Environmental Law and Climate Change: Why Collective Action Is Our Most Powerful Tool with Daniel Farber

What happens to environmental law when the federal government turns its back on climate action?

Dan Farber is the Sho Sato Professor of Law at UC Berkeley and one of the most respected voices in US environmental and constitutional law. A former law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens of the US Supreme Court, he has spent decades at the intersection of environmental policy, democracy, and justice.

In this conversation with Sara, Dan offers a clear-eyed and surprisingly hopeful assessment of where we are. He talks about why simply limiting emissions is no longer enough — and why we need to think seriously about what we are going to build in place of the fossil fuel world. He talks about the role of state governments as the real drivers of durable climate action in the US, and about why California and other states are effectively doing the lab work for the federal government. He speaks about environmental justice — who is most exposed to risk, who is most vulnerable, and why those two things are not always the same. And he addresses political polarisation head-on, arguing that climate change was never and should never be a left-right issue.

But the most important message he leaves is this: change is not all or nothing. Every ton of carbon we stop emitting makes the world a little bit better. And collectively — in communities, in states, in cities — we are far more powerful than we feel.

In this episode:

• What environmental law actually is — and why companies won't act without it
• Why limiting emissions alone is not enough — the case for investment-led climate policy
• How the war in the Middle East is accelerating the global energy transition
• Why state and local governments are the real engine of durable climate action in the US
• Environmental justice: who is most exposed, who is most vulnerable — and why these aren't the same
• Political polarisation and climate change — how we got here and how we get past it
• Why democracy, despite its slowness, produces more durable climate solutions than authoritarianism
• What ordinary citizens can actually do — from voting with their wallet to writing to their state legislators
• Why community is the antidote to powerlessness

About Dan Farber:
Dan Farber is the Sho Sato Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, where he leads two research centres focused on law, energy, environment, and democracy. A former law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens of the US Supreme Court, he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the author of several influential books including Eco-Pragmatism and Contested Ground: How to Understand the Limits on Presidential Power.

We Need to Act is a podcast about the people, ideas, and movements shaping a better now.