New Economy Law Center

Panel Discusses “Environmental Advocacy Under a New Administration”

February 21, 2017

Dana Drugmand

With Donald Trump now in the White House, environmentalists are left wondering how they can fight back against an administration hostile to climate action and environmental protection. Do we turn to the courts, or take to the streets, or both? Last month Vermont Law School’s Environmental Law Society presented a panel discussion, “Environmental Advocacy Under a New Administration,” to talk about the current situation and potential strategies. Panelists included New Economy Law Center Fellow Patrick Parenteau and co-founder Gus Speth. See what they and other panelists had to say by watching the video of the event:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4kuAdriwbk

Juliana v. United States: Does the Constitution Guarantee a Livable Planet for Our Kids?

February 7, 2017

Dana Drugmand

Climate science and policy is under attack from the new Trump administration, but this assault faces a legal roadblock in the form of a group of young plaintiffs asserting their right to a livable climate. The landmark case Juliana v. U.S. survived a motion to dismiss and is now proceeding to what observers expect to be “the trial of the century” this summer of fall. In the following piece featured in the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law Top Ten Watch List 2017, Professor and New Economy Law Center co-founder Melissa Scanlan examines the legal questions in this case, including constitutional and public trust claims.

Juliana v. United States: Does the Constitution Guarantee a Livable Planet for Our Kids?

Annie Leonard and Bill McKibben on Trump’s Pipeline Push

January 24, 2017

Dana Drugmand

In response to President Trump’s executive orders giving the go ahead to controversial pipelines Dakota Access and Keystone XL, New Economy Law Center Fellows Annie Leonard and Bill McKibben insisted the grassroots resistance would continue. See below for article, which quotes Leonard and McKibben at the end.

Dakota Access Pipeline protest in front of TD Bank in Montpelier, VT

Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin. “Trump signs orders advancing Keystone XL, Dakota Access oil pipelines,” Chicago Tribune, January 24, 2017, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-dakota-keystone-pipeline-20170124-story.html

Gus Speth Urges “New Environmentalism” in Presenting Columbia’s Annual Sive Lecture

January 17, 2017

Dana Drugmand

New Economy Law Center co-founder Gus Speth, a longtime environmental “insider,” calls for a transformative new approach to environmentalism that works outside the current toxic political-economic system. On October 20, 2016 he delivered the annual David Sive Memorial Lecture on Environmental Law at Columbia Law School, arguing that system change is necessary because “environmental problems are rooted in defining features of the current political economy.” See link below for the full video of his talk.

http://www.thenextsystem.org/gus-speth-delivers-2016-david-sive-memorial-lecture-at-columbia-law-school/?mc_cid=72bf39ca8e&mc_eid=70bc7f58ca

Mary Wood: Youth Climate Case Decision “Could Be a Legal Game-Changer”

December 23, 2016

Dana Drugmand

New Economy Law Center Fellow and leading public trust doctrine advocate, Prof. Mary Wood of University of Oregon, reflects on the federal youth climate change lawsuit Juliana v. United States that now will be headed to trial. Wood explains the constitutional claim and cruel irony of this case, its importance in the context of a Trump administration, and what President Obama could still do before leaving office.

Mary Wood. “Earth on the docket: Why Obama can’t ignore this climate lawsuit by America’s youth,” The Conversation, December 15, 2016.

An Idea to Make Housing More Affordable

November 22, 2016

Dana Drugmand

Can the current profit-driven, exclusive and gentrified housing market give way to a limited equity, inclusive and affordable model of homeownership? New Economy Law Center Fellow, Janelle Orsi (Director of Sustainable Economies Law Center), explores this question in the following blog post that encourages us to consider “a different model of property ownership” in alignment with new economy objectives.

Orsi, Janelle. “Homeownership is Dead! Long Live the Permanent Real Estate Cooperative!” Sustainable Economies Law Center, August 10, 2016

David Bollier Reviews “How to Thrive in the Next Economy”

November 17, 2016

Dana Drugmand

“Chase it down and read it!” is what New Economy Law Center Fellow, David Bollier, advises in regards to a recently published (Sept. 2015) new economy book by British design expert John Thackara. From establishment of a “food commons” to bioregionalist redesign of urban landscapes, Thackara’s How to Thrive in the Next Economy illustrates emerging examples of what life in a more socially responsible, environmentally sustainable economic system might look like. See below to read Bollier’s full review.

David Bollier, “John Thackara’s Intimate Tour of the Emerging New Economy,” October 5, 2016, http://bollier.org/blog/john-thackara%E2%80%99s-intimate-tour-emerging-new-economy

Systemic Crisis and Systemic Change in the United States in the 21st Century

November 8, 2016

Dana Drugmand

New Economy Law Center co-founder, Gus Speth, and colleagues at the Next System Project discuss the necessity and challenges of moving beyond the current political economy towards a more just, democratic, and sustainable system. In the following working paper presented during the recent “After Fossil Fuels: The Next Economy” conference in Oberlin, Ohio, they identify the nature and key drivers of our systemic crisis and insist that what must be changed is “at the level of the basic institutional design of the political-economic system itself.”

