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Trump-Musk orders and firings thrash the public interest (Note: An earlier version was published in the Feb. 27, 2025 issue of the Eugene Weekly. Reprinted here with permission.) President Donald J. Trump’s project to take a chainsaw to duly authorized and appropriated funding — and eviscerate the very federal agencies that safeguard public health, safety,… Continue reading Climate Change & the Rule of Law

Readers here well understand the view of CPR Initiative and expert allies that current federal rules aiming to restrict greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions amount to an insufficient response to the climate crisis. Indeed, they entirely fail to acquit our special obligation as the nation responsible for the largest share of historical emissions. But that does… Continue reading Endangered Protections

On February 3, 2025, renowned climate scientist (and CPR Initiative Board Advisor) Dr. James E. Hansen and 17 colleagues published a remarkable study entitled “Global Warming Has Accelerated: Are the United Nations and the Public Well-Informed?” The study is freely available here. In addition, a video presentation by Dr. Hansen and colleagues, was made and… Continue reading Global Warming Acceleration

We need to understand more about the inordinately destructive Los Angeles firestorms. Better understanding, for instance, could induce rational changes in local, state and federal policy and planning, changes that might enable better containment of future fire in the region and beyond. On January 13, a team of UCLA scientists released a short report that… Continue reading Climate Fingerprints in the LA Burn

[Editor’s note: The following post is intended as a public service for readers in the Los Angeles region — and for CPR Initiative supporters who may be in touch with loved ones living there.] At this writing, at least five uncontrolled wildfires are visiting destruction across Los Angeles from end to end. Many homes, entire… Continue reading Los Angeles, Burning

On Saturday, December 14, 2024, in further reporting from The Hague, I was interviewed by Myanna Dellinger about the just-concluded oral proceedings before the International Court of Justice on the Legal Obligations of States with Respect Climate Change. Formerly a tenured law professor, Myanna Dellinger is an award-winning legal researcher and Fulbright scholar who serves… Continue reading Four Critical Questions at Year’s End

The international Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court, is housed at the Peace Palace in The Hague. Here I will just refer to it as “the Court” for the simple reason that, despite its exceptionally rarified air, the ICJ is indeed a court after all.1As for the Peace Palace itself, it… Continue reading A Small Flame, Burning Bright

The World Court Takes On the Climate Crisis What difference would an Order from the World Court make to the domestic and international struggle to arrest dangerous climate change? We should find out soon. That is because, commencing on Dec. 2, 2024, the International Court of Justice (known widely as the World Court) meeting in… Continue reading What’s International Law Got to Do With It?

I flew to Philadelphia last Friday to walk precincts in that key city in an important swing state. It was necessary to urge people to get out and vote in the then-pending, now-completed, national election. Many addresses had broken doorbells, and front windows with cracked or missing panes. A number of them fronted micro-porches littered… Continue reading Walking Philadelphia

On a cold, clear night in Washington D.C., some three years ago, I ended our first nation-wide speaking tour on the climate crisis. To mark the moment, I walked the city’s most iconic path. At its start, framed by the flag and the moon, our illuminated Capitol presented itself. Coupled with recognition of our darkening… Continue reading The American Way

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Update on my previous post, in which I mentioned the exploding Park Fire of Northern California: Earlier this week the New York Times reported that the Park Fire is rapidly developing into the 4th largest wildfire in California recorded history. And indeed, by the time this short update is posted, the Park Fire may have… Continue reading Across a Hot, Bone-Dry Landscape

Increasingly our wild lands are ablaze. On Thursday, I used a fire mapping tool from NASA and the US Forest Service to garner a current image of active North American wildland fire. Fig. 1, below, indicates that these now pocket vast stretches of the American West, and nearly every Canadian province. The widespread severe wildfire… Continue reading The American West, and Canada, Burning

Speaking from the Oval Office in the wake of Saturday’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump, a cogent Joe Biden made the case that violence has no legitimate place in America. Addressing “the need to lower the temperature in our politics,” he observed that the political arena “has gotten so heated. . . [i]t’s time to… Continue reading California, Burning: Is it time to cool down?

Loss of Chevron Deference is No Excuse

Former President Trump has promised repeatedly that, should he retake office, he will assume dictatorial powers, if only on Day One, in order to launch a massive expansion of oil and gas drilling, among other things…

Our unenviable predicament with respect to our planet’s climate system is the direct consequence of scores of critical decisions taken by government and industry. Can we expect to soon learn more about how these key actors interact? In an important 2021 article, Benjamin Franta, then a Stanford University-based researcher, established that the disinformation campaign launched… Continue reading On the Duty to Tell the Truth About Oil, Gas and Coal

Mark. It. Down. April 25, 2024 On this day, oral argument was held before the Supreme Court, in Trump v. The United States. The critical question: whether former President Trump was (and is) immune from prosecution under the criminal law. I predict this extraordinary argument will redound in history as a reflection point for our… Continue reading “A Key Assumption”

I had hoped that EPA’s proposed methane Waste Emissions Charge, intended to implement a part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act — and to complement the just-published oil and gas rules — would be a step in the right direction. The new CH4 charge, after all, will amount to the first national fee imposed on… Continue reading A Real Methane Fee (Not)

Several months ago, from Dubai, I offered an elementary observation in a talk to a number of climate activists: We simply cannot, and must not, depend on the US judicial system to rescue the nation from the present unprecedented threat to American Democracy. In particular, I stated that even a “very well-grounded effort” to invoke Section… Continue reading Supreme Illogic: Our High Court’s Tortured Ballot-Access Ruling