JASON J. CZARNEZKI

Today I have been invited to attend a two-day workshop of the Man & Biosphere Health (MABH) project, housed at Kristianstad University. The workshop is being held at a retreat center/bed & breakfast in Åhus, Sweden. My invitation arose after the publication of my first book because the MABH researchers and faculty are interested in broadening their scientific research findings into policy and legal implementation, and they are interested in the link between individual behavior and the environment. Going forward, and related to some of my earlier work on eco-labeling, I think our first research collaboration will be at the intersection of evolutionary biology/psychology and existing eco-labeling regimes.

Reading Brian Leiter’s post made me long for my days studying law at the University of Chicago where Judge Posner is on faculty and where debates about the meaning of text are ongoing.

See
Law School Reports: Judge Posner on Justice Scalia’s Jurisprudence
http://leiterlawschool.typepad.com/leiter/2012/08/judge-posner-on-justice-scalias-jurisprudence.html

A short update: I’m in Sweden for a little over a week; a stopover on my way to China. Traveling to visit colleagues in Sweden is always a treat due to the ease of train travel in Europe. I spent day today at the University of Gothenburg Department of Law where I’m collaborating with environmental law professors on a comparative project to evaluate different national systems of environmental quality standards. I’m providing information on the American environmental law regime, specifically federal and state implementation and regulatory standards under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. While on the train back, I also gave a phone interview to Bloomberg News about the National Organic Program, the USDA’s enforcement and certification role, and food safety in the U.S. It was a full and exciting day (now approaching hour 17 and counting) which included a bizarre dinner at an Irish Pub in Gothenburg where I all the sudden realized I was surrounded by photos of Doug Flutie, JFK, Tom Brady, Larry Bird and other New England icons.

As an aside, the best website about train travel is www.seat61.com.

The New England Aquarium will be hiring a new Conservation
Associate/Wild Fisheries Specialist. This person will act as an independent researcher, focusing on commercial fisheries for a sustainable-seafood sourcing project and provide support on additional projects within the Sustainable Seafood Programs. This is a one year position, with a strong possibility for renewal. See
http://neaq.applicantpro.com/jobs/10696.html.

See here at Legal Planet.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/travel/36-hours-in-montpelier-vt.html

See here.

In California and Vermont:

http://legalplanet.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/genetically-modified-foods-californias-proposition-37-whats-all-the-fuss-about/

&

http://greenanswers.com/blog/285375/senator-bernie-sanders-takes-gmo-labeling

Conference on Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School

This conference will serve as a launch platform for the law school′s new Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, bringing national experts and leaders in the field together to address the major legal and policy issues related to agriculture and food systems. The conference will feature speakers with diverse backgrounds, specialties, professions and points of view on issues concerning food and public health, sustainable animal agriculture, public regulation of genetically modified organisms, agriculture and water quality, localizing food, and the future of agriculture production nationally and here in Vermont.

Operating under the leadership of America′s top-ranked environmental law program and nationally recognized faculty with deep expertise in our country′s agriculture and food systems, the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School will train the next generation of legal advocates in the field, adding desperately needed resources to the communities and organizations working to address the special complexities posed by local, sustainable, community-based agriculture. Vermont Law School is uniquely poised to take on this challenge. Our state′s tradition-rich small- and mid-scale farms are among national leaders in the effort to implement a sustainable system.

More info at: http://www.vermontlaw.edu/agconference

The U.S.- China Partnership for Environmental Law at Vermont Law School, with the support of USAID, supported an in-depth training of senior Chinese judges in environmental adjudication and law. China Daily even picked up our event at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum in Washington, D.C., complete with photo of the judges and our program director Siu Tip Lam.

In recent years, many courts in China have established specialized courts to address the increasing severe environmental problems that often have transboundary effects. However, the judges require the knowledge of environmental law and the tools to render effective remedies. To build their capacity, the USAID supported a four-week program, from July 23 through August 16, 2012, implemented by the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law at Vermont Law School, for twelve senior Chinese judges from eleven provinces and three instructors from China’s National Judges College (NJC). In the first two weeks, the judges attended full-day classes led by judges and professors in Vermont, including meetings with the Vermont Attorney General’s office and the Department of Environmental Conservation. The judges also travelled to the New York State Judicial Institute for a full-day of interaction with U.S. judges. In Washington D.C., the judges presented on environmental adjudication in China, learned how environmental NGOs use the U.S. legal system, and spent a day with attorneys and judges from the USEPA’s Environmental Appeals Board and the Department of Justice. The judges also met with the USEPA’s Region 9 office to discuss specific environmental cases the office has brought. The participants learned, among other things, some of the tools and techniques American judges employ for resolving differences in expert witness evidence and how they tailor court orders, including both deterrent and remedial measures, to address specific environmental violations and harm in each case. Throughout the program, participants discussed developing innovative ways to tailor some of these tools and techniques they learned in the program to be applied and used in the Chinese context. One of the instructors from the NJC will stay in the U.S. for another two months to develop an environmental adjudication curriculum that would be used for training judges at the NJC and in other judicial training programs. This four-week program was also supported by the U.S.-China Legal Cooperation Fund.