I know the birthright thing has led to many complaints abt structural flaws in the legal academy, many of which I’ve made myself. But also? How many lawprofs are really making this anti-history argument. It’s 3 or 4, right? There are ~10,000 law profs in the US. That points to something else.

A possible super El Niño is coming, which means extreme heat and droughts all over the planet. As the climate crisis worsens, these extreme weather events are bound to get wilder. Are we prepared?

There was ONE ATC in the tower at LGA during last night's crash. ONE ATC, at LGA!, dealing w ALL air and ground traffic, including a plane filling w a strange smell and no gate to return to. The Pentagon wants $200B for a vanity war, but our ATC towers are empty. Budgets are moral documents.

This report shows that cities can achieve what was once thought impossible: cutting toxic air pollution by 20-45% in a little over a decade. London, Beijing and San Francisco have done it with EV’s, bike lanes and shutting down fossil fuel burning. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

In a new @latimes.com Op-Ed, I discuss how Kansas’s recent law invalidating 1,700 transgender individuals’ driver’s licenses raises significant questions about proportionality and administrative purpose. It criminalizes trans folks for no benefit to anyone. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

So, we are going to regulate your company like a utility, right?

Finally someone said it. The "housing supply"/Abundance strategy only goes so far if we are not paying enough attention to what kind of housing we are building and for whom. Seems intuitive for me, but good to see new empirical data documenting this reality check. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/r...

New special issue! Read it here: escholarship.org/uc/lawandpol... This issue features an introduction by Sumudu Atapattu and Carmen G. Gonzalez, articles by @juliadehm.bsky.social, @sheilarose.bsky.social, Usha Natarajan, and Erika George, and book reviews by Shohini Sengupta and Carolina Saito.

Trump pulled US out of Paris Climate Agreement in 2017 & again (after Biden rejoined) in 2025. Now he withdraws US from UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as Project 2025 wanted. In 1992 the Senate unanimously ratified & President GHW Bush signed it. Re-ratifying requires a 2/3 Senate vote.

"What gives you hope?" is a tough prompt in these times, but one that's always worth reflecting on and sharing. Here are some thoughts from me and my colleagues around the Columbia Climate School (@climate.columbia.edu @sheilarose.bsky.social and more)

keep thinking of a vocally anti-woke reporter who insisted that the term "environmental racism" was nonsense

Proud to announce that my article "Racialized Landscapes and Climate Adaptation Economies" is now out in the Journal of Law and Political Economy's symposium on Racial Capitalism, Climate Change, and Law. Article can be accessed here: escholarship.org/uc/item/1f56...

The rate of global mean sea level rise has increased from ~2.1 mm/year in 1993 to ~4.5 mm/year in 2023. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Great article by @sheilarose.bsky.social calling for “just adaptation economies” that embed antidisplacement measures in resilience investments, support community ownership/stewardship of land and prioritize policies to counteract persistent social/spatial inequities escholarship.org/uc/item/1f56...

Science has named the seemingly unstoppable growth of renewable energy worldwide as the 2025 Breakthrough of the Year. Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: https://scim.ag/493Tpgx

COP30 overpromised, underdelivered, empowered distractions, backtracked on issues and once again gave big oil and big ag a free pass. Unfortunately, the suspicions of climate scientists (here in Brazil and abroad) were confirmed again.

Recently back from #COP30. This is spot on- "if it wasn’t clear already, fundamental changes must now be made in the UNFCCC rules. A small number of rogue nations cannot be allowed to block progress for the rest of the world."

Wednesday 3:21 pm: A 252 mph wind measured by a dropsonde (weather instrument dropped from Hurricane Reconnaissance flight to observe wind/temperature/dewpoint as it descends to the surface) in Hurricane Melissa is the strongest wind on record measured in a hurricane: news.ucar.edu/133047/recor...

If a 2003-style heatwave hit Europe today, at ~1.5°C warming, it could cause ~18k deaths in a week, rising to ~32k at 3°C. Even with current adaptation, extreme-heat mass-mortality events remain plausible. Every 0.1°C of warming matters.... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

NEW: As world leaders meet at #COP30, Oxford research reveals which countries are turning climate promises into action and which aren’t. 🌍 The Climate Policy Monitor gives the clearest picture yet of how national laws stack up against global climate goals. 🧵 [1/10]

Zohran Mamdani would not be the first Dem socialist Mayor of NYC. Other Mayors, like LaGuardia and Dinkins, governed like socialists and/or embraced socialism. Though "City Hall has never had a leader with ties quite that close to democratic socialism," as Mamdani. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/n...

