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One of the defining issues of our time – sea level rise – promises to impact millions of Americans in the coming years and decades.  But while the science of sea level rise is becoming more and more accurate and predictable, and the need to adapt to a changing future more clear, the legal and policy implications of doing so are anything but obvious. In this episode, Jarryd Page, a staff attorney a...

As the Agency responsible for protecting human health and the environment across the entirety of the United States, EPA has developed EJSCREEN, a mapping and screening tool that combines environmental and demographic data to highlight areas with potential environmental justice concerns. In February, EPA released EJSCREEN 2.0, adding new indicators and datasets to the tool. In this episode, Nicole...

Linda Breggin, a Senior Attorney at ELI and Director of ELI’s Center for State, Tribal and Local Environmental Programs, talks to Professors Monte Mills and Martin Nie about their article, Bridges to a New Era: A Report on the Past, Present, and Potential Future of Tribal Co-Management on Federal Public Lands . In it, they posit that the United States can meaningfully connect public land law to th...

As climate change impacts become more visible and the urgency for climate action continues, it is important to remember that we need to address emissions from all sectors, not just from fossil fuels. In this episode, we dig into the policies, legal reforms, and actions the United States should undertake to make the agricultural industry carbon neutral.  ★ Support this podcast ★

Interest and urgency in advancing environmental justice (EJ) has gained new momentum. As such, it is becoming increasingly important for companies to proactively address EJ issues. How might companies’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments strengthen and work in tandem with EJ initiatives?  In this episode, Stacey Sublett Halliday and Julius Redd of Beveridge & Diamond recap...

This past spring, the Environmental Law Institute released A Toolkit for Incorporating Food Waste in Municipal Climate Action Plans , which provides municipalities and stakeholders with model provisions that will make it easier to incorporate food waste measures into municipal climate action plans. In this episode, ELI’s Linda Breggin and Akielly Hu speak to contributors to the report, Kendra Abko...

On February 14, ELI launched the Pro Bono Clearinghouse to ensure that communities with viable environmental legal matters get the representation they need, whether that be in a courtroom, in front of an agency, or in a more facilitative or consultative fashion. In this episode, Kristine Perry , a staff attorney at ELI, is joined by Scott Wilson Badenoch Jr. , a Visiting Attorney at ELI, and Ariel...

Environmental Justice (EJ) has gained new momentum in recent years, amplified by a global focus on social justice, climate, and equity. Yet this new-found energy and focus on environmental is best understood through the lens of those who have been working toward EJ for decades. In this episode, John Cruden, a Principal at Beveridge & Diamond, talks to renowned EJ leader and advocate Benjamin F...

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment & Natural Resources Division (ENRD) is tasked with enforcing the United States’ civil and criminal environmental laws. In this episode, Nicole Noelliste, a managing associate in the environmental practice at Sidley Austin LLP, talks with John Cruden, former Assistant Attorney General of the ENRD (2015-2017), and David Buente, former Chief of the ENR...

Sharks play an essential role in the marine ecosystem. But many species of migratory sharks and rays have become endangered due to overfishing and excessive bycatch in industrial fisheries. And given their migratory nature, sharks and rays are “beyond the national jurisdiction” of any one nation and therefore difficult to protect and regulate. Greta Swanson, a Visiting Attorney at ELI, offers insi...

Environmental justice embraces the principle that all people deserve equal access to environmental protection and enforcement while acknowledging the fact that, both historically and still today, this fails to play out in reality. Recognizing that the legal system has contributed to an unequal distribution of environmental burdens and benefits, ELI is committed to providing research and educationa...

Last November, as the world focused its attention on the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, high school students in Dane County, Wisconsin, co-sponsored and moderated a climate action conference of their own that connected COP26 to local climate initiatives and progress. Rebecca Kihslinger, a Senior Science and Policy Analyst at ELI, talks to four of the student organizers — Daphne Wu, Clai...

