LAW-9021 Climate Change Law
This course, which has no prerequisite requirements and is open to all students, confronts what has been called one of the most important legal question of the century: Legally how to get all 200 world nations, each independent and sovereign, to alter effectively their use of current technology to control climate warming to support our Planet's ecosystem and humans who depend on it. Through in-class real-world examinations of legal issues, simulations and field trips during our 6 class sessions, this course will cover: The Science - Focusing on CO2 and Methane (CH4) emissions to the atmosphere; International Law & Treaties on Climate - The Kyoto Protocol and 2015 Paris Agreement; US Law - A major focus on U.S. law that lawyers confront, analyzing Constitutional Law and recent Supreme Court decisions, as well as significant barriers now posed by cities and states blocking recent U.S. climate legislation of the Biden administration; European Union (E.U.) Law - E.U. climate laws cover 26 E.U. countries (including Ireland) plus 2 other European countries which elected-in, thus including 85% of the most developed nations in the world which are members of the OECD and covered by the Kyoto Protocol. Developing Country Law - For the world's 160 developing countries, we'll examine what new laws and mechanisms have proved to be the most successful means to control climate change.