News | Jonathan Magnolia Gilligan

This is my blog.

Vanderbilt Faculty and Students Oppose Trump Compact on Higher Education

11 October 2025, by Jacob Stoebner Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt student government, faculty senate, compact

At the Vanderbilt Hustler, Jacob Stoebner reports on the Vanderbilt faculty senate and student government strongly oppossing President Trump’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Educaation”

Vanderbilt Faculty Senate Opposes White House Compact

10 October 2025, by Julianne Akers Vanderbilt, faculty senate, compact

At the Nashville Scene, Julianne Akers reports on the Vanderbilt faculty senate passing a resolution opposing Trump’s so-called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”.

Mentoring Award

17 April 2023, by Jonathan Gilligan awards

I am thrilled and proud to receive a mentoring award from the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center at Vanderbilt, recognizing my mentorship, support, and advocacy for women at Vanderbilt, especially in STEM.

All That Performative Environnmentalism Adds Up

2 September 2020, by Annie Lowery private governance, private-sector wedge, individual actions

Annie Lowery has a new article in The Atlantic, “All That Performative Environmentalism Adds Up,” in which she considers the ways in which actions by individuals and households can play important roles in promoting effective policy actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

What communities do, laws reflect—this is another reason to act on climate change, and urgently. “We’re part of a society, where people interact with companies, companies interact with the government, and people interact with the government. And in all of these cases, the interactions go both ways,” Jonathan Gilligan, a physicist and a climate-change researcher at Vanderbilt University, told me. “Each part influences another.” Many climate activists believe that changing social norms around carbon-intensive behaviors makes the likelihood of dramatic climate-change legislation in the future more likely, not less.

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Beyond Politics is one of the top environmental books of the last 50 years

23 December 2019, by Jonathan Gilligan Beyond Politics, Book reviews

My book, Beyond Politics was included in a list of the top environmental books of the last 50 years in a retrospective by Oliver A. Houck and G Tracy Mehan in Environmental Forum, published by the Environmental Law Institute.

This past winter in Nashville was unusually warm and rainy. And it looks like spring will be, too.

20 March 2019, by Mariah Timms Nashville, climate change

I was quoted in a story at the Tennessean about the unusually warm and wet winter in 2018–19: “Winters have gotten so warm in the last 20 or so years that people forget. Weather that wouldn’t have been remarkably cold 30 or 40 years ago seems extraordinarily cold today.”

Bangladesh's geography will naturally counter sea level rise until it becomes too rapid due to climate change

19 February 2019, by Saqib Sarkar Bangladesh, climate change, sea-level rise, sediment

I was interviewed by the Dhaka Tribune on the impact of sea-level rise in Bangladesh. I explained that with good land-management, sediment carried to the coast by the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers can raising the land as fast as the sea is rising for the near-future, but that eventually global warming may cause the sea level to rise faster than the land can adapt.

Good Law | Bad Law Podcast

21 December 2018, by Aaron J. Freiwald podcasts, Beyond Politics, private governance, Michael Vandenbergh, Aaron Freiwald, climate change, decarbonization

Michael Vandenbergh and I were interviewed by Aaron J. Freiwald for the Good Law/Bad Law podcast. We discussed our recent book and the role of the private sector in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Beyond Politics Webinar at the Environmental Law Institute

6 September 2018 webinars, Environmental Law Institute, Beyond Politics, Michael Vandenbergh, Stephen Harper, Jackie Roberts, Cassie Phillips, Intel, Carlyle Group, private governance, climate change, climate policy, decarbonization

Michael Vandenbergh and I participated in a webinar hosted by the Environmental Law Institute on our book, Beyond Politics: The Private Governance Response to Climate Change. Cassie Phillips (director of the Private Environmental Governance Initiative at ELI) moderated. Stephen Harper (Global Director of Environment and Energy Policy at Intel) and Jackie Roberts (Chief Sustainability Officer at the Carlisle Group) provided private industry perspectives.

Radio interview about water conservation policies

6 August 2018, by Mark Brodie water conservation

I was interviewed for The Show on KJZZ in Phoenix about my recent paper on urban water conservation policies in the U.S.

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