Aren't federal judges supposed to clam up and only give interviews very rarely?

that Judge Posner explains.

But I must also say that the activities of businesses that have an impact on the environment and on the health and safety of employees should be regulated.

Our environment cannot always heal itself. And the cost of protecting the health and safety of employees and others should be the business's responsibility since the managers of the business are best positioned to calculate those costs.

Regulation creates an even playing field for responsible businesses because it frees them from having to compete with irresponsible, short-sighted competitors.

De-regulation does not work well. And people living in third world countries will soon discover this.

. . . is to say that some things are owned in common.

We all need good air to breathe; toxins in the air will make us sick. We all need the planet to have an atmosphere without an overload of carbon dioxide, which causes climate change. Who owns the atmosphere? Sometimes it feels like no one does, but maybe it works better to think everyone does. The atmosphere is owned in common by all people.

That's my atmosphere. Don't go polluting it with cancer-causing toxins or heat-trapping carbon dioxide.

If we start with that framework, then the law should help protect our atmosphere.