Supreme Court Begins Global Warming Case
Last week I saw a motley crew of people in a long line in front of the Supreme Court. I wondered what could draw such a variety of citizens to one place of protest? I looked in the NY Times for a clue. “Ah”, I realized, “its the environment”.
A few months ago I wrote about the upcoming Supreme Court case concerning Global Warming and on the 28th and 29th of November the Court began their process to determine whether they are going to even hear this case. The plaintiffs are organized from Mass. and are looking to sue the government over its lack of responsibility in regulating emissions that add to, or cause, global warming.
The plaintiffs are questioning the meaning of the Clean Air Act and why carbon dioxide does not fall under emission regulations. They question why the EPA does not regulate more to control the U.S. contribution to global warming.
Judges are divided. One contends that there is no evidence that car emissions contribute to global warming. A few feel that there is enough evidence to give the group standing, including the argument that sea level rise is robbing some states of coastal real estate.
They real issue for me is, if the Court hears this case, are they making a ruling about the science of global warming and climate change? Please check out the article.
Jennifer Veilleux
Dr. Jennifer Veilleux is a geographer, writer, and artist. For more than a decade, she has worked on scientific research and security issues facing water resources shared across political boundaries. Research and curiosity has taken her to more than 50 countries on 5 continents, often to remote locations and marginalized communities. Veilleux takes portraits of people she encounters in her field work and recently released a collection, Portraits from Rivers of Change, that can be viewed here: www.jenniferveilleux.com. These portraits highlight two separate communities, one on the Mekong River the other on the Blue Nile River, facing relocation due to dam development. Dr. Veilleux works for Florida International University as a post doctoral associate for the Institute of Water and Environment and manages SELVA, the Serengeti-Lake Victoria Sustainable Water Initiative, a research project on water security of the Mara River in the Upper Nile basin of Tanzania. She maintains a blog, The Way of Water, dedicated to news and commentary about development on the Nile and Mekong, general water resources issues, and special topics related to women in science. She lives in Miami with her cat Mr. FC Sweet Tea.
