Below is a selection of recent news highlights featuring members of Vermont Law and Graduate School’s faculty and staff.
Holiday Stress: A Lawyer’s Guide to Balancing Work, Life, and Well-being — Even Beyond the Holidays
January 2, 2025
University of St. Thomas, Holloran Center Professional Identity Implementation Blog
Stephanie E. Kupferman LLM’15, assistant professor of law, and Colette Schmidt JD’20, assistant director of Career Services, discuss holiday stress and attorney burnout, as well as ways to cope.
Importance of Rate Design in Moving Customers Toward Electrification
January 2, 2025
POWER Magazine
Mark James, interim director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment, comments on how rising electricity costs have made it harder for people to switch to heat pumps for heating and cooling despite their environmental benefits, and cites Massachusetts as a state working to support electric home heating to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet long-term climate goals.
A Just Transition for All: Workers and Communities for a Carbon-Free Future
New Books in Public Policy Podcast
Stephen Pimpare, professor of public policy and director of the Master of Public Policy program, interviews J. Mijin Cha, who will be joining VLGS as a distinguished summer energy scholar, for New Books in Public Policy. They discuss Cha’s new book, “A Just Transition for All: Workers and Communities for a Carbon-Free Future.”
ChatGPT is Under Attack for Its Use of Water — But How Does That Work?
January 11, 2025
HuffPost
In the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires, Mia Montoya Hammersley, director of the Environmental Justice Clinic, is quoted about the toll of using AI tools like ChatGPT, which require large quantities of water to avoid overheating their servers.
What Foods Have Red Dye 3? Here’s What to Know About the FDA Ban
January 18, 2025
Better Homes & Gardens
Laurie Beyranevand JD’03, Pescosolido Professor of Food and Agricultural Law and Policy and director of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, comments on the recent FDA ban of Red Dye 3, which has been linked to behavioral problems and cancer in children.
How Trump’s Immigration Executive Orders Will Affect Vermont
January 22, 2025
Vermont Public
Brett Stokes, director of the Center for Justice Reform Clinic, joins “Vermont Edition” to discuss the constitutionality of new executive orders that threaten citizenship and immigration rules in the United States. Later in the show, Steven Tendo, a Ugandan asylum-seeker who is represented by Professor Stokes through the Clinic, talks through the ways that these changes could endanger his legal status and life.
Vermont’s Climate Superfund Faces First Legal Challenge From Fossil Fuel Interests
January 25, 2025
Inside Climate News
In answer to Vermont’s Climate Superfund Act, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have filed a suit against the “polluters pay” legislation. Pat Parenteau, professor of law emeritus and senior fellow for climate policy with the Environmental Law Center, comments on the ramifications of the legal battle ahead.
In Policy Reversal, Trump Eliminates Help for Black and Latino Communities Hit Harder By Pollution
January 26, 2025
AP News
Following the federal elimination of environmental policies and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, Christophe Courchesne, interim director of the Environmental Law Center, is quoted about the change in governmental support for environmental justice.
How Wildfires Affect Animals, Explained
January 29, 2025
Sentient Media
Delcianna Winders, director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute, weighs in on the impact of wildfires on wild and agricultural animal populations.