It’s no secret that carbon dioxide (CO2), among other greenhouse gases, plays a major part in climate change. The Paris Climate Agreement, a binding international treaty adopted in December 2015, set forth an ambitious goal: “limit the [global] temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
Read MoreIt is not a surprise that electric cars have been growing in popularity. Furthermore, both governments and automakers are promoting electric cars as the vehicles of the future and a “key technology to curb oil use and fight climate change.”
Read MoreThe Colorado River is over-appropriated. The demands that users place on the river far exceed its natural flow. This is primarily because of the Colorado River Compact of 1922, which determined how much water each of the seven basin states and Mexico will receive from the river annually and was based on data that showed uncharacteristically high water levels.
Read MoreWhen asked about Colorado River rights, most would think of the allocations among the Colorado River Compact, an agreement that divides Colorado River water between seven arid states and Mexico; however, a 2017 first in nation lawsuit aimed to establish individual rights on behalf of the Colorado River.
Read MoreAfter the other basin states made their concerns clear over the Lake Powell Pipeline, the Utah State Legislature stepped in to try to ensure water delivery to St. George. Recently passed legislation created the Colorado River Authority of Utah, a group charged with a mission to ‘protect, conserve, use, and develop Utah’s waters of the Colorado River System.” Although it is not uncommon for states to have such a commission, Utah is getting attention for the creation of its commission because of its timing, legislative rhetoric, and intent.
Read More“Beef is bad.” We’ve all heard it, and the statistics show that meat, and especially beef, is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Agriculture broadly accounts for about 10% of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, animal agriculture accounts for an estimated 14.5% of emissions, and beef alone accounts for around 41% of that 14.5%. Ranching is incredibly resource-intensive, especially when the need for pastureland is added into the equation.
Read MoreAmong the many executive orders made in President Biden’s time in office thus far is Executive Order 14013. Aimed at rebuilding and expanding refugee policy and resettlement in the first post-Trump year, section 6 specifically requests a report on climate change and the ways that it affects migration. This inclusion highlights an important aspect of environmental activism and environmental justice: where will people go as climate change worsens?
Read MoreOn May 10, 2021, Governor Polis signed SB21-006, “Concerning the conversion of human remains to basic elements within a container using an accelerated process,” into law. Colorado is now the second state to legalize the composting of human remains. This new law legalizes “natural organic reduction,” a process pioneered by Washington-based Recompose, a start-up that opened its doors in December 2020.
Read MoreColonialism is known to be a physical exploitation system; people were forcibly taken from their homes and put into slavery. However, colonialism was also an economic extractive system (e.g., natural resources were taken from African countries), and responsible for a lot of the wealth countries have today
Read MoreOn February 3rd, 2021, the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice hosted a program titled When Race and the Environment Collide: The Impact on Systematic Racism on Environmental Justice. The goal of the program was to examine the impact of structural and systematic racism on the environment; topics included the water crisis in Flint, Michigan and the consequences of Trump’s southern border wall.
Read MoreSeventy percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. 14 of the world’s largest cities sit on coastlines. Fifty percent of all Americans live within 50 miles of a coast.
Read MoreIt’s not rocket science to understand Colorado relies on a steady water supply; it’s snow science. Most of Colorado is in either extreme or exceptional drought, the two highest possible rankings on the United States Drought Monitor.
Read MoreTechnology advancements and generations of agricultural revolutions have allowed for a global expansion in the realm of crops, bringing plants far beyond their original and natural limits and introducing them to new climates and countries.
Read MoreWhen we hear “climate change” or “global warming,” what we are really hearing about is an overabundance of carbon dioxide, or CO2, and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Climate change, including periods of global warming, has always been part of Earth’s history, but the warming period we are in now is problematic because it is man-made.
Read MoreIf you had to guess which regions are feeling the effects of climate change the most, you would be correct to guess low-lying islands and coastal areas. But within urban areas of the United States, certain parts of cities are feeling the effects
The accepted theory for the case of the extinction of the dinosaurs—the great terrible lizards that once ruled the earth—is an asteroid impact. But the crash did not cause their death the way that most of us assume it did.
Read MoreIn 1869, after almost a year of western exploration, geologist John Wesley Powell reported to Congress that there was not enough water in the west to support significant settlement.
Read MoreThis fall, the Western U.S. saw an unprecedented—and currently inexplicable—massive bird die-off. Two coinciding events are top suspects for potential explanations: an early cold snap and record-breaking wildfires.
In 2018, a coal-fired train in Southwest Colorado started what was the sixth-largest fire in Colorado’s history at the time. The fire not only destroyed 54,000 acres and cost over forty million dollars to contain, it also desecrated the nearby economies and shut down the San Juan National Forest for the first time in 113 years.
Read MoreWhy is 2020 the most active wildfire year in history for the Western United States? Climate change.
On August 13, 2020, the Colorado Cameron Peak fire began. As of October 23, the fire is only 57% contained and has burned 206,977 acres; it is now the largest wildfire in Colorado history. The magnitude of the Cameron Peak fire is minuscule, though, when
