LAW-9114 Constitutional Law and Climate Change
This course confronts what has been called one of the most important legal question of this century: How to get 200 nations, each independent and sovereign, effectively to alter use of current technology to control climate warming to support our Planet's ecosystem and humans who depend on it. Countries have different systems of law, different economic systems, and different resources and capabilities to set this in motion. Through in-class real-world simulations and field trips, this course will compare: . The Science -- Focusing on CO2 and Methane (CH4) emissions to the atsmosphere . International Law & Treaties on Climate-- The Kyoto Protocol and 2015 Paris Agreement . U.S. Law -- U.S. Constitutional Law and recent Supreme Court decisions on the: o Constitution's Supremacy Clause - Legal preemption by the federal government blocking the 50 states and 11 U.S. territories from certain methods addressing climate o Constitution's Dormant Commerce Clause -- striking state programs that directly or indirectly geographically discriminate against other states' renewable power incentives . European Union (E.U.) law - E.U. climate laws cover 28 countries, including more than half of the most developed nations in the world which are members of the OECD. Ireland is a member of the E.U., while Northern Island and the U.K. are withdrawing after the U.K. "Brexit" vote . Developing Countries - To control runaway climate change, the world's 160 developing countries also must strategically reduce their carbon emissions immediately. Professor Ferrey served as an advisor to the U.N. on climate change law designing and implementing the most successful legal model to control climate change in developing countries, which will be analyzed Galway, Ireland - Summer 2019