Resources and Further Reading

Science

Human activity, largely fossil fuel use, emits large amounts of heat-trapping gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, into the atmosphere, causing global heating and climate change. While it is too late to avoid the damage already underway as a result of past carbon emissions, most scientists believe that we can still thwart planet-altering levels of global warming by curbing our greenhouse gas emissions.

James Hansen, The Threat to the Planet, THE NEW YORK REVIEW, July 13, 2006. (Hansen, the leading climate scientist for NASA, warns that, if existing increases of carbon emissions (2% a year) continue for even another decade, temperatures will rise five degrees Fahrenheit during this century, which in turn could cause an 80-foot rise in sea level: "In that case, the United States would lost most East Coast cities: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Miami; indeed, practically the entire state of Florida would be under water. Fifty million people in the US live below that sea level. . . ." Id at 13.).

Pew Center on The Causes of Global Climate Change, Fact Sheet

Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the Arctic, Fact Sheet

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2007:
The Physical Science Basis, Summary for Policymakers

Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Climate Change 101: The Science and Impacts

Tom M. L. Wigley, National Center for Atmospheric Research, The Science of Climate Change: Global and U.S. Perspectives

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
Full report or Overview report downloadable at: http://amap.no/acia/

Environmental Protection Agency, Sea Level Rise Publications

Economics

The costs of not addressing atmospheric heating vastly exceed the costs of investing in carbon-free infrastructure now. Legislatures will spend more money in disaster response and broken infrastructure by failing to avert temperature rise. The private sector will experience greater losses and uncertainty in a world characterized by climate instability. While the transition to a carbon-free economy entails considerable cost, such an economy will provide efficiencies that will boost private sector economic growth.

Roberta Mann, The Case for the Carbon Tax: How to Overcome Politics and Find Our Green Destiny," 39 Environmental Law Reporter (2009).

Carbon Tax Center

Katie Kelley, City Approves 'Carbon Tax' In Effort to Reduce Gas Emissions, Boulder Carbon Tax Legislation, NEW YORK TIMES, November 18, 2006.

Law & Policy

The United States Congress - to date - has failed to enact any law which explicitly seeks to prevent, alter, or mitigate global climate change. Despite the absence of any comprehensive federal regulatory mechanism for addressing climate change, states and private actors are suing public and private entities under existing legal theories or provisions. Additionally, local and state governments, through regional and individual initiatives are adopting programs which seek to require or encourage efforts to combat climate change.

Public Trust Doctrine

Weinhold, Bob, "Lawyers Get Creative for Climate Change," Society of Environmental Journalists, http://www.sej.org/pub/index1.htm (May 28, 2008).

Mary Christina Wood, "Advancing the Sovereign Trust of Government to Safeguard the Environment for Present and Future Generations," Climate Legacy Initiative Project, (white paper) (May 2008). To read an executive summary of this article, click here.

Mary Christina Wood, "Nature's Trust: A Legal, Political and Moral Frame for Global Warming," 34:3 Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review (May 2007).

Other Helpful Links

Gateway to the UN System's Work on Climate Change

The Wedge Approach

Tackling Climate Change in the U.S. Potential U.S. Carbon Emissions Reductions from Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency by 2030

Professor Mary Wood's website