Natalie Jacewicz
@njacewicz.bsky.social
Assistant prof, University of San Diego School of Law. Cares about: Environmental law, climate, animals, admin law, torts, and dessert.
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Natalie Jacewicz
@njacewicz.bsky.social
· Aug 30
Crafting a New Conservationism — California Law Review
Environmental law has an animal problem. It lacks an account of whether and how animals’ interests matter. Case in point: The agencies tasked with protecting wild animals cannot stop killing them. The...
www.californialawreview.org
After years in development, my article Crafting a New Conservationism is out in California Law Review! It's about how U.S. agencies manage conflicts between conservation goals and individual wild animals' intrinsic value. Thanks to the many people who provided feedback and Cal.'s editors!
Earlier this week I spoke with @thewildlifesociety.bsky.social about pending #NEPA reforms. Listen for a basic primer on NEPA, people's objections, and the subsurface disagreements that run through reform efforts.
open.spotify.com/show/6Xl0Ueb...
open.spotify.com/show/6Xl0Ueb...
Spotify – Web Player
open.spotify.com
January 30, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Earlier this week I spoke with @thewildlifesociety.bsky.social about pending #NEPA reforms. Listen for a basic primer on NEPA, people's objections, and the subsurface disagreements that run through reform efforts.
open.spotify.com/show/6Xl0Ueb...
open.spotify.com/show/6Xl0Ueb...
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
I love that the justification for assigning zero quantitative value to health benefits is that they're uncertain. Because there's obviously no uncertainty on the compliance-cost side of the ledger. No need to worry about "false precision" there. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
www.nytimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 6:23 PM
I love that the justification for assigning zero quantitative value to health benefits is that they're uncertain. Because there's obviously no uncertainty on the compliance-cost side of the ledger. No need to worry about "false precision" there. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
one defense of CBA has always been that it forces admins to be explicit about their values....
"Over the past four decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have used different estimates of the monetary value of a human life... But until now, no administration has counted it as zero."
"Over the past four decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have used different estimates of the monetary value of a human life... But until now, no administration has counted it as zero."
The "administration contends that these estimates are doubtful and said the E.P.A. would no longer take health effects into account in the cost-benefit analyses necessary for clean-air regulations, according to the documents. Instead, the agency would estimate only the costs to businesses."
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
www.nytimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 5:37 PM
one defense of CBA has always been that it forces admins to be explicit about their values....
"Over the past four decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have used different estimates of the monetary value of a human life... But until now, no administration has counted it as zero."
"Over the past four decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have used different estimates of the monetary value of a human life... But until now, no administration has counted it as zero."
This is nuts. Now, when EPA does a cost-benefit analysis of a regulation, it can only consider downsides to industry, not upsides to public health. Even though the latter is the core mission of the EPA.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
www.nytimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 9:23 PM
This is nuts. Now, when EPA does a cost-benefit analysis of a regulation, it can only consider downsides to industry, not upsides to public health. Even though the latter is the core mission of the EPA.
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Opinion | Obama Supported It. The Left in Canada and Norway Does. Why Don’t Democrats?
www.nytimes.com
December 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
This Yglesias piece in the NYT is horrifically bad. Almost every "fact" it cites is provably false. At best it is cocktail party banter from a pundit who knows nothing of energy. At worst, it was cut/paste from oil industry talking points. So, a rebuttal: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/o...
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
Animals with misleading names. I'm seeing this go around as part of a viral tumblr thread so I thought I'd reshare it.
December 15, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Very cool project by @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
50 States, 50 Fixes
A series about local solutions, and the people behind them, to environmental problems.
www.nytimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Very cool project by @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
The Ocean is huge and we are stupid.
September 5, 2024 at 12:18 PM
The Ocean is huge and we are stupid.
100%. Meat can also be a hard pivot for climate folks who (for good reason) deemphasize individual behavior and instead demand systemic change. But in the context of meat and dairy, consumers’ personal decisions really *can* make a big difference. Jennifer Jacquet:
October 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
100%. Meat can also be a hard pivot for climate folks who (for good reason) deemphasize individual behavior and instead demand systemic change. But in the context of meat and dairy, consumers’ personal decisions really *can* make a big difference. Jennifer Jacquet:
This is one of those you know is coming, but still hurts when it happens.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
Jane Goodall, Eminent Primatologist Who Chronicled the Lives of Chimps, Dies at 91
www.nytimes.com
October 1, 2025 at 6:24 PM
This is one of those you know is coming, but still hurts when it happens.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
Finally, a monumental squirrel statue. In Jeffrey Gibson’s Sculptures, Child’s Play and Indigenous Truths www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/a...
In Jeffrey Gibson’s Sculptures, Child’s Play and Indigenous Truths
www.nytimes.com
September 30, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Finally, a monumental squirrel statue. In Jeffrey Gibson’s Sculptures, Child’s Play and Indigenous Truths www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/a...
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
my takeaway from climate week nyc is that "climate storytelling" is a little too much "we must reimagine our deepest souls in relationship to mother nature and the moral abyss of the polycrisis into which we must now stare" and not enough "ok but get a heat pump"
September 28, 2025 at 6:52 PM
my takeaway from climate week nyc is that "climate storytelling" is a little too much "we must reimagine our deepest souls in relationship to mother nature and the moral abyss of the polycrisis into which we must now stare" and not enough "ok but get a heat pump"
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
National Academies is releasing their fast-tracked review of the science of the endangerment finding in about 1 hour, with a webcast in about 2 hours.
www.nationalacademies.org/event/45701_...
www.nationalacademies.org/event/45701_...
