The Press, the Public, and the U.S. Supreme Court

The BYU Law community had the privilege of hearing from a stellar lineup of speakers and panelists at the 2012 Law Review Symposium, titled “The Press, the Public, and the U.S. Supreme Court.”  Presenters included professors of law, political science, and communications from universities across the country. Dean Erwin Chemerinsky from the University of California, Irvine School of Law provided the keynote address on “The Supreme Court’s Failure to Communicate.”

Symposium Introduction

In an environmental disaster, a disaster causes environmental harm, or an environmental change causes an acute risk to humans, or a combination of both takes place. Examples include the BP oil spill, the London killer fog of 1952, the 2003 European heat wave, and the 2011 Japanese tsunami. Climate change will intensify the connection between disaster issues and the environment. Given the interwoven nature of disasters and the environment, we should consider what environmental law and disaster law can learn from each other. Environmental law has the most to teach disaster law about risk management and prevention. Disaster law, in contrast, directs attention to issues of unequal risk exposure and to compensation as a supplement to risk mitigation . . . [continue reading].

A Learning Collaboratory

Though composed many decades ago, these observations by H.G. Wells hold as true today—in the context of global anthropogenic climate change—as ever. The regularly dynamic global climate is currently shifting precipitously, caused at least in part by increases in greenhouse gas concentrations due to continuing development and industrialization. Evidence confirms that widespread harmful effects to ecological and human systems have already occurred. Amidst projections of a wide range of risks to both . . . [continue reading].

Adapting to Climate Change While Planning for Disaster

If you have never seen a pig swim, you have never been in Iowa during a flood. When the rivers jump their banks in southeastern Iowa they flood thousands of acres of hog farms. With a little planning and enough trucks and skiffs, hog farmers have been able to evacuate these animals in surprising numbers. But pigs that miss the boat must take their chances in the waves or on the corrugated roofs of buildings. A few unlucky ones caught scrambling up the tops of levees will, out of concern for the structures' integrity, be shot. The state of Iowa has experienced catastrophic flooding three times in the past seventeen years—1993, 2008, and 2010. Those disasters . . . [continue reading].

Smart Growth in Dumb Places

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake rocked Japan and triggered a massive tsunami that devastated the country’s northern coast. While the cautionary tales  of this heart-breaking disaster will be written over many years or even decades, some critical  lessons can already be discerned. Japan’s experience confirms, for example, that strict, well-enforced building codes are crucial tools for mitigating disaster risk. There is little doubt that an earthquake of this magnitude would have killed many more people had it occurred in almost any other densely populated urban area. Japan’s famously strict building codes saved many,  many lives—likely reducing the death toll by tens of thousands. The relative success of Japan’s . . . [continue reading].