Law and Advocacy Publications

Law and Advocacy Publications

Tseming Yang is currently working with Marianne Engelman-Lado and students at Santa Clara Law School, Vermont Law School’s Environmental Justice Clinic, and Yale Law School on a reform proposal for US EPA’s Title 6 Program.   Title 6 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its implementing agency regulations prohibit both intentional and unintentional discrimination by entities that receive federal funding, which includes the great majority of state environmental agencies.  Title 6 has thus come to be viewed as a key tool to fight discrimination by such entities, ranging from allegations of discriminatory siting of hazardous waste facilities to the issuance of industrial air and water pollution permits that cause disproportionate environmental and health impacts on surrounding minority populations.  EPA’s enforcement of Title 6 has been heavily criticized for decades for failing to adequately address the discrimination claims of impacted communities. This project seeks to provide proposals to address many of these deficiencies. 

Yang, T. (2024). Old and new environmental racism. Utah L. Rev., 2024, 1.

Engelman Lado, M. (2019). No more excuses: Building a new vision of civil rights enforcement in the context of environmental justice. Univ. Penn. J. L. & Soc. Change, 22, 281.

Yang, T. (2002). Melding civil rights and environmentalism: Finding environmental justice's place in environmental regulation. Harv. Envtl. L. Rev., 26, 1.

Yang, T. (2001). The form and substance of environmental justice: The challenge of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for environmental regulation. BC Envtl. Aff. L Rev., 29, 143.

Yang, T. (2001). Environmental regulation, tort law and environmental justice: What could have been. Washburn LJ, 41, 607.

Tseming Yang is also engaged in research on environmental justice issues that arise globally and in other countries.

Yang, T., Nguyen, Q., Tsang, L. (2021). Cancer villages in China. In S. Atapattu, C. G. Gonzalez, & S. Seck (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of environmental justice and sustainable development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Yang, T., Telesetsky, A., Harmon-Walker, L., & Percival, R. V. (2020). Comparative and global environmental  law and policy. New York: Wolters Kluwer.

Written by leading scholars and experts with extensive practice and teaching experience in the field, Comparative and Global Environmental Law and Policy offers a student-friendly approach to the study of a rapidly evolving and important area of law. Its multi-jurisdictional selection of judicial opinions and legal materials introduces students to the worldwide reach of environmental law.  It includes a chapter on human rights and the environment, and sections on indigenous people. Through its substance, the book familiarizes students not only with governing and emerging legal principles but also demonstrates how legal norms are applied to specific issues and contexts, illustrating how law-on-the-books becomes law-in-action. Student understanding is reinforced by problem exercises and discussion questions.

Yang, T., & Zhang, X. (2011). Public participation in environmental enforcement with Chinese characteristics: A comparative assessment of China's environmental complaint mechanism. Geo. Int'l Envtl. L. Rev., 24, 325.

Moser, A., & Yang, T. (2011). Environmental tort litigation in China. Env. L. Rep. 41, 10895.

Yang, T. (2005). The effectiveness of the NAFTA Environmental Side Agreement's citizen submission process: A Case Study of Metales y Derivados. U. Colo. L. Rev., 76, 443.

Yang, T. (2003).  Of borders, fences, and global environmentalism. Chi. J. Intl. L., 4, 237.

Yang, T. (1999). Balancing interests and maximizing rights in environmental justice. Vt. L. Rev. 23, 529.

Zsea Bowmani is working at the intersections of the environment, race, gender, sexual orientation, human rights, and many other intertwined dynamics that affect social and environmental inequities.

Bowmani, Z. Now is the time for Black Queer Feminist Ecology (in press). Tulane Journal of Law & Sexuality 30.

Prado, C., Bowmani, Z., Raphael, C., & Matsuoka, M. (in press).  Law, policy, regulation, and public   participation. In C. Raphael & M. Matsuoka (Eds.), Community-engaged research for environmental justice. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press - Luminos.

Bowmani, Z. & Cukor, E. (in press). LGBTQIA+ discrimination. In M.T. Rossein (Ed.), Employment Discrimination Law and Litigation, 3rd ed. Toronto, Canada: Thomson Reuters West.

