The Environmental Forum

Volume 40 Issue 3

May-June 2023

This issue's articles are available below.

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Tree Raining Money

OPENING ARGUMENT Environmental taxes are necessary to reorient market economies. Those levies will introduce a new set of prices to steer the engine of investment in more sustainable directions.

By Shi-Ling Hsu
Florida State University College of Law

With SIDEBARs by Barry Rabe of University of Michigan and Caroline Cecot of George Mason University

Partial recycling sign in the center of crushed plastic or metal

CROSS-EXAMINATION While there are constraints, there are also solutions to meet the circular economy’s challenging aspirations. Going further, business and humanity as a whole must change consumption patterns to build a sustainable society within planetary boundaries.

By Kathleen Sellers and Conor Grieve
ERM, ERM

With SIDEBARs by Lynn Bergeson of Bergeson & Campbell and Carolien van Brunschot of the Circular Electronics Partnership

A cartoon of  women high jumps over a computer

COVER STORY Mastering quantum computing could help reduce energy and resource use while enhancing agricultural productivity, making better electric vehicle batteries, modeling the climate, or creating novel materials to remove atmospheric carbon. But is this hype or a real hope?

By David Rejeski
Weizenbaum Institute

With a SIDEBAR by Gary Marchant of Arizona State University

A resident of storm-racked Lake Charles, Louisiana, sits in from of his damaged house.

TESTIMONY This ProPublica-sponsored article, told by a local journalist, tells how homes and businesses still sit in ruins in a small Louisiana city, left behind by the government’s convoluted and unpredictable system for rebuilding communities devastated by natural disasters.

By Mike Smith
Times Picayune | The Advocate
The Debate: The New Toxic Substances Control Act Is Now Five Years Old: A Report

A carbon-free economy requires renewable power like solar voltaics and wind turbines, feeding into electric homes and vehicles. That in turn will require the United States to vastly increase its use of lithium for batteries and several other vital chemicals. How can we incentivize strong environmental and social safeguards for mining critical minerals? What reforms are needed in existing regulations, such as the General Mining Act of 1872?

By Mark Compton, Allison Henderson, Andrew Mergen, Scott D. Odell, Payal Sampat and Katie Sweeney
American Exploration & Mining Association, Center for Biological Diversity, Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, George Washington University and MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative, Earthworks, National Mining Association
By: David P. Clarke

No Bright Lines When Judging Diverse Waters of United States.

By: Craig M. Pease

Is This the “Paris Moment” for Global Biodiversity Protection?

By: Linda K. Breggin

The Time Is Now to Ramp Up Municipal Climate Adaptation.

By: Ethan Shenkman

States Enact Legal Frameworks to Govern Carbon Capture & Storage.

By: Bethany A. Davis Noll

Not an Afterthought: Remedies Receiving Their Day in Court.

By: Bruce Rich

Climate Reparations: Money Is Not Enough; Governance Must Change.

By: Joseph E. Aldy

How Much Could Government Spend on Clean Energy Investment?

By: Stephen R. Dujack

Space Is Becoming a 21st Century Tragedy of the Commons.

By: Lisa Benjamin

Lisa Benjamin Examines Book on Chevron's Destiny.

By: Jordan Perry

See Colleagues' Job Changes and Honors Received

By: Margaret Badding

Environmental Justice During Renewables Roll Out

By: Jordan Diamond

On a World Learning from Failure