In following the developments and emergencies related to the novel coronavirus around the world and helping to determine responses to the impacts on our campus, I forgot to post this essay that came out last month in the Enviromental Forum: “Emergence and Convergence.”
So it turns out that I have been voted “Most Entertaining Law Professor of the Year” by the Santa Clara law students (with the award delivered by the Student Bar Association Presidents and duly inscribed on a vinyl record). It made my day! However, I also have to confess that I am a little bewildered — my family usually accuses me of being too serious and “a stick in the mud.” But it still made my day (and probably my month). (I think my property law students were happy for me, too! So kind of them.)
Starting next semester, Santa Clara Law students can expect to see an even more globally diverse campus as the Law School and the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (“ITESO”) have signed a new exchange agreement that will open up exciting opportunities for law students and faculty of both institutions.
ITESO is a Jesuit university founded in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1957. Like Santa Clara Law, ITESO is known for its academic excellence, a deep concern for both local and global contexts, and its commitment to social justice. Santa Clara’s Center for Global Law & Policy trains students to meet the challenges of globalization for the practice of law and supports cutting-edge faculty research in international and comparative law to advance justice and the common good.
Pre-Law Magazine once again gave Santa Clara Law’s International Law program an “A+.” Regarding our International Law program, the magazine stated, “Santa Clara University School of Law in California, another A+ school in this specialty, is home to the Center for Global Law and Policy, which offers the largest and one of the oldest summer aboard programs in the nation. It offers nine summer class programs as well as more than 30 externship options, including working in large international law firms, local firms, nongovernmental organizations, courts, international organizations and the UN.”
Click to access 069beec41c10e03b9e98aa0b79296d75a1998156.pdf
Fellowship starts May 2020.
“This is a one-year fellowship (with the possibility of renewal) based in University of Miami School of Law’s Environmental Justice Clinic. For more information on how to join our team and on our cutting edge work, please go to: https://tinyurl.com/ejcmysunapp The deadline to apply is January 31, 2020.
The University of Miami School of Law’s Environmental Justice Clinic advocates for and seeks to empower low-and moderate-income communities who disproportionately bear the environmental, economic, and health burdens of the development, implementation, and enforcement of the law. Employing a community lawyering approach, we seek systemic change for our clients through advocacy, public policy resources, rights education, and transactional assistance. Our work sits at the intersection of civil rights, environmental, poverty, and public health law, tackling issues in South Florida including climate change, displacement, contamination, environmental health, municipal equity, and more. Increasingly, we view our work through the lens of climate change, one of the most significant social justice issues of our time, and which will be felt most acutely by the poor and marginalized.”
By Ashley Kang
In 2009, a new mode of financial transactions came into the hands of consumers worldwide through the creation of Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a digital payment currency that utilizes cryptocurrency and peer-to-peer technology to create and manage monetary transactions without the intervention of banks and outside the scrutiny of government entities. Individuals can get bitcoins in several ways including purchasing them with ‘real’ money, accepting payment in bitcoins, and participating in bitcoin mining. While most people are aware of about Bitcoin’s significant presence and success in the financial market, many are unaware of the impact bitcoin mining has on the environment.
Bitcoin mining is performed by high-powered computers solving complex computational math problems. When a computer solves a puzzle, it then stores that information in a blockchain. A blockchain is a database storing bitcoin transaction records that is distributed across peer-to-peer network. When bitcoin miners add a new block of transactions to the blockchain, they are awarded bitcoin. As simple as that sounds, bitcoin is only awarded to the miners that solve the puzzles first. The competition surrounding bitcoin mining led to individuals seeking out more powerful computers, faster internet connection, and cheaper infrastructural services, especially electricity, to maximize the possibility of profiting from bitcoin mining.
Unfortunately, there is a darker side to that modern treasure hunt for riches. Computers must be run continuously and as a result, create significant demands on the energy sector. A typical server consumes approximately 1.5 kilowatts of energy. Multiply that by the hundreds of thousands of machines engaged in Bitcoin mining, and the environmental impact is significant. Bitcoin miners have also started to locate their computational mining equipment in geographical locations that have less restrictive environmental regulations and that offer cheap energy in order to enhance their profits. As a result, cryptocurrency mining has relied on both dirty energy sources, such as coal, as well as renewable energy. Depending on the energy source, researchers estimate that crypto mining can produce up to 15 million tons of global carbon emissions annually. Yet, local and federal governments have not created regulatory oversight mechanisms to address these new environmental issues caused by crypto mining. Undoubtedly, as new kinds of cryptocurrencies emerge and gain popularity, new regulations directing actions of bitcoin miners will have to be considered in the near future.
“The University of Colorado is looking for a permanent clinical professor for our Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Clinic. The clinic’s mission and vision allow for the clinical professor to cultivate a diverse docket of cases and projects, including matters addressing environmental and climate justice as well as traditional litigation and agency advocacy.”
Clerkships for summer 2020.
Click to access Policy_Integrity_Summer_Law_Clerk_Description_2019.pdf
Citizen Yang 