Hothouse Earth

Can State Tort Litigation Do to Big Oil What It Did to Big Tobacco?

Listen to Robert Percival, director of the Environmental Law Program, Robert F. Stanton Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, chat with host Laura Ireland about the possibility of states using tort litigation to make oil companies accountable for their role in climate change misinformation.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND ENERGY CONCERNS OF INDOOR CANNABIS CULTIVATION

HELD V. STATE OF MONTANA

Listen to Jenny Rushlow, dean of the Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment, professor of law, and faculty director of the Environmental Law Center at Vermont Law and Graduate School talk about the Montana Court's ruling on Held v. State of Montana, how it relates to other cases such as the landmark climate law case she argued and won before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Kain v. Department of Environmental Protection, and how these cases advance environmental advocacy and just...

SACKETT V. EPA AND CLIMATE WHISPERERS

Listen to Cale Jaffe, professor of law and director of the Environmental Law and Community Engagement Clinic at University of Virginia School of Law, chat about the Supreme Court's ruling on Sackett v. EPA and his idea of climate whisperers.

The Evolution of Environmental Law: A Conversation with Pat Parenteau

In this episode, Pat Parenteau, Professor of Law Emeritus and Senior Fellow for Climate Policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School, chats about his career and how environmental law and policy has evolved, with podcast host, Jeannie Oliver, professor of law and staff attorney at VLGS’s Energy Clinic. Thank you to the Vermont School for the Environment at Vermont Law and Graduate School, Jenifer Rushlow, Anne Linehan, and Donna Kowalewski at Environmental Law Center.

Quantity Unknown: The Uncertain Future of Vermont’s Surface Waters

Guests David Deen, President, Connecticut River Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Trout Unlimited Vermont Council, former VT state legislator for 30 years Kathy Urffer, River Steward, Connecticut River Conservancy Julia MacDonald JD'21, Vermont Law School  Peter Malicky MELP'21, Vermont Law School Recommended Resources To get an update on the latest in surface water legislation in VT, visit the Act 173 Committee webpage. For more background on the issues, read the Environmental Advoc...

Plant Patents, Biodiversity, and “Public Domain” Seeds

Patents on living things threaten biodiversity and our resilience against climate change. In this episode, we examine how a VLS professor is helping plant breeders use “defensive publication” to keep innovations open-source and promote biodiversity. Guests Jim Myers, Professor, Vegetable Breeding and Genetics, Oregon State University Emily Spiegel, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, Vermont Law School Recommended Resources A Breed Apart: The Plant Breeder’s Guide to Defensive Publ...

Elevate: Expanding the Reach of Environmental Law with Brandi Colander

The second episode in the Hothouse Earth Podcast’s “Elevate” miniseries features Brandi Colander JD’06. One of the first students to complete VLS’s dual degree with the Yale School of the Environment, Colander has a career that spans sectors and disciplines. Her work shows that environmental law can expand well beyond the scope of traditional environmentalism, intersecting with social justice and corporate governance. Listen as she shares inspiring career advice for women on support systems,...

Elevate: Public Interest Trailblazer Karin Sheldon

Guest Karin Sheldon, President of Four Echoes Strategies and Adjunct Professor at Colorado Law University of Colorado Boulder Hosts Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney, Energy Clinic Veronica Ung-Kono JD/MERL 2021 Recommended Resources Bowman, Cynthia Grant, Women in the Legal Profession from the 1920s to the 1970s: What Can We Learn from Their Experience about Law and Social Change? (2009) Cornell Law Faculty Publications. Paper 12.  Green 2.0, exploring diversity in ...

Elevate: A Hothouse Earth Miniseries

Over the next few months, Hothouse Earth will be sharing  conversations with women about their experiences in shaping environmental and social change through the power of the law and some of the challenges that they've faced along the way. 

Changing the Tide: Waterkeepers Examine Equity, Diversity, and Racism in the Environmental Movement

Environmental justice activist Fred Tutman is the only Black waterkeeper in the United States, and in this candid discussion with his close friend and fellow waterkeeper Theaux Le Gardeur, the duo reflect on how racism has affected their very different experiences in the environmental movement. Listen as they discuss how environmentalism has historically failed BIPOC communities and consider the potential—and dire need—for the movement to change. Guests: Fred Tutman,  Patuxent Riverkeeper T...

