Questions tagged [environmental-policy]

Policy affecting the Environment, or the ability to sustain an Ecosystem.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
12 votes
1 answer
1k views

Deep sea mining, what is the international law/treaty situation?

First, the negative view: Crunch talks due on deep-sea mining controversy - BBC News Scientists fear a possible "goldrush" for precious metals beneath the oceans could have devastating ...
Italian Philosophers 4 Monica's user avatar
0 votes
5 answers
902 views

What is the rationale of shooting toxic shells in an area that was meant to be liberated?

The UK authorities confirmed that they will provide depleted uranium shells to the Ukraininan forces. As usual to divert the attention from the metal toxicity they pointed out the low radioactivity. ...
FluidCode's user avatar
  • 7,140
4 votes
1 answer
366 views

Where is the support for remote work based on social and environmental benefits?

Work from home (WFH) vs in-office has been continuously debated since the start of the pandemic. Some articles report better productivity with WFH. Others report the opposite. Setting aside the ...
jrbe228's user avatar
  • 185
3 votes
1 answer
83 views

Have any countries abolished or significantly curtailed the requirement to conduct Environmental impact assessments?

As per Wiki: Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the ...
JonathanReez's user avatar
  • 52.7k
14 votes
1 answer
4k views

"No regrets" policy regarding the environment. What does it mean?

In a Economics of Network and Service Industries class, I heard about "No regrets" policy. It is an environmental policy in EU, if I well understood. I am not able to find any precise ...
mattia.b89's user avatar
-6 votes
2 answers
284 views

Why is Russia still allowed to be in United Nations? [closed]

I've seen UN Sustainable Development Goals. They are all worthy of doing and lofty. Countries often impose those goals on the population by introducing regulation. Meanwhile Russia seems to be against ...
very big cat's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
922 views

Why is the European Commission promoting meat consumption?

According to this article, the European commission spent 252 million over four years to promote meat and dairy products. The majority of research shows that there are a lot of benefits to less meat ...
SirDuckduck's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
237 views

US Rep. Liz Cheney: environmental groups "often espouse views that align with those of our adversaries" and should be investigated; her evidence?

Wikipedia's Liz_Cheney; Tenure says: In September 2020, Cheney asked the Justice Department to investigate environmental groups such as the NRDC, Sea Change and the Sierra Club, saying that "...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 16.5k
32 votes
4 answers
6k views

What international laws might prohibit Brazil from cutting down the Amazon or using it as a natural resource of Brazil?

Brazil has been cutting down large swaths of the Amazon rainforest for development,agriculture and the use of natural resources from the rainforest. However, the Amazon is widely regarded as the lungs ...
Schwarz Kugelblitz's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
244 views

Is Japan's handling of its nuclear waste water conforming to international norms and historical precedents?

The United States on Monday (local time) extended support to Japan in its decision to release contaminated water from the wrecked Fukushima atomic power station into the sea, stating that Tokyo ...
Sayaman's user avatar
  • 30.4k
23 votes
5 answers
6k views

Is the U.S. military bound by the same environmental laws as the country being occupied?

Is the U.S. military bound by the same environmental laws as the country being occupied? Let's say that the United States is still occupying Afghanistan, to what extent does the U.S. military have to ...
Sayaman's user avatar
  • 30.4k
0 votes
1 answer
158 views

Is there any treaty or international law that tries to regulate how to handle sea waste?

Is there any treaty or international law that tries to regulate how to handle sea waste (most of it human feces)? It would be crazy if human waste was dumped onto the sea without treating it first to ...
Sayaman's user avatar
  • 30.4k
4 votes
2 answers
538 views

What interventions could decrease the price of Bitcoin? [closed]

The high value of some cryptocurrencies, in particular Bitcoin has had the effect of causing a significant increase in the demand for electricity leading to increases of carbon emissions. (See https:/...
mikado's user avatar
  • 2,194
6 votes
1 answer
143 views

What (if any) are the legal consequences if the UK government fails to meet carbon budgets?

If the UK's carbon budgets are 'legally binding' as part of the Climate Change Act of 2008, what are the legal consequences for failing to meet them? I'm confused as to what 'legally binding' means in ...
fortunia88's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
171 views

Are there indications that the French government considered a carbon fee-and-dividend to assuage the yellow vests?

A key reason for the yellow vest protests was that poorer households would have been proportionally more impacted by the proposed fuel tax increases. Carbon taxes are generally regressive, i.e. impose ...
sba222's user avatar
  • 799
3 votes
1 answer
147 views

Why did the proposal for a Common Assets Trust (CAT) not pass the Vermont legislature?

The idea of a common assets trust (CAT) is to hold and manage natural and collectively created assets and pay citizens a dividend from the proceeds. The proposal entered the Vermont legislature twice (...
sba222's user avatar
  • 799
5 votes
1 answer
145 views

How is Massachusetts' requirement to sell only zero emissions vehicles by 2035 being implemented?