Chad Raphael has collaborated with activist Ted Smith to analyze and develop communication and campaign strategies to improve the safety and sustainability of electronics production, recycling, and disposal.

Raphael, C., & Smith, T. (2015). Health and safety policies for electronics workers. In R. Maxwell (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Labor and Media (pp. 100-112). New York & Abingdon: Routledge.

Raphael, C., & Smith, T. (2015). The future of activism for electronics workers. In R. Maxwell (Ed.), The Routledge companion to labor and media (pp. 327-342). New York & Abingdon: Routledge.

Raphael, C. (2013). The social construction of e-waste: A teaching unit. Teaching Media Quarterly, 1(4).

Raphael, C., & Smith, T. (2006). Importing extended producer responsibility for electronic equipment into the United States. In T. Smith, D.N. Pellow, & D.A. Sonnenfeld (Eds.), Challenging the chip: Labor rights and environmental justice in the global electronics industry (pp. 247-259). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Smith, T., & Raphael, C. (2003). High tech goes green. YES! A Journal of Positive Futures, 25, 28-30.

Raphael, C., & Matsuoka, M. (2023). Aligning community-engaged research methods with diverse community organizing approaches. Social Sciences, 12(6), 343.

Example Student Projects

Iris Stewart-Frey’s students have partnered with the International Campaign for Responsible Technology to map global electronics supply chains and health problems.

Environmental Impacts of Electronics Company Supply Chains

Student authors: Ayesha Ahmed, Clint May, Jean-Baptiste Tooley 

Community partner: International Campaign for Responsible Technology

Faculty supervisor: Iris Stewart-Frey

Abstract: Through a collaboration with the International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT), a student capstone team traced the supply chains of major technology manufacturing companies, specifically Apple and Dell. The objectives of this project were to map the locations of specific factories and to correlate manufacturer locations against air and water pollution affecting local communities, in light of companies’ goals identified from Corporate Sustainability Reports (CSRs). We found that monitoring and reporting of soil and air pollution due to electronics manufacturing is insufficient in the countries where a majority of this activity takes place, and thus communities are not well informed about the risks associated with production. Geospatial analysis of supply chains as well as studying CSR reporting allows for examination of links between electronics manufacturing and environmental impact.  Improved corporate transparency could encourage greater adherence to environmental goals and standardized CSR reporting metrics would allow for better comparison on overall environmental quality goals for the benefit of the communities supplying the global electronics market.

Health Impacts and Socio-Economic Factors Associated with Electronics Supply Chains

Student authors: Katie Diggs, Louis Grace, James Middleton, Jack Williams 

Community partner: International Campaign for Responsible Technology

Faculty supervisor: Iris Stewart-Frey

Abstract: This project was conducted as a capstone project under the mentorship of the International Campaign for Responsible Technology. Electronic companies are seeking maximum flexibility in their supply chains in order to stay competitive, and as a result, rarely disclose specifics on their supply chain nor do they take responsibility for any impacts on worker or environmental health. Given that unionization has yet to be widely established in the industry, there currently exist few means for worker rights and health issues to be addressed.  The goal of this project was to map supply chains and negative health outcomes to increase transparency in electronic companies’ supply chains. This project will provide grounds for the ICRT and future researchers to promote social change associated with electronic supply chains.

The Ethics of Geoengineering

Student authors: James Wang 

Faculty supervisor: Iris Stewart-Frey

Abstract: As global CO2 levels have increased past 400 ppm, CDR methods to mitigate, or at least dampen, the impact of human-induced climate change are considered worldwide. While many technical and political issues regarding CDR remain to be resolved, the ethical questions regarding who bears the risks, responsibilities, and impacts of this technology have yet to be widely discussed. Comparison of different analytical tools indicate that loss of ecosystem and vegetated cover correlate to higher environmental vulnerability index scores for many developing countries in Africa and Asia, even though the contribution to carbon dioxide rises in the atmosphere by these countries has been comparatively limited.