Hoping for more candidates like this. We need to reclaim Christianity and the moral/ethical high ground from those who have used it as a weapon against the most powerless and marginalized populations in our society. substack.com/@luciaromano...

12 Benchmarks of our slide to autocracy. We are not there yet, but we will be if we are complacent. I found this a useful read from the NY Times editorial board. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

NOAA aerial imagery is coming in. Hurricane Melissa literally turned western Jamaica from green to brown. Vegetation damage is immense — recovery will take years.

“To watch a glacier collapse is to feel the full weight of climate change.” Former Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s new piece for Meidas+ is a breathtaking, and heartbreaking, firsthand look at Alaska’s vanishing world.

It's smart politics and ultimately more responsive to everyday voters' concerns to push for policies to achieve"energy affordability," understanding that addressing climate change (mitigation) is embedded in the DNA of those policies. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

“.. Penn has rejected the White House’s proposed preferential funding compact, according to a Thursday email to the University community.” www.thedp.com/article/2025...

Brown rejected the compact! www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...

Worth a read. Why you should blame the current administration when your energy bills go up. "You do not have to care about climate change to believe that clean energy is an important and strategic resource." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/o...

As the current national administration seeks to prop up coal -- a highly polluting and uneconomic technology of the past -- the global economy and investors are sending a very different signal about where the future of energy is headed: www.eenews.net/articles/ren...

NEW STUDY Since I was born, 500 Black neighborhoods have vanished And 500,000 Black people have been lost All due to urban revitalization projects Like the one for LA’s new coliseum — for the Clippers and ‘26 Olympics — that’s destroying Inglewood @adamlmahoney.bsky.social @capitalb.bsky.social

U.S. climate and energy federalism at work! www.eenews.net/articles/col...

For the first time on record, renewable energy generated more electricity for the planet than coal, a new report says. n.pr/47hcegr

"You're here for a reason. Find the reason and do your bit." Dr. Jane knew what her reason was. And she did her part. Do you know your reason? Are you doing your part? You can help move forward the work that Dr. Jane started: JaneGoodall.ca/RememberingJane.

In order for the United States to become a party to the International Criminal Court and have our officials be subject to trial at The Hague, the US Senate would need to ratify the Rome statute by a two-thirds vote. Let’s start running on that.

I can’t believe I’m watching interviews of city mayors talking about how they are coordinating with other mayors to discuss how to protect their residents FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES I know we are “used to it” but it is absolutely insane

“To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police.” - Judge William Young, September 30, 2025

This is a video summary of www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... about what has halted collapses of Democracy before. Via @bwyble.bsky.social by @marinanord.bsky.social (of @hertieschool.bsky.social, coincidentally!) @fabioangiolillo.bsky.social @silindberg.bsky.social & al.

The EPA is attempting to deny climate change and rollback critical scientific findings.     Unlike our federal government, I know climate change is real and I'm taking action to fight back.

New on MSNBC: According to the court transcript, only 14 of the 23 grand jurors voted in favor of indicting James Comey on the two counts that went forward.

It's remarkable that Mamdani has successfully courted the establishment and broadened his voting base without moving right on policy. His platform remains in tact. He has backtracked from language he used in the past, but not given policy concessions to centrists. newrepublic.com/article/2009...

To our national democratic leaders, please take note. Let's embrace and not run from the next gen of leaders.🙏🏾 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/n...

Jimmy Kimmel: “Maybe most of all, I want to thank the people who don’t support my show and what I believe, but support my right to share those beliefs anyway. People I never would have imagined, like Ben Shapiro, Clay Travis, Candace Owens, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul. Even my old pal Ted Cruz.”

Climate change refers to long-term temperature & weather shifts, which can occur naturally but have been mainly driven by human activity since the 1800s. Follow the #ClimateSummit as countries discuss the future of our planet and get the latest facts: www.un.org/en/climatech...

Hours after we sent a letter signed by over 450 artists and 40K others defending free speech, ABC announced Jimmy Kimmel will return to air. Other companies should heed this warning: We the people are watching.

BREAKING: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore $500 million in UCLA medical research grants. The grants were suspended over allegations of campus antisemitism, use of race in admissions, and recognition of transgender identities.

"Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." Looking forward to seeing Jimmy back on the air.