Prison Pot and Opiate Overdose–A Radical Approach to Prisoner Healthcare

Ronald Hammond

            The United States is suffering from an opioid epidemic of catastrophic proportions[1]and a huge federal and state prison population.[2] This Note proposes to bring some relief to this juncture of American suffering. The American prison system focuses heavily on the punitive nature of punishment.[3] Prisoners affected by opiate addiction make this stance more distinct; a large number are forced to experience the effects of opiate withdrawal without being able to seek the medical help that would be available to non-incarcerated citizens.[4] Prisoners are also likely to overdose when they are released from prison; a North Carolina study established that prisoners were 74 times more likely to overdose within 2 weeks or release when compared to the general population.[5] These problems can be fixed by providing Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) to the prison population.[6]

Protecting Free Willy’s Legacy: The Puget Sound Needs a Seaside Sanctuary to Rescue and Rehabilitate the Southern Resident Orca Population

Gordanna Clevenger

            Will the death of J50 (Scarlett), an orca in the southern resident population, be in vain or will efforts to save the southern resident orca population succeed? The Puget Sound’s southern resident population has reached an alarming all-time low.[1]Three pods make up the population: J, K, and L.[2]The southern resident’s range is wide with pods travelling to the San Juan Islands during the summer months and the inland waterways of the Puget Sound in the fall.[3]The use of ferries and tourism took off on the Puget Sound.[4]This increased human activity on the Puget Sound has drastically depleted the southern resident population and their food source.[5]

Lease Renewal in the Land of 10,000 Lakes: Mining in the Boundary Waters

Kelsey Godin

Carved out by glaciers, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) houses 1,500 miles of canoe routes, 2,200 designated campsites, and more than 1,000 lakes and streams.[1]The glaciers left behind cliffs, canyons, rolling hills, souring rock formations, sandy beaches, and rocky shores.[2]In the Superior National Forest, more than 1 million acres of Minnesota is protected under the Wilderness Act of 1964,[3]and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978.[4]Signing the Wilderness Act, Lyndon B. Johnson preserved the BWCAW as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.[5]The BWCAW is one of the most visited public land areas in the United States.[6]More than 200,000 people visit this pristine wild area annually.[7]

Saltwater Intrusion: Planning for Sustainable Cooperative Policy in the Face of Climate Change and Overconsumption

Jessica Doughty

The United States’ population consumes over 305 billion gallons of water daily.[1] This amount of water would fill 461,944 Olympic swimming pools.[2]  At this rate of consumption, 40 out of 50 states will face water shortages within the next decade.[3]With the growth of the United States population, particularly growth focused in coastal cities, comes increased pressure on aquifers.[4]  In addition, climate change is degrading aquifers.[5] Increased pressure on aquifers coupled with the effects of climate change causes a number of issues for groundwater aquifers, one of them being saltwater intrusion.[6]

Up in the Air: Examining the EPA’s Proposal to Revoke California’s Clean Air Act Preemption Waiver

Eric Brandies

            The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that inundated coastlines, severe food shortages, increased poverty, intensified wildfires and droughts, and mass die-offs of coral reefs loom in the near future.[1]In early October, the IPCC issued a special report examining the “impacts of global warming of 1.5℃ above pre-industrial levels.”[2]The report found that the planet will begin experiencing the detrimental effects of climate change decades sooner than previously expected.[3]It asserts that governments around the world must make drastic changes to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to avoid such severe impacts.[4]In the United States—the world’s second largest emitter of GHG emissions—transportation now constitutes the single largest source of GHG emissions.[5]These findings show that the transportation sector constitutes an ideal candidate for more stringent emission standards.

Preserving Pollination: How We Can Establish Standing to Protect Our Pollinators and Why We Need To

Danielle Bradtmiller

In 2006, the “Beepocalypse” hit Hanyuan county of China’s Sichuan province, threatening the production of the area’s primary economic resource, pears.[1]  The use of pesticides had decimated the area’s native bee population.[2]  To keep their trees producing pears, the farmers turned to a new pollinator—humans.[3]This event is the worst case scenario for an area dependent on pollinators.[4]  Yet, the spotlight seemed to shift directly to the managed honey bees, Apis mellifera, and their demise.[5]The honey bee arrived in the United States in the 1600s.[6]  However, many other pollinators lived—and still live—in the United States.[7] Wild bees,[8]butterflies,[9]birds,[10]bats,[11]moths,[12]flies,[13]beetles,[14]wasps,[15] and ants[16]represent pollinators native to the United States[17]—versus non-native, and potentially invasive, pollinators.

A Bodega Cat in the Cat Cafe: How Local Market-Based Legislation Can Supplement Housing Codes to Preemptively Address Inequitable Gentrification

Cydnee Bence

Ownership is a tricky thing, especially when ownership causes displacement. The law is full of legal fictions imperfectly strung together to try and balance competing ownership interests.[1]Gentrification weaves together  legal ownership,[2]personal ownership,[3]and historical ownership[4]—making the problems associated with gentrification tangled, tightly wound, and tricky. Often home ownership, specifically whoowns the homes in a neighborhood, is where the gentrification debate takes place.[5]However, the gentrification knot cannot be untangled by only looking at one thread. Gentrification law and policy must consider the economic factors beyond home ownership to achieve fair, just, and equitable community revitalization.

Fans of Wind Energy: Legislating a Better Aesthetic Siting Regime to Encourage Clean Energy Growth

Patrick Leary

The energy sector accounts for 35% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, helping to drive the warming of Earth’s atmosphere.[1] This percentage will be reduced in the future as society embraces plentiful renewable energy sources.[2] This Note is based on the premise that increasing the ease of wind project development provides a global good by reducing GHG emissions.[3] However, one of the major barriers to installing wind capacity is concern over aesthetics.[4] Wind farms have a wider aesthetic footprint than traditional fuel-based power sources, being typically installed in senic areas.[5] Thus, opposition and challenges to siting decisions for wind energy are frequent and often based on aesthetic grounds.[6]

Dairy I Ask How to Improve the American Milk Industry by Breaking it Up Through the Antitrust Law

Serena Tang

The green grass, the happy cows, and the rolling hills of the classic American dairy farm are no longer a reality. The idyllic rural farm of the American dream is gone. In its place is the twentieth century consolidated American dairy industry.[1] Big dairy industry players like Dean Foods Co. (Dean) and The Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) are accused of creating this reality by pricing out smaller farms to make their empires.[2] These two giants are turning the American dairy industry into their personal monopolies and monopsonies.[3]

Seismic Testing to Expand Offshore Drilling and its Effect on Marine Mammals

Dayna Spero

Noise pollution is a serious threat to marine mammals and has become increasingly prevalent with modern technology.[1] Some of the lead causes of noise pollution in the oceans include: commercial shipping, sonar, and air guns.[2] President Donald Trump has proposed allowing five companies to use air guns in seismic testing as a method to expand drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.[3] These five companies filed requests with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to authorize the incidental take of marine mammals that may occur as a result of these seismic surveys.[4]

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