Tag: environment
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The Legal Void Left by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Clean Water Act
November 25, 2025 For a long time, the people of the United States relied on the idea that correctly lined landfills and wastewater facilities operating in accordance with their permits would minimize contamination risks. That assumption has not aged well. Now, modern science paints a different picture. Landfills generate complex chemical mixtures, liners slowly degrade,…
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When Wildlife Becomes Refugees: Lack of Legal Protections
November 3, 2025 Climate displacement is a growing but underexplored issue in the legal and humanitarian fields. While international law increasingly recognizes human “climate refugees”, wildlife forced to flee their homes due to fires, droughts, or floods remain legally invisible. To ensure ecological resilience, environmental law should provide mobile legal protections that follow displaced species…
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Rethinking Reliability: PFAS, Science, and the Gate to Justice
October 27, 2025 Since the 1930’s, chemicals known as PFAS, short for polyfluoroalkyl substances, have made modern life easier. They coat cookware, waterproof fabrics, and strengthen firefighting foams. Yet these “forever chemicals” come with lasting consequences. The name forever comes from the chemical’s properties. Only recently are scientists discovering that the chemicals don’t dissolve naturally…
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The Vanishing Barrier: Why Florida’s Mangroves Are Key to Hurricane Defense
October 20, 2025 When people think of Florida’s coastline, they often picture rows of endless condominiums, resorts, and crystal-clear beaches. But hidden in that tropical paradise lies the hidden protector of the coastlines: Florida’s mangrove forests. These forests, often overshadowed by the loudness of development and tourism, are among Florida’s most important assets during hurricane…
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The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Advancing Clean Water and Environmental Restoration in South Florida
On November 15th, 2021, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (“BIL”) into effect. [1] The BIL is America’s “largest ever investment in” our infrastructure, water, and environmental programs, totaling over 450 billion dollars, which will provide funding for “over 56,000 specific projects and awards” across the United States. [2]Florida is receiving “$16.2 billion” for various state projects. [3] A…
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Environmentally Safe Spring-Cleaning
Ah, the spring. Whether you are reminded that spring is back by the undying urge to be outside or the now ever-present reminder of allergies. No matter the reason, we know that spring is back and that brings along the desire to open the windows and clean everything. As we appreciate the change in weather…
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Brightfield Projects Could Be on the Rise After President Biden’s Executive Order
Recently, on January 27, 2021, President Biden took executive action to revitalize energy initiatives in communities that have been adversely impacted by brownfield sites. [1] Through the recent executive order, President Biden created an Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. [2] The recently developed Interagency Working Group is co-chaired by…
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Last Minute Holiday Shopping – Sustainable Gift Ideas
Sustainability, a constant buzz word circulated through environmental activists and gurus. The word’s meaning has been come to known as something that is within social justice, conservationism, and internationalism. [1] The goal of sustainability is to meet our own needs without affecting future generations in meeting theirs. Businesses have a natural negative effect on the environment. [2] Businesses need to…
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Choosing Hemp
Hemp, the sober cousin of marijuana, is known to be the one of the most versatile plants in the world. It has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years and is said to have over 25,000 uses. Hemp was so popular that it was mandated for farmers to grow hemp seed during the colonial years.…
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The OneNYC 2050 and Beef Reduction
New York City, the city that never sleeps, is not sleeping on climate change or global warming. On April 22nd, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an ambitious $14 billon plan to fight climate change and global warming. The plan is to reach complete carbon neutrality by 2050 [1]. One of the ways the OneNYC 2050 plans…
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Coronavirus and its Impact on the Environment
2020 is the year that COVID-19 hit the entire world. The year 2020 will forever be the year in history books as the year when human activity paused. The Coronavirus introduced itself in December of 2019 in Wuhan and since then has been spreading and causing mayhem worldwide. Due to the virus, many people are…
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Save Our Trees v. Private Property Owner Rights – an Insight to Florida’s Tree Removal Legislation
This week marks the first anniversary of when House Bill 1159 was brought to the attention of the Florida Legislature. The bill, called “Private Property Rights,” provides for private property owners to have more autonomy over their land. The cost of this new right, however, came at the expense of one of the most vulnerable…
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Minimalism & The Environment
When I first heard about minimalism, I thought about how it was a ridiculous lifestyle that was highly unattainable and impractical. I had seen the videos of vloggers sharing how they fit all of their possessions in a single backpack or how they were able to put a year’s worth of trash in one mason…
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Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink
While visiting my extended family recently, I had to opportunity to catch up with one of my cousins with whom I had lost contact. As it goes in these situations, we exchanged pleasantries, talked about our families and major life events since our last contact over a decade ago, and discussed our current careers. I…
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The Hurricane of 1928, the Lake Okeechobee Water Crisis, and Harmful Algae Blooms: How Ghosts of the Past Still Haunt Us Today
The state of Florida, a state I myself call home, is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the United States of America. The state has some 8,436 miles of coastline facing the Atlantic Ocean on the states east coast and facing the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, there are countless lakes, rivers,…
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Plastic Bags… to Ban or Not to Ban? That is the Question.
I visited St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, back in October, and went grocery shopping, just like I did before I moved away in 2017. I got to the cashier, paid for all of my groceries and she asked me if I wanted to purchase a reusable bag. Annoyed, I said no, thinking, “why should I…
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Are We Beginning to See the Light? The Effectiveness and Resourcefulness of Automatic Light Systems
Few inventions over the past couple of centuries have been more resourceful and beneficial to human existence than electricity and artificial lighting. Consider, for a brief moment, just how often you use artificial lighting on a daily basis. Whether it be for academic endeavors late at night or just keeping your kitchen lit making breakfast…
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Nature Versus Nurture, Why Not Nurture Nature? The Argument for Extending Rights to Nature
Since its inception, the legal field has had an anthropocentric, or human centered, focus of legal rights. Even when a nature-based case come to a court the judge still views the issue in how it will impact humans and not nature itself. Nature has been considered to have property rights in that as long as…
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Here, Kitty, Kitty…
Florida, USA is home to a few beautiful big cats, but one of those cats is on the precipice of extinction. The Florida panther is the last remaining puma in the Eastern Hemisphere, it is also the most endangered mammal in the Eastern Hemisphere.[1] The panther was first listed as an endangered species in 1967,…
Barry Law Environmental and Earth Law Journal 