September 17, 2025 at 2:48 PM
National Academies is releasing their fast-tracked review of the science of the endangerment finding in about 1 hour, with a webcast in about 2 hours.
www.nationalacademies.org/event/45701_...
www.nationalacademies.org/event/45701_...
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
Natalie Jacewicz offers a range of possible agency approaches to incorporate individual animals’ inherent worth into wildlife management.
californialawreview.org/print/new-conservationism
californialawreview.org/print/new-conservationism
September 8, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
The last passenger pigeon died 111 years ago today and not a day goes by that I don't think about how their flocks numbered in the *billions*, that their roosts covered 100+ square miles, that they collapsed trees with their nests. America is incomplete without them
September 1, 2025 at 8:27 PM
The last passenger pigeon died 111 years ago today and not a day goes by that I don't think about how their flocks numbered in the *billions*, that their roosts covered 100+ square miles, that they collapsed trees with their nests. America is incomplete without them
After years in development, my article Crafting a New Conservationism is out in California Law Review! It's about how U.S. agencies manage conflicts between conservation goals and individual wild animals' intrinsic value. Thanks to the many people who provided feedback and Cal.'s editors!
Crafting a New Conservationism — California Law Review
Environmental law has an animal problem. It lacks an account of whether and how animals’ interests matter. Case in point: The agencies tasked with protecting wild animals cannot stop killing them. The...
www.californialawreview.org
August 30, 2025 at 7:12 PM
After years in development, my article Crafting a New Conservationism is out in California Law Review! It's about how U.S. agencies manage conflicts between conservation goals and individual wild animals' intrinsic value. Thanks to the many people who provided feedback and Cal.'s editors!
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
I am delighted that my book 'More Equal Than Others: Humans and the Rights of Other Animals' is featured in Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com and has been made an essential read in their Philosophy section. Many thanks to Marc Bekoff for interviewing me! www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anim...
Granting Rights to Animals Doesn't Undermine Human Rights
In proposing the Species Membership Approach, Raffael Fasel argues against the misplaced fears that granting legal rights and personhood to nonhumans would weaken human rights.
www.psychologytoday.com
August 22, 2025 at 9:07 AM
I am delighted that my book 'More Equal Than Others: Humans and the Rights of Other Animals' is featured in Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com and has been made an essential read in their Philosophy section. Many thanks to Marc Bekoff for interviewing me! www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anim...
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
"Pat, why do you carry that ridiculous 600mm lens on long hikes?"
Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.
Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.
August 28, 2025 at 4:18 PM
"Pat, why do you carry that ridiculous 600mm lens on long hikes?"
Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.
Buddy, I can see mountains reflected in the eyes of a trailside pika.
Fed MT court says Fish & Wildlife Service must reconsider delisting gray wolves in light of aggressive killing by Idaho, Montana, & other western states. It’s a PSA to states not to “overdo it” once a population is delisted. Try to eradicate them and…back on the list they go!
wildernesswatch.org
August 6, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Fed MT court says Fish & Wildlife Service must reconsider delisting gray wolves in light of aggressive killing by Idaho, Montana, & other western states. It’s a PSA to states not to “overdo it” once a population is delisted. Try to eradicate them and…back on the list they go!
Tfw someone starts Zoom call with “I’m inside this delightful coffee shop” and proceeds to have loud, full-on business meeting on Zoom that entire coffee shop can follow.
August 4, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Tfw someone starts Zoom call with “I’m inside this delightful coffee shop” and proceeds to have loud, full-on business meeting on Zoom that entire coffee shop can follow.
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
I can’t begin to enumerate the ways the Corporation for Public Broadcasting made my life better, literally from my earliest memories until today. This is gut wrenching.
August 1, 2025 at 5:11 PM
I can’t begin to enumerate the ways the Corporation for Public Broadcasting made my life better, literally from my earliest memories until today. This is gut wrenching.
Reposted by Natalie Jacewicz
Trump's EPA chose today to release its finding that GHG pollution does not endanger public health.
"Over 50 million Americans under heat advisory amid sweltering temperatures across South and Midwest.. For people without effective cooling, especially heat-sensitive groups, this level of heat can be deadly.. #ClimateChange.. a driving factor"
#ClimateSky
#MedSky
www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/ext...
#ClimateSky
#MedSky
www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/ext...
Over 50 million Americans under heat advisory amid sweltering temperatures across South and Midwest: 'This level of heat can be deadly'
Nearly a third of the United States is under heat alerts as temperatures skyrocket, prompting an experimental tool to help assess health threats from extreme heat.
www.thecooldown.com
July 29, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Trump's EPA chose today to release its finding that GHG pollution does not endanger public health.
Hmm. Don’t love this.
Global analysis of GRACE data since 2002 shows continents (all land excluding Greenland & Antarctica) have undergone unprecedented rates of drying & the areas experiencing drying are increasing by about 2x the size of California per year.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Unprecedented continental drying, shrinking freshwater availability, and increasing land contributions to sea level rise
Drying continents, extreme drought, and groundwater depletion are shrinking water availability and increasing sea level rise.
www.science.org
July 25, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Hmm. Don’t love this.
Happy #sharkweek! Here’s a reminder that sharks tried to save us from all this. slate.com/technology/2...
The Global Internet Is Being Attacked by Sharks, Google Confirms
The Internet is a series of tubes ... that are sometimes attacked by sharks.
slate.com
July 24, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Happy #sharkweek! Here’s a reminder that sharks tried to save us from all this. slate.com/technology/2...