Climate action has been something of a tug of war between the last several presidential administrations. That’s partly because there isn’t much existing federal law designed to address climate change, said Cinnamon Carlarne, professor in the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

“Climate law in the U.S. is, at best, a patchwork of things,” Carlarne said.

In its first year, the Biden administration has started to lay out its own framework for addressing climate change. But the details of how the U.S. will achieve its climate goals aren’t clear yet, she said.

Carlarne and other experts in climate, law and policy discussed impacts climate change has on the Great Lakes and recent developments in climate law and policy in the University of Toledo College of Law’s recent “Climate Change and the Great Lakes” conference.

“Climate change just brings a lot more uncertainty and issues to the table,” said Kim Channell, climatologist with University of Michigan Great Lakes Integrated Sciences & Assessments, in the virtual conference.

Trends

In general, in the Great Lakes region, climate change has driven warmer temperatures, longer […]