JASON J. CZARNEZKI

The article "Chicken is killing the planet" in Salon should give you serious pause before you eat your next bite of chicken if you care about the environment, public health or worker safety. I have asked before in an Op-Ed "Are Food Imports from China Safe"?

H/T: Darren Rosenblum

Given the challenges of national climate legislation, we may see more of these types of agreements where American states take advantage of our federal system.

China Daily: http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/us/2013-09/16/content_16971422.htm

Registration for the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition at Pace Law School closes on September 30th. The Registration page can be found at http://law.pace.edu/registration-payment#. Early registration is recommended as we cap the number of teams. Those who do not register in time to grab a spot in the competition may be kept on a waiting list.

As noted on other blogs, it s true that our excellent Pace Law School Dean Michelle Simon is stepping down from the school’s deanship at the end of the school year. We have a excellent Dean Search Committee and as soon as the job posting is finalized, I will make it available here. For now, ask your yourself whether you or anyone you now would like to be Dean at a great law school, home to one of the nation’s premier environmental law programs, situated near both New York City (only 30 minutes from Times Square) and the absolutely wonderful natural beauty of the Hudson River.

An interesting read that builds on the current thinking that young people today are more interested in living in cities and that low-density development cannot even pay for its own infrastructure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/sunday-review/is-suburban-sprawl-on-its-way-back.html?hp&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/us/judge-blocks-shipment-of-oil-equipment-through-idaho-forest.html?ref=science&_r=0

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/judge-agrees-to-halt-highway-megaloads-for-now/article_291ba568-1c8e-11e3-b512-0019bb2963f4.html

Jon Krakauer offers more insight in The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/09/how-chris-mccandless-died.html?mobify=0

H/T: My friend Sheila Jensen Keaton

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/us/epa-is-expected-to-set-limits-on-greenhouse-gas-emissions-by-new-power-plants.html?from=homepage

Renewable Energy Law And Development
Case Study Analysis
Richard L. Ottinger
http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/bookentry_main.lasso?currency=UK&id=15400

Description
‘This book is unique in the literature on renewable energy law and policy. Firstly, it focuses on developing countries which means it fills the gap in international literature currently lacking on law and policy on renewable energy in developing countries. Secondly, it applies a basic uniform analysis method to each of the case studies. This makes the results of the case studies considerably comparable. Finally, based on the introduction to the related laws, policies and projects of the target countries, the author summarizes their experience and lessons. It is these summaries that reflect the purpose and value of this book.’
– Wang Xi, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

Today was Orientation Day for new 1L Pace Law School students interested in our environmental program. As part of the event students could go on a field trip. I accompanied my colleague Nick Robinson and students to the Jay Heritage Center and the Marshlands Conservancy.

http://www.jaycenter.org/Home.html

http://marshlandsconservancy.com/

Pace Law faculty were instrumental in the legal and political battles to save the Jay property from development into condos. Today, with Nick leading the trip, we used the property as a teaching case study for how to protect both natural and cultural heritage: the pre-historic American Indian site; the early colonial New York State history and war of independence; the slave and African-American heritage history (it is designated on the County’s African-American Heritage trail also for being the home of the Jay family that for generations campaigned to end slavery in New York); and the birthplace and burial site for America’s first Chief Justice and an early Governor of New York, John Jay; as well as the architectural heritage of the buildings and grounds covering 200 years of family life. Over the years, Pace students have done research to help with the protection and restoration of the site. It includes the oldest cleared and mowed field from Long Island Sound to the Boston Post Road, with a unique ecology ~3000 years old, and the woodlands and salt marsh of the Marshlands Conservancy, which is a County nature park the stabilizes that last small forest system along the Westchester coast. It is also a laboratory for studying adaptation to climate change (the Peter Jay house has geo-thermal heating and cooling).