Several news outlets are reporting on this story this week: The Hill: "Massachusetts to require 100 percent of car sales to be electric by 2035" Car and Driver Magazine: "Massachusetts ...
LShaver's user avatar
  • 1,765
-1 votes
1 answer
170 views

Are Indian farm acts anti-environment?

My only focused question: Are Indian farm acts, which were and are in news, anti-environment? For those willing to read why I am asking, read it below. It is incomplete research. A. Environmentalists ...
Gary 2's user avatar
  • 2,343
3 votes
1 answer
78 views

Which sources of CO2 emissions are currently considered for The European Union Emissions Trading System?

This article describes the Carbon emissions pricing used in the European Union. This is part of the European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS) which provided good results despite low prices: (..) ...
Alexei's user avatar
  • 52.6k
3 votes
3 answers
378 views

What powers, if any, does POTUS have to ban fracking on private or state owned property?

One of the flashpoints in the current presidential contest, especially in Pennsylvania, is the issue of fracking. I have no doubt that the President and Federal government maintain jurisdiction over ...
BobE's user avatar
  • 10.3k
2 votes
3 answers
309 views

Can the EU Parliament's vote on terminology for plant-based meat and dairy substitutes lead to enforcing the new terminology upon the member states?

The EU Parliament should decide whether to ban the usage of ‘meatish’ and ‘dairyish’ names for plant-based products. This sounds rather strange since this seems to go against the EU environmental ...
Alexei's user avatar
  • 52.6k
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

Can imports be banned according to method of production?

If an imported product is functionally indistinguishable from a domestically traded product, but is produced by a different process, are countries free to ban (or apply large tariffs to) that import? ...
benjimin's user avatar
  • 668
-6 votes
1 answer
284 views

Why does the law still require the usage of catalytic converters in cars? [closed]

Many countries have decided that cars need catalytic converters despite the fact that they lower efficiency and produce more carbon dioxide for the same mechanical power output. The gases the ...
David Jonsson's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
592 views

Are any governments promoting work from home as an effective solution to decreasing pollution and CO2 emissions?

There's much talk about work from home: efficiency, people who like it, people who don't, but I didn't see any policy talk, by governments, about its impact on the environment and whether it should be ...
Jean Monet's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is it possible to purchase emission allowances with the goal of reducing the amount in circulation?

Can any company purchase emission allowances under the EU Emission Trading System and then not end up using them? My reasoning behind it would be to keep on increasing this commodity's price in order ...
Ship's user avatar
  • 83
1 vote
1 answer
138 views

Is there a government that considers investing in artificial meat in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions related to meat production?

This Wikipedia section argues about the greenhouse gas emissions related to meat production (~ 14 - 15% of of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions). Clearly reducing greenhouse gas emissions should ...
Alexei's user avatar
  • 52.6k
5 votes
3 answers
284 views

How does a hereditary chief differ from the elected officials in North America's First Nations?

In Canada there have been protests against the building of a gas pipeline. From what I can tell, most protests started when the hereditary leaders of the Weet'suwet'en opposed it and called for allies ...
commoninterest's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
441 views

Have there been any attempts to get the US government to revert to pre-2007 requirements for gas cans?

In 2007, the EPA mandated that all gas cans made from 2009 onward conform to a set of regulations that, combined with the requirements of the Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act of 2008, resulted ...
zaen's user avatar
  • 551
27 votes
5 answers
5k views

Why aren't we seeing carbon taxes in practice?

(I originally posed this question under economics -- https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/33267/why-arent-we-seeing-carbon-taxes-in-practice -- where the consensus seems to be that in ...
present's user avatar
  • 435
10 votes
2 answers
338 views

How do the "save the bees" popular initiatives in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg differ?

A popular initiative for biodiversity in Bavaria was signed by 18.3% of the eligible population. The minister-president from the conservative CSU supported the proposal and accepted it in its ...
gerrit's user avatar
  • 47.7k
15 votes
1 answer
557 views

Trump is revoking California's Clean Air Act exemption. Does this automatically affect the 13 other states that use California's standards?

President Trump is reported to be revoking California's Clean Air Act exemption. Trump tweeted on September 18, 2019 that he was doing so. Since 1970, California has restricted automobile emissions ...
Jasper's user avatar
  • 6,812
4 votes
1 answer
310 views

Why would China restrict the imports of plastics for recycling?

In the past couple of years, China has triggered a crisis in recycling programs worldwide by changing their import laws: Historically, the U.S. has shipped about half of its scrap plastic and ...
JonathanReez's user avatar
  • 52.7k
8 votes
1 answer
444 views

What's the difference between AOC's Green New Deal and Sanders' Green New Deal?

