I know the birthright thing has led to many complaints abt structural flaws in the legal academy, many of which I’ve made myself.
But also? How many lawprofs are really making this anti-history argument. It’s 3 or 4, right?
There are ~10,000 law profs in the US.
That points to something else.
A possible super El Niño is coming, which means extreme heat and droughts all over the planet. As the climate crisis worsens, these extreme weather events are bound to get wilder. Are we prepared?
There was ONE ATC in the tower at LGA during last night's crash.
ONE ATC, at LGA!, dealing w ALL air and ground traffic, including a plane filling w a strange smell and no gate to return to.
The Pentagon wants $200B for a vanity war, but our ATC towers are empty.
Budgets are moral documents.
This report shows that cities can achieve what was once thought impossible: cutting toxic air pollution by 20-45% in a little over a decade. London, Beijing and San Francisco have done it with EV’s, bike lanes and shutting down fossil fuel burning. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
In a new @latimes.com Op-Ed, I discuss how Kansas’s recent law invalidating 1,700 transgender individuals’ driver’s licenses raises significant questions about proportionality and administrative purpose. It criminalizes trans folks for no benefit to anyone. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
So, we are going to regulate your company like a utility, right?
Finally someone said it. The "housing supply"/Abundance strategy only goes so far if we are not paying enough attention to what kind of housing we are building and for whom. Seems intuitive for me, but good to see new empirical data documenting this reality check.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/r...
New special issue! Read it here: escholarship.org/uc/lawandpol...
This issue features an introduction by Sumudu Atapattu and Carmen G. Gonzalez, articles by @juliadehm.bsky.social, @sheilarose.bsky.social, Usha Natarajan, and Erika George, and book reviews by Shohini Sengupta and Carolina Saito.
Trump pulled US out of Paris Climate Agreement in 2017 & again (after Biden rejoined) in 2025. Now he withdraws US from UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as Project 2025 wanted. In 1992 the Senate unanimously ratified & President GHW Bush signed it. Re-ratifying requires a 2/3 Senate vote.
"What gives you hope?" is a tough prompt in these times, but one that's always worth reflecting on and sharing. Here are some thoughts from me and my colleagues around the Columbia Climate School (@climate.columbia.edu @sheilarose.bsky.social and more)
keep thinking of a vocally anti-woke reporter who insisted that the term "environmental racism" was nonsense
Proud to announce that my article "Racialized Landscapes and Climate Adaptation Economies" is now out in the Journal of Law and Political Economy's symposium on Racial Capitalism, Climate Change, and Law.
Article can be accessed here:
escholarship.org/uc/item/1f56...
The rate of global mean sea level rise has increased from ~2.1 mm/year in 1993 to ~4.5 mm/year in 2023. www.nature.com/articles/s43...
Great article by @sheilarose.bsky.social calling for “just adaptation economies” that embed antidisplacement measures in resilience investments, support community ownership/stewardship of land and prioritize policies to counteract persistent social/spatial inequities escholarship.org/uc/item/1f56...
Thank you, Julian!!
Qianjiadong Reservoir in southern Hunan, China, produces a double harvest: solar energy and yellow carp. The solar farm produces up to 80 megawatts of power while the fish forage beneath the panels. With a massive scale-up of solar and wind at home and cheap exports of the technology, China is driving a worldwide surge of renewable energy—Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year.
Science has named the seemingly unstoppable growth of renewable energy worldwide as the 2025 Breakthrough of the Year.
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: https://scim.ag/493Tpgx
COP30 overpromised, underdelivered, empowered distractions, backtracked on issues and once again gave big oil and big ag a free pass.
Unfortunately, the suspicions of climate scientists (here in Brazil and abroad) were confirmed again.
Recently back from #COP30. This is spot on- "if it wasn’t clear already, fundamental changes must now be made in the UNFCCC rules. A small number of rogue nations cannot be allowed to block progress for the rest of the world."
Wednesday 3:21 pm: A 252 mph wind measured by a dropsonde (weather instrument dropped from Hurricane Reconnaissance flight to observe wind/temperature/dewpoint as it descends to the surface) in Hurricane Melissa is the strongest wind on record measured in a hurricane: news.ucar.edu/133047/recor...
If a 2003-style heatwave hit Europe today, at ~1.5°C warming, it could cause ~18k deaths in a week, rising to ~32k at 3°C.
Even with current adaptation, extreme-heat mass-mortality events remain plausible.
Every 0.1°C of warming matters....
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Aerial view of dense green forest partially affected by deforestation. The image is used to illustrate a news article about global climate policy, with a headline stating "Climate policy strengthens globally, despite unprecedented contestation in the US and Europe". The source of the article is University of Oxford, as indicated in the footer.
NEW: As world leaders meet at #COP30, Oxford research reveals which countries are turning climate promises into action and which aren’t. 🌍
The Climate Policy Monitor gives the clearest picture yet of how national laws stack up against global climate goals.
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Zohran Mamdani would not be the first Dem socialist Mayor of NYC. Other Mayors, like LaGuardia and Dinkins, governed like socialists and/or embraced socialism. Though "City Hall has never had a leader with ties quite that close to democratic socialism," as Mamdani.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/n...
Hoping for more candidates like this. We need to reclaim Christianity and the moral/ethical high ground from those who have used it as a weapon against the most powerless and marginalized populations in our society.
substack.com/@luciaromano...
12 Benchmarks of our slide to autocracy. We are not there yet, but we will be if we are complacent. I found this a useful read from the NY Times editorial board.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
NOAA aerial imagery is coming in. Hurricane Melissa literally turned western Jamaica from green to brown. Vegetation damage is immense — recovery will take years.
“To watch a glacier collapse is to feel the full weight of climate change.”
Former Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s new piece for Meidas+ is a breathtaking, and heartbreaking, firsthand look at Alaska’s vanishing world.
It's smart politics and ultimately more responsive to everyday voters' concerns to push for policies to achieve"energy affordability," understanding that addressing climate change (mitigation) is embedded in the DNA of those policies.
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
“.. Penn has rejected the White House’s proposed preferential funding compact, according to a Thursday email to the University community.”
www.thedp.com/article/2025...
