Interview: A Legal Call to Arms to Fix Environmental and Climate Ills

University of Oregon law professor Mary Wood has an unsparing view of the state of environmental protection in the United States today: On a host of fronts — from climate change to the nationwide fracking boom —
Mary Wood
Mary Wood
the federal and state governments are failing to protect ecosystems and resources vital to current and future generations. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Wood discusses why she believes the judiciary needs to step in to force the executive and legislative branches to protect natural resources that are part of the “public trust.” She also explains why she supports ongoing litigation to reduce carbon emissions under a related doctrine to safeguard the “atmospheric trust.” Says Wood, “The political branches of government are doing next to nothing to address this crisis … Across the board, agencies are not using the statutes to protect nature — they’re using statutes to permit damage to the environment.”
Read the interview.