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Showing 22 results

Allison Stevens

Former Senior Editor and Research Advisor

A view from underwater

Allison Stevens | October 6, 2022

Verchick: To Build Climate Resilience, We Need to ‘Start Living with Water’ 

From Florida’s sea-battered coast to small mountain communities in landlocked Kentucky, nowhere, it seems, is safe from flooding these days. Even California’s Death Valley — the arid trough in the Mojave Desert known as “the hottest place on earth” — saw record floods this year.  Flooding is, of course, nothing new. The story of human civilization is […]

The Founders of the Center stand together

Alexandra Rogan, Allison Stevens | September 28, 2022

The Center’s “Battery Pack”: Toasting our Member Scholars on Our 20th Anniversary

This month, three Member Scholars – Dave Owen, Rob Fischman, and Rob Glicksman – take center stage in the latest edition of Land Use and Environment Law Review (LUELR), an anthology of last year’s best writing on environmental law. In August, Member Scholar Rebecca Bratspies, earned the 2022 International Human Rights Award from the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, and […]

Collage of images and the Center's logo

Allison Stevens | September 13, 2022

A New Look for a New Era

The founding of the United States was far from perfect, reflecting the deep flaws and exploitative practices of the founders themselves. But there was one thing they got right: They created a government charged, in part, with protecting the general welfare. That includes you, me, the American people writ large, and our environment. We at […]

Allison Stevens | March 9, 2022

Black Women Law Professors ‘Ecstatic’ Over Jackson’s Nomination

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, recently nominated to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, has received the endorsement of over 200 Black law deans and professors.

Allison Stevens | March 2, 2022

In New Articles, Member Scholars Highlight Costs of Cost-Benefit Analysis

Imagine you're in the market for a new furnace. You decide to buy a more fuel-efficient system -- even though the price tag is higher -- because it will lower your monthly heating bills. Another selling point: The fuel-efficient furnace emits less carbon into the atmosphere -- a benefit you can't quite quantify but that you value nonetheless for its small salubrious effect on the planet. Policymakers go through a similar -- though much more complex -- process when implementing laws. But an obscure federal mandate known as cost-benefit analysis renders them unable to fully account for costs and benefits that are difficult to measure in dollars and cents, like the large-scale value to society of federal rules that protect public and environmental health. Despite its name, a true analysis of a rule's full benefits is impossible.

Allison Stevens | February 23, 2022

A Matter of Life and Death: Advocates Urge Congress to End Environmental Racism

In this post, we take a look at the Environmental Justice for All Act, legislation originally introduced in 2021 that would strengthen environmental standards and create safer and healthier communities for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income. A recent Congressional committee hearing on the act might finally be moving the legislation forward.

Allison Stevens, Jennifer Nichols | September 8, 2021

Workers Aren’t ‘Burned Out.’ They’re ‘Getting Burned’ by the Lack of Policy Protections

Soaring rates of voluntary resignations, widespread labor shortages, and the ubiquity of "Help Wanted" signs put the "labor" back in the Labor Day holiday this year, as employers struggle to respond to a jobs market that seems, for once, to have given workers the upper hand. Story after story blames current labor market conditions on "burnout," an occupational phenomenon the World Health Organization describes as a combination of symptoms that includes emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment. "Burnout -- and opportunity -- are driving record wave of quitting," the Deseret (Utah) News declared in August. But what if the diagnosis -- or rather, what we call it -- is a symptom of the real problem? Naming the phenomenon for its toll on workers, rather than for the working conditions that drive it, skews our understanding of what's wrong and how to fix it.

Allison Stevens | September 2, 2021

Virginia Mercury Op-ed: Cleaning up ‘forever chemicals’ must be a federal priority

The U.S. Senate faces a long to-do list when it reconvenes next month. U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Fairfax,  wants to be sure an important but fairly obscure environmental health bill makes the list.

Allison Stevens, Laurie Ristino, Maggie Dewane, Steph Tai, Victor Flatt | June 24, 2021

CPR Scholars Call for ‘Vigilant Advocacy’ to Protect LGBTQ Gains

The Center for Progressive Reform stands with all who are working to advance equity and equality for LGBTQ Americans. To commemorate Pride Month, we asked three CPR leaders to weigh in on progress in this area.