Environmental Justice and Sustainability: Setting the Agenda for Legal Education

Environmental Justice and Sustainability: Setting the Agenda for Legal Education Prof. John Dernbach Widener University Law School March 29, 2010

Overview
I. Sustainable Development & Environmental Justice
II. Drivers for Sustainability in Legal Education
III. Sustainability in Seven Core Areas of Legal Education

I. Sustainable Development & Environmental Justice

Sustainable Development
The iconic definition: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (1987)

Conventional Development
PROGRESS:
--Peace & security
--Economic Development
--Social Development/ Human Rights
--Supportive National Governance
PRICE OF PROGRESS:
--Environment & Natural Resources

Brundtland Commission (1987)
Two problems with post-war development model:
Growing and widespread environmental degradation
Large-scale poverty
These problems are related

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development--1992
Nations of the world (including US & UK) endorsed ambitious action plan for sustainable development
Agenda 21—comprehensive plan
Rio Declaration—statement of principles
Forest Action Plan

Sustainable Development
PROGRESS:
--Peace & security
--Economic development
--Social development/human rights
--Environmental protection/restoration
--Supportive national governance

This is not just another name for environmental law
It is also about:
Systematically reducing our ecological footprint (esp. in developed countries)
Significantly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions
Systematically redirecting our economies toward the environmental protection and restoration, including the employment opportunities that will accompany that transformation
Making it easier for unskilled and low-income persons to enter and remain in the workforce
Assisting similar transformations in developing countries

Thus, sustainable development is:
Development that--
Protects and restores the environment.
Eliminates and prevents large-scale poverty.
Or: Ecologically sustainable human development

Environmental Justice & Sustainability
Environmental Justice : Protecting low-income and minority communities from disproportionate health effects caused by pollution
Sustainability -
Environmental justice at local and global scales
Intragenerational and intergenerational equity
Tends to be more proactive, less reactive

II. Drivers for Sustainability in Legal Education
Outside legal profession
Clients*
Universities and colleges*
Nongovernmental organizations
Government
Within legal profession
American Bar Association as well as several state and local Bar Associations*
Law firms and other law organizations
Current and prospective law students

Clients
Business, government, nongovernmental
Corporate sustainability efforts
Corporate codes of conduct (e.g., CERES)
Private standards or certification systems

Universities and Colleges
Major area of U.S. sustainability progress since 2002
American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment
Develop institutional plan to become climate neutral
In meantime, take two tangible actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
677 Commitments as of 3/24/10
Most law schools are part of universities

Bar Associations
American Bar Association
ABA-EPA Law Office Climate Challenge
ABA Section on Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER) Model Sustainability Policy and Implementation Guidelines for Law Organizations
Massachusetts Bar Association
California Bar Association
Oregon Lawyers for a Sustainable Future

III. Sustainability in Seven Core Areas of Legal Education
Curriculum & teaching
Scholarship & research
Buildings & operations
Outreach & service
Student life
Institutional mission, policy, & planning
External stakeholders
Calder & Dautremont-Smith (2009)

Curriculum & Teaching
Knowledge and skills that future lawyers will need include:
Sustainability framework, especially relationship between environmental quality and human well-being
Ability to work with people from other disciplines
Agility in different legal systems (from local to international)
Legislative and contract drafting, negotiation, alternative dispute resolution
Substantive law-- “beyond environmental law”

Trends in curriculum & teaching
Courses that focus on or emphasize:
Climate change
Biodiversity
Sustainability
Textbooks
Environmental law texts that introduce sustainability and environmental justice concepts
Stand-alone texts on human rights and environment, climate change, and biodiversity
Texts in other courses (e.g., property) with sustainability perspective
Programs
Interdisciplinary programs in law and sustainability
Environmental clinics that focus on sustainability and environmental justice
Graduate law programs on climate change
Joint degree programs

Scholarship and Research
Law for sustainability
empirical research on the design and implementation of new or modified legal instruments and institutions
engaged scholarship--writing that provides information, tools and ideas that policymakers, practicing lawyers, and others can use to address the challenges and opportunities of sustainability and environmental justice

Law Journal Articles on Climate Change or Global Warming 1990-2008

Law Journal Articles on Sustainable Development or Sustainability 1990-2008

Law Journal Articles on Environmental Justice 1990-2010

Research Centers and Institutes
Centers or institutes that focus on sustainable development issues or legal tools to foster sustainability
Centers that are devoted entirely or substantially to climate change
Collaborative interdisciplinary research and programs (e.g., Yale-Columbia Environmental Performance Index, ranking UK 14 and US 63 out of 163 countries in 2010)

Buildings and Operations
Concrete and visible manifestation of a university’s or law school’s commitment to sustainability
Powerful learning opportunity for students
Examples:
LEED certification for new buildings
Participation in ABA-EPA Climate Challenge
Student initiatives

Outreach and Service
Partnerships with local communities and regions
Community-centered research and problem solving (e.g., environmental justice clinics)
Energy and climate change centers
Public lecture programs, roundtables, and other forums

Student Life
Student culture, including school-provided living arrangements, new student orientation, student governance and other activities that foster active citizen leadership and learning
Student participation, support, and advocacy for energy and water conservation, waste reduction, and other sustainability efforts.
Students holding administrators accountable for meeting their commitments.

Institutional Mission, Policy, and Planning
Centers and institutes grow out of a university’s sense of mission, and often amplify or modify its mission—especially mission of service to community
Explicit law school sustainability policy
Internal sustainability process
Specific steps toward sustainability
University commitments that affect their law schools

External Stakeholders
Law organizations, bar associations, nongovernmental organizations, government, and law clients
Surrounding communities
Outreach to external stakeholders is essential

Summing Up
Challenges of achieving environmental quality and reducing large-scale poverty in next half century are enormous
While technological innovation is important, legal innovation is equally important
Law schools have an essential role:
in training lawyers to do that work
in conducting research
in service to their communities

“ They gave their today for our tomorrow.”

Who are we, and how do we want to be remembered?

Prof. John C. Dernbach
Widener University Law School
3800 Vartan Way
Harrisburg, PA 17106-9382
(717) 541-1933
(717) 541-3966 (fax)
[email_address]
http://ssrn.com/author=411559 http://www.johndernbach.com/

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Environmental Justice and Sustainability: Setting the Agenda for Legal Education

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