The Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) recently honored me with its Curtin Winsor award for lifetime achievement. PEC is a nonprofit statewide organization that aims to protect and restore the natural and built environments through innovation…
The American Bar Association has just published a short practical guide for lawyers who seek to build climate change and sustainable development work into their law practice, regardless of the practice area. The book, Sustainability Essentials: A…
In 2017 and 2021, the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) obtained decisions from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that royalties and other money the state receives from oil and gas drilling in state forests must be used to…
Much of my professional life is about law and policy concerning sustainable development and climate change. But there is another dimension to healing the earth and improving human wellbeing that receives less attention. “[U]nless there is…
A newly filed amicus brief in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court argues that the state’s Environmental Rights Amendment requires the Department of Environmental Protection to consider in advance the environmental impacts of its decisions. This is…
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an important normative framework the U.S. should use to improve human quality of life, freedom, and opportunity. See what 22 experts say about steps the Biden-Harris Administration should take now to…
Imagine that the government had the same responsibility for protecting the environment that your banker has for protecting your money. Could traditional trust law–the law that protects your bank account–strengthen environmental…
Students at Widener Commonwealth Law School have created a two-column comparison chart to enable you to quickly compare and contrast the positions of Joe Biden and Donald Trump on a range of sustainability and climate change issues. The chart is…
Almost 50 years ago, in 1971, Pennsylvania voters overwhelmingly approved an Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA) (Article I, Section 27) to the state constitution. The ERA creates a public trust in “public natural resources, and requires…
April 14–A new Model Laws for Deep Decarbonization in the United States website was launched today to help accelerate a sustainable U.S. transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions. It contains hundreds of model laws that can be provided…