Interest and urgency in advancing environmental justice has gained new momentum. The Biden-Harris Administration has placed an unprecedented federal focus on environmental justice using a whole of government approach. Meanwhile, a growing list of states continue to develop, implement, and enforce EJ-focused legislation, accelerated by the intensity at the federal level. Will this momentum carry in...

Land use climate bubbles are popping up all over the nation at an alarming rate, and they could very well lead to an economic crisis that will be more damaging than that of the housing bubble of 2008. What can we do to respond? Land Use Law expert John Nolon describes how the local land use legal system can leverage state and federal assistance to reduce per capita carbon emissions as an important...

As investor demand for climate and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) products soars, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formed a climate and ESG task force and taken other steps.  In this episode, Justin Savage, a Partner at Sidley Austin LLP, talks with Kelly Gibson, Director of the SEC’s Philadelphia Regional Office who also leads the Climate and ESG Task Force with...

Environmental Justice has gained new momentum in recent years, amplified by a global focus on social justice, climate, and equity. Shortly after taking office, President Biden released Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crises at Home and Abroad . The Executive Order includes a new initiative, Justice40, which states that 40% of the overall benefits from specific federal investments—inclu...

Environmental Justice (EJ) has gained new momentum in recent years, amplified by a global focus on social justice, climate, and equity. The Biden-Harris Administration has brought EJ to the federal spotlight, and even before 2021, states were starting to implement ambitious, history-making EJ-focused legislation. But what about corporate America? In this episode, Roy Prather, a Shareholder at Beve...

It’s official: climate change isn’t the future. It’s here now. How ready are we for this unwelcome visitor? And how prepared are we to adapt to the climate change impacts we’re already experiencing—at every level of government? ELI’s Cynthia Harris talks to three climate law experts—Dr. Barrett Ristroph, Katie Spidalieri, and Jennifer Li—about climate adaptation at the federal, state, and local le...

The United States has enacted hundreds of environmental laws and regulations to keep our communities and the people who live in them healthy and safe. But what should be done when these legal safety nets fail, as is too often the case with environmental justice concerns and racial environmental health inequalities? In this episode, ELI’s Caitlin McCarthy talks to Dr. Neha Pathak, a Medical Editor...

EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division is tasked with investigating the most significant and egregious environmental violations – ones that are negligent, knowing, or willful. In this episode, Justin Savage, a Partner at Sidley Austin LLP, talks with Jessica Taylor, the Director of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division. Joining them is Doug Parker, who served as the Division’s Director from 2012-20...

For more than a decade, ELI and Vanderbilt University Law School have featured some of the year’s best academic thinking on legal and policy solutions to pressing environmental problems via the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review ( ELPAR ).  This episode gives listeners a preview to this year’s issue, which hits the streets in August and features articles and commentary on climate change li...

After millennia of humankind exploiting terrestrial resources, national governments and private enterprises alike are eyeing the skies. There’s evidence of asteroids containing precious metals. Ice on the Moon can be extracted to generate drinking water, oxygen, hydrogen, and helium-3. And Mars has useful minerals, ice, and perhaps even liquid water. All of this requires mining—a pollution-heavy i...

Migration—the temporary or permanent movement of people from one place of residence to another, within a country or across an international border—occurs for myriad reasons. It also involves a host of dangers, complications, and risks. “Migration with Dignity” is a new concept increasingly being used to promote voluntary migration in the pursuit of life with dignity. In this episode, we hear from...

In the first few weeks of the Biden-Harris Administration, we’ve seen an unprecedented environmental justice (EJ) campaign platform develop into far-reaching executive actions. But even before the Biden-Harris campaign brought EJ to the federal spotlight, states were starting to implement ambitious, history-making EJ-focused legislation, a trend that appears to be continuing into 2021.  In this ep...

Since 1989, ELI has honored over 200 champions of wetlands protection through the National Wetlands Awards program, which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional effort, innovation, and excellence in protecting these critical ecosystems. In this episode, hear from our five 2021 awardees, who share their perspectives and insight on a variety of wetlands-related matters.  ★ Support...