County, for a new state park, and more than 3,000 acres to expand Enchanted Rock Natural Area in Llano County in January 2025.[1] These… read more 

 By Carol Wan, S25 Environmental Clinic Student Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have long been known to be a significant contributor to global warming due to its greenhouse gas properties. Greenhouse gases trap infrared heat in Earth’s atmosphere, causing the Earth’s temperature to rise. Ever since the modern recording of atmospheric… read more 

By Beatrice Anderson, S25 Environmental Clinic Student Global Coral Reef Systems and Climate Change Aptly nicknamed the “rainforests of the sea”, coral reefs are home to an astonishing 25% of all marine life, despite covering less than 1% of the ocean floor. Coral reefs are an essential part of marine… read more 

By Amelia Thayer, S25 Environmental Clinic Student INTRODUCTION Long before European contact, Native American tribes relied on the buffalo[1] for a significant portion of their food, clothing, and tools. The bond between the Lakota Nation and Tataŋka (the buffalo) is sacred. Buffalo have cared for the Lakota people for millennia,… read more 

By Luey Garcia, F24 Environmental Clinic student Carbon credits, sometimes referred to as “nature-based solutions,” follow a straightforward concept: companies that emit pollutants pay to develop projects that mitigate those emissions, usually measured in tons of carbon dioxide. This aims to advance the “Just Transition” by helping companies either meet… read more 

A view of nighttime lights from NASA/NOAA. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/earth-atnight/ By Chloe Fisher, F24 Environmental Clinic Student With fossil fuel emissions driving climate change and the effects of climate change becoming reality, rather than conjecture, reducing our global carbon footprint is more important than ever for the health of our planet and… read more 

Kazue Asano / Flickr By Moosa Zaidi, S23 Environmental Clinic Student The recent $11 billion settlement in a suit against Monsanto over the herbicide Roundup might lead some to think we are winning the battle on regulating harmful chemicals in the environment, but in reality we are still losing the war.… read more 

By Nina Reed, S23 Environmental Clinic Student The climate crisis has spurred a number of changes across industries. One avenue used to tackle the issue of climate change has been the through the clean energy transition. As the burning of fossil fuels remains the dominant cause of global warming, there have… read more 

By Tiphaine Kugener, S23 Environmental Clinic Student In the coming decades, the United States needs more power generation and energy transmission capacity to meet environmental goals and increasing energy demand. This means using more land. As of April 2021, the US energy sector takes up over 81 million acres of land,… read more