Maryland. A state with climate-focused legislation and some of the country’s most high-profile climate cases. It’s also already experiencing numerous climate impacts. As a result, Maryland judges are already encountering cases that directly involve climate science, law, or policy. And that trend is only expected to continue.
In May, the Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) partnered with the Judicial College of Maryland to present Climate Change and the Law: Maryland Edition. The educational program was offered to state court judges in Maryland, and featured experts on climate science and law. Judge Lynn Knight, a participant in CJP’s Judicial Leaders in Climate Science program, introduced the event.
CJP's Jarryd Page presented on national climate litigation trends and detailed the types of cases and issues that have come before Maryland courts. Material in this presentation was drawn from the Climate Science and Law for Judges curriculum. Next, Associate Research Professor and Maryland State Climatologist, Alfredo Ruiz-Barradas, spoke about climate science on a broad scale. He emphasized the consensus science on climate change and pointed to synthesis reports from scientific bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The message? That “human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land” and created widespread and diverse impacts.
Pat Megonigal, Associate Director of Research at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, rounded out the presentations by surveying the climate impacts in Maryland. Although focusing on sea level rise and flooding, Dr. Megonigal emphasized the widespread impacts that the state is already experiencing, including extreme heat and impacts to fisheries and recreation, among others.
As an ongoing learning opportunity, the program remains available through the Judicial College of Maryland’s virtual course library.