Gar Alperovitz et al. “Systemic Crisis and Systemic Change in the United States in the 21^st Century,” The Next System Project, September 2016, http://thenextsystem.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NSPOberlin-final.pdf

Economy for the Common Good Author Reflects on Recent U.S. Tour

November 3, 2016

Dana Drugmand

The movement to create an “economy for the common good” has officially reached the United States. Austrian author and alternative economic advocate, Christian Felber, who started the movement five years ago, recently completed a U.S. tour to introduce the concept and initiate partnerships. The New Economy Law Center at Vermont Law School hosted him on September 20, 2016. During his time here, he met with community leaders from the Building a Local Economy (BALE) center and he presented an evening talk on campus. Click the link below to read the full report of his U.S. tour.

Interview mit Christian Felber; Tage der Utopie; Bildungshaus St. Arbogast

http://www.changeeverything.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ECG-USA-Tour-Christian-Felber_Final-Report_2016.pdf

Implementing Rights of Nature Through Sustainability Bills of Rights

October 12, 2016

Dana Drugmand

In the following article, NELC Fellow Linda Sheehan explains why the current approach to environmental protection is failing, and how recognizing our relationship with the natural world and nature’s inherent right in law can be a transformative remedy.

Linda Sheehan, Implementing Rights of Nature Through Sustainability Bills of Rights, 13 NZ J. Pub. & Int’l L. 89 (2015).

Consum Cooperativa: Feeding 3 Million in the Spanish Mediterranean May 15, 2019
Can cooperative grocery stores compete with large investor-owned grocery chains? Consum, in Spain, shows it is possible to be a worker and consumer-owned grocery coop with strong sustainability practices AND be the largest grocery chain in the Spanish Mediterranean. Consum has more worker-owners in Spain than all of the worker owned cooperatives across every industry in […]
Rebecca Milaschewski
NELC fellow, Bill McKibben, talking about climate in The New Yorker; NELC co-founder, Gus Speth’s response May 2, 2019
McKibben, Notes from a Remarkable Political Moment for Climate Change, read more. May 7, 2019 (Gus Speth). I greatly admire and agree with Bill McKibben’s kick-off contribution. I have followed Bill into jail and would do so again, and agreeing with him in many contexts has proven graciously easy. I do want to lay out […]
Rebecca Milaschewski
Craft Beer: 100% Employee-Owned, Organic, and Powered by Renewables April 28, 2019
The craft beer market in the U.S. has exploded, but where can you find a company that is democratically owned, producing organic beer, and 100 percent powered by renewables? Cerveses Lluna brews its beer in Alcoi, Spain, where it is committed to creating good jobs, local sourcing, and sustainable production. NELC co-founder, Melissa Scanlan, interviewed […]
Rebecca Milaschewski
The Making Of A Democratic Economy- November 14th in Chase! November 12, 2018
The New Economy Law Center presents “The Making of a Democratic Economy” with speaker Marjorie Kelly, Senior Fellow and Executive Vice President of The Democracy Collaborative. At a time when the nation is hungry for a positive vision for our economy – when 71 percent of Americans say they believe the economic system is rigged against them – […]
Rebecca Milaschewski
Corporations Are People Too (And They Should Act Like It) October 4, 2018
With an analysis sure to challenge the assumptions of both progressives and conservatives, Greenfield explores corporations’ claims to constitutional rights and the foundational conflicts about their obligations in society. He argues that a blanket opposition to corporate personhood is misguided, since it is consistent with both the purpose of corporations and the Constitution itself that […]
Rebecca Milaschewski
Zephyr Teachout speaks about Transforming Politics September 4, 2018
https://livestream.com/vermontlawschool/new-economy-forum/videos/166241450 With the upcoming midterms and so much energy put into politics, I thought it a good time to revisit the 4th talk in the Fall 2017 New Economy Law and Policy Forum. In it, Zephyr Teachout focuses on campaign finance and other reforms needed to transform politics in the US. For more resources about campaign […]
Melissa Scanlan
McKibben RADIO FREE VERMONT, A FABLE OF RESISTANCE, 2017 August 10, 2018
In his latest book (and first novel), NELC Fellow, Bill McKibben, takes his resistance angst and turns it into a love letter to Vermont, local craft beer, human-scale economies and decision making like “Town Meeting Day,” and Ethan Allen. With humor, he tells a tale of seceding as a protest against the big impersonal political […]
Melissa Scanlan
Running for Elected Office August 7, 2018
https://livestream.com/vermontlawschool/new-economy-forum/videos/165794519 This is the introductory panel of elected officials in our 3rd session in the Fall 2017 New Economy Law and Policy Forum on energizing democracy. This all day workshop was a non-partisan free program to teach people how to run for elected office. For more videos from the day and additional resources on running […]
Melissa Scanlan
Purdy “The Roberts Court Protects the Powerful for a New Gilded Age” in New York Times, Jun. 28, 2018 July 31, 2018
Jedediah Purdy, law professor and author of a chapter in Law for the New Economy: Sustainable, Just, and Democratic, (Melissa K. Scanlan ed., May 2017), reacted to Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement in his recent opinion in the New York Times. Focusing on the Supreme Court’s union-crippling decision in Janus v. AFSCME, Purdy details the Roberts […]
Melissa Scanlan
Gar Alperovitz talks about The New Economy and the Quietly Emerging Next System July 19, 2018
https://livestream.com/vermontlawschool/new-economy-forum/videos/163824520 This was the first talk in the New Economy Law and Policy Forum in October of 2017. For additional resources on this topic and action steps, visit our associated web pages.
Melissa Scanlan