Essential Yet Unprotected: Farmworkers in America

Exploitation, heat exhaustion in a warming climate, and a heightened risk of COVID-19 are among the many challenges farmworkers face—often magnified by undocumented immigration status. Why does the law fail to protect these essential workers, and how can advocates step in where the law falls short? In this episode we speak with a Vermont-based farmworker from Mexico, activists at the organization Migrant Justice, and Vermont Law School Associate Dean Jenny Rushlow to find out.   Guests: J...

A Year of Hothouse Earth

Guests: Sophia Kruszrewski, Clinic Director, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems Hillary Hoffmann, Professor of Law, Environmental Law Center Barry Hill, Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute and Adjunct Faculty at Vermont Law School Russel Mendell, MERL’20 Patrick Parenteau, Professor of Law and Senior Counsel in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney, Energy Clinic Mason Overstreet, Staff A...

Environmental Justice

Guests: Marianne Engelman Lado, Visiting Professor, Douglas Costle Chair in Environmental Law and Director of the Environmental Justice Clinic at Vermont Law School Phyllis Gosa, sixth-generation resident of the Ashurst Bar/Smith Community Ronald Smith, Pastor and resident of the Ashurst Bar/Smith Community Ashley Harper JD'21, Vermont Law School Environmental Justice Law Society at Vermont Law School - Arielle King JD/MELP’21, Jameson Davis JD'20/MELP'19, Mariana Muñoz JD'21, Jerry Thomas J...

On the Streets and In the Courts: The Youth Climate Movement

Guests: Erik Dorfman, Activist and Poet Russel Mendell, MERL’20 Gus Speth, Co-Founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Vermont Law School Professor 2010-2015   Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Pat Parenteau, Professor of Law and Senior Counsel in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) Recommended Resources: Children Change Their Parents’ Minds about Climate Change I...

Bonus Episode: Environmental Justice Career Paths

Guests: Barry Hill, Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute and Adjunct Faculty at Vermont Law School Carmen Gonzalez, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com.

Climate Migration: Not If, But When

Guests: Barry Hill, Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute and Adjunct Faculty at Vermont Law School Carmen Gonzalez, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic Recommended Resources: Professor Carmen Gonzalez's Hot Topic Lecture: Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene Their country is disappearing, a shor...

Trump's "America First Energy Plan" Part 3

In the third and final episode on Trump's "America First Energy Plan" hosts Jeannie Oliver and Mason Overstreet examine the wide variety of regulations that protect our water, air, land and public health. In an effort to put industry first, is the Trump administration ultimately putting environment last? Vermont Law School Professor Pat Parenteau and Boston College Law School Professor Zygmunt Plater discuss the legal actions fighting regulatory rollbacks as well as the effect these decis...

The Border Wall, the Environment, and the President’s Powers: Sierra Club v. President Trump

For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com. Guest: Professor John Echeverria, Environmental Law Center Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic Recommended Resources: Professor John Echeverria's Hot Topic Lecture United States District Court, Northern District of California Deci...

Trump's "America First Energy Plan" Part 2

For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com. Guests: Kyle Tisdel JD'05, Western Environmental Law Center Shiloh Hernandez JD'08, Western Environmental Law Center Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic With special thank you to the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law and the Top...

Trump's "America First Energy Plan" Part 1

For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com. Guests: Hillary Hoffmann, Professor of Law, Environmental Law Center Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic With special thank you to the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law and the Top 10 Environmental Watch List 2019: http://vjel.ve...

The Farm Bill

For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com. Guests: Laurie Beyranevand, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law Sophia Kruszrewski, Clinic Director, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems Ferd Hoefner, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Cynthia Larson, Larson Farm and Creamery Cris Coffin, American Farmland Trust Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staf...

Hothouse Earth Podcast Trailer

Vermont Law School's new podcast is coming soon!