Hothouse Earth

Christophe Courchesne, director of the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law and Graduate School, speaks with Alejandro Camacho, professor of law at UCLA School of Law. Camacho’s latest book with Brigham Daniels, Lessons for a Warming Planet: A Vital History of US Environmental Law, traces the history of U.S. environmental law from colonization to the present, examining five distinct areas, high...

Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice—the world’s largest nonprofit public interest environmental law organization—gives an inspiring address to Vermont Law and Graduate School graduates and audience members alike for VLGS’s 50th commencement.

On the latest episode, Pat Parenteau, Professor of Law Emeritus and Senior Fellow for Climate Policy at the Environmental Law Center, joins Rachel Westrate and Terrence Neal, Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Parenteau Climate Action Fellows, to discuss EPA's international role, past and present. They discuss the EPA's longtime role in international environmental cooperation, the current Administr...

Our host, Lindi von Mutius JD'08, visiting professor of law at Vermont Law and Graduate School, Class of 1946 Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies at Williams College, and inaugural director of the Center for Environmental Networks, chats with Chandra Taylor-Sawyer, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). She is also SELC's Environmental Justice Initiative lead...

Natural and man-made disasters are an important and increasingly relevant topic for us all. World-renowned expert Dr. Kirsten Bookmiller, professor in the Department of Government, Law, and International Relations and a faculty associate with the Center for Disaster Research and Education at Millersville University, discusses the complex impact of disasters on every level, including human rights,...

As part of the 2025 Hot Topics in Environmental Law Summer Lecture Series, Sean Donahue, partner at Donahue, Goldberg & Herzog, and Bob Percival, director of the Environmental Law Program and the Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, discuss recent Supreme Court decisions and the state of environmental law during the second Trump adminis...

As part of our Hot Topics in Environmental Law Summer Lecture Series, Sharmila Murthy, Northeastern University School of Law, gives an impactful Hot Topics lecture, “Sustaining Environmental Justice,” that dovetails with our last episode (28), "Advancing Environmental Justice in a Chaotic Time," by Marianne Engelman Lado, New York University School of Law and Vermont Law and Graduate School Distin...

As part of our Hot Topics in Environmental Law Summer Lecture Series, Marianne Engelman Lado, New York University School of Law and Vermont Law and Graduate School Distinguished Environmental Law Summer Scholar, talks about how to advance environmental justice in a chaotic time.

Julia Olson, co-executive director and chief legal counsel of Our Children's Trust, a nonprofit law firm she founded in 2010 to empower young people to secure their climate rights, delivered an empowering environmental honorary degree lecture at Vermont Law and Graduate School.

Edward Keable, Superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park, chats with Callum LaFrance, Legal Fellow for the Environmental Justice Clinic and the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School. They discuss the intricacies of managing the Grand Canyon National Park. Learn more - listen to the Behind the Scenery (U.S. National Park Service) podcast series. The latest ep...

Hothouse Earth is excited to share a special cross-podcast from the New Books Network, featuring over 15,000 interviews with authors about their latest books. Last month, New Books Network host Stephen Pimpare, professor of Public Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School, spoke with J. Mijin Cha, assistant professor of Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz and Vermont Law and Graduate School’s D...

Co-hosts Mia Montoya Hammersley, director of the Environmental Justice Clinic at VLGS, and Savannah Collins JD/MCEP’26 speak with Elizabeth (Lizzie) Lewis, senior associate at Eubanks and Associates, about NEPA and the recent D.C. Circuit decision in Marin Audubon Society v. FAA.

Guest host Christophe Courchesne talks to Sean Donahue, a partner at Donahue, Goldberg, and Herzog, and Bob Percival, director of the Environmental Law Program and the Robert F Stanton Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, in the second of two episodes about U.S. Supreme Court rulings this last term that upended administrative law and threaten to diminish...

Guest host, Christophe Courchesne talks to Sean Donahue, a partner at Donahue, Goldberg, and Herzog, and Bob Percival, director of the Environmental Law Program and the Robert F Stanton Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, about the Supreme Court rulings this year that have diminished environmental protections.

The Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic addresses animal issues in the fight for environmental protection. Listen to Laura Fox chat with host Laura Ireland about the Clinic, which is part of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School, and the accomplishments of the year.

Listen to Robert Percival, director of the Environmental Law Program, Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, chat with host Laura Ireland about the possibility of states using tort litigation to make oil companies accountable for their role in climate change misinformation.

Listen to  Jenny Rushlow , dean of the Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment, professor of law, and faculty director of the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law and Graduate School talk about the Montana Court's ruling on Held v. State of Montana , how it relates to other cases such as the landmark climate law case she argued and won before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Kain v....

Listen to Cale Jaffe, professor of law and director of the Environmental Law and Community Engagement Clinic at University of Virginia School of Law, chat about the Supreme Court's ruling on Sackett v. EPA and his idea of climate whisperers.

In this episode, Pat Parenteau, Professor of Law Emeritus and Senior Fellow for Climate Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School, chats about his career and how environmental law and policy has evolved, with podcast host, Jeannie Oliver, professor of law and staff attorney at VLGS’s Energy Clinic. Thank you to the Vermont School for the Environment at Vermont Law and Graduate School, Jenifer Rush...

Guests David Deen, President, Connecticut River Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Trout Unlimited Vermont Council, former VT state legislator for 30 years Kathy Urffer, River Steward, Connecticut River Conservancy Julia MacDonald JD'21, Vermont Law School  Peter Malicky MELP'21, Vermont Law School Recommended Resources To get an update on the latest in surface water legislation in VT, visit the A...

Patents on living things threaten biodiversity and our resilience against climate change. In this episode, we examine how a VLS professor is helping plant breeders use “defensive publication” to keep innovations open-source and promote biodiversity. Guests Jim Myers , Professor, Vegetable Breeding and Genetics, Oregon State University Emily Spiegel , Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, Vermon...

The second episode in the Hothouse Earth Podcast’s “Elevate” miniseries features Brandi Colander JD’06. One of the first students to complete VLS’s dual degree with the Yale School of the Environment, Colander has a career that spans sectors and disciplines. Her work shows that environmental law can expand well beyond the scope of traditional environmentalism, intersecting with social justice and...

Guest Karin Sheldon, President of Four Echoes Strategies and Adjunct Professor at Colorado Law University of Colorado Boulder Hosts Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney, Energy Clinic Veronica Ung-Kono JD/MERL 2021 Recommended Resources Bowman, Cynthia Grant, Women in the Legal Profession from the 1920s to the 1970s: What Can We Learn from Their Experience about Law and Social Ch...