Both Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders have revealed a sweeping plan to inact environmental policies that would, among other things, attempt to slow the progress of ...
AAM111's user avatar
  • 187
5 votes
1 answer
588 views

Why is neither methane nor fracking mentioned in the Green New Deal?

Background The Green New Deal cites the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ºC in the first paragraph establishing the issues and effects of the current, and likely future, of global warming. ...
isakbob's user avatar
  • 5,400
-13 votes
1 answer
491 views

Why are governments spending so much resources on fighting forest fires? [closed]

It has been recently reported that: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (July 31) called in the military to fight forest fires that have been raging across vast expanses of Siberia for ...
JonathanReez's user avatar
  • 52.7k
-1 votes
1 answer
231 views

Why can we have human rights declared by ECHR but no environmental "rights"?

I have recently read that in the European Union where I live, plastic in biowaste is a huge concern because when supermarkets get rid of fruits and vegetables which are packed in plastic it is "...
CuriousIndeed's user avatar
43 votes
11 answers
14k views

What is the fundamental difference between whaling and hunting other animals?

I read this article and it seems like activists from cultures without a long history of whaling are inconsistent in their criticism of Japan for its whaling. Many cultural cuisines like rabbits, cows,...
user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
833 views

How does the EU Emissions Trading Scheme account for increased emissions outside the EU?

If a third country (say China) is not beholden to the same emissions trading scheme, market forces should push steel production into the countries where costly emissions credits are not needed and ...
52d6c6af's user avatar
  • 10.4k
2 votes
1 answer
127 views

Carbon offsets mentioned in governmental emission reduction targets?

Multiple states within the United States and other countries have emissions reduction targets. This morning, I listened to a story where the university of California San Francisco achieved their ...
spmoose's user avatar
  • 4,351
0 votes
2 answers
95 views

Comparative Environmental Policy/ Executive Orders

For a paper, I am currently trying to compare Executive Orders by Trump within the first year of his presidency and Bush's first year of his first presidency concerning environmental issues. My ...
David Gatzegoo Heckenberg's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
225 views

Are farmers in the Great Plains aware of the Dust Bowl? [closed]

I'm curious if farmers in the Great Plains are aware today of the history of the Dust Bowl, including its causes. Are there any surveys or polls on the matter among farmers, like there are (also among ...
Fizz's user avatar
  • 145k
77 votes
13 answers
22k views

Why does the Green New Deal push for green energy but not for nuclear energy?

It seems strange to me that that the new green deal wants clean and renewable power from solar and wind energy yet oppose nuclear energy. I have been googling experts’ consensus on nuclear energy and ...
Matthew Liu's user avatar
  • 1,031
2 votes
2 answers
184 views

Government collects environmental protection charges. Why?

I am reading up on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). I have learned that for every project an EIA is to be done after a careful assessment which includes screening, scoping, impact prediction, ...
Noeshel 's user avatar
29 votes
4 answers
5k views

How would a libertarian model address widely spread negative externalities (such as CFCs)?

I understand the concept in libertarianism that if corporation A dumps toxic waste in a river and downstream of this river corporation B bottles this water for consumption, that corporation B has had ...
Gramatik's user avatar
  • 10.5k
1 vote
2 answers
168 views

Public policy for air pollution in India

Pollution in New Delhi is constantly on national headlines. The last piece of legislation done relating to air pollution, as far as I could tell was in 1980. If I am not wrong, the ministry ...
Breakfastisready's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
179 views

Does the U.S. House of Representatives have the power to block drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)?

In December 2017, a U.S. federal law opened part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to oil and gas mining (see article by Randy Showstack, 27 November 2018, EOS). This decision ...
gerrit's user avatar
  • 47.7k
9 votes
5 answers
884 views

Reasons given by free market advocates against a carbon tax?

I see people who like free markets have two main reasons why: one due to the efficiency, the other due to the freedom, or a combination of both. For the people who value efficiency, why not support a ...
spmoose's user avatar
  • 4,351
9 votes
1 answer
133 views

Who has pressed for the "2020 global sulphur limit"

In 2020 the maximum allowable sulfur limit in marine fuels will be only 0.5 %, compared to 3.5 % now. This will probably lead to pains in the industry, because the world's refineries haven't extended ...
Luis Paganini's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
443 views

How would a privatized society deal with disputes over flows of air and water? [closed]

In a society based around private property rights, original appropriation, with no state, are there any proposed methods for dealing with disputes that involve flows of air and water? (So "Muh EPA!" ...
blud's user avatar
  • 1,583
38 votes
12 answers
16k views

Why is there so much focus on producing less CO₂ rather than investing in technology to recycle it?

There are endless debates about climate change and CO2 reduction. The US decided to withdraw from the Paris agreement, although there are no legally binding requirements. Also, this article argues ...
Alexei's user avatar
  • 52.6k