JASON J. CZARNEZKI

http://www.getkempt.com/the-code/the-phone-stack.php

My three weeks in Asia, with activities for the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, were extremely productive: meeting with academic institutions and environmental NGO’s in Hong Kong, supporting our students and meeting with partners in Guangzhou, meetings at the National University of Singapore, and discussions with USAID in Bangkok.

Yesterday, now on sabbatical, my family and I arrived in Växjö, Sweden, known as the Greenest City in Europe. My partner will be doing immigration research as an Assistant Professor at Linnaeus University, while I work on four articles about (1) natural resources law in China, (2) food safety in China and implications for the U.S., (3) emerging international trade and informational regulation/eco-labeling issues from a comparative EU/US/China perspective, and (4) the relationship between economic development and environmentalism in the U.S. and China. I also will be collaborating with the Faculty of Law at Uppsala University in Sweden to host a conference in China on the intersection of environmental law and public health.

Today, we’re off to explore Växjö and do some shopping for household needs. While Sweden’s town are certainly adopting the U.S. driving culture, everything is still much more walkable and train accessible. That said, while Växjö is certainly bigger, more diverse and more cosmopolitan than Montpelier, Vermont (read: awesome falafel for dinner last night), it’s certainly not as progressive and crunchy here.

Despite my love of American politics, it will be nearly impossible for me to live blog the Iowa Caucus results from Asia, especially since I’ll be en route to Bangkok for a meeting with USAID (which substantially funds the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law). But I’ll go out on a limb and guess that Santorum wins the Iowa Caucus; rewarded for visiting all 99 counties in the state. But, I would wouldn’t trust my guess since I thought Palin would run. Nate Silver makes some interesting predictions here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/science/earth/questions-about-organic-produce-and-sustainability.html?_r=1&hp

Since I’m in China, behind the Great Firewall of China, and must blog via email, I cannot log into WordPress and correct the numerous grammatical in my last post (or the ones likely occurring in this post). Today, a 2L Vermont Law School student, with her Sun Yat-sen University partner, presented their research on "Community Participation & Waste Incineration in Urban China." The paper considers the role of public participation in the environmental context through the lens of waste incinerator siting disputes in Panyu and Hainan. The presentation at Sun Yat-sen University’s east campus in Guangzhou was well-attended by Chinese environmental law masters degree students. Now the Vermont Law School students will travel in Beijing for additional presentations at CUPL and Renmin.

As Faculty Director of the U.S.-China Partnership for Environmental Law, I’m on a three-work tour of China and southeast to support our Vermont Law School students and develop more student opportunities in the future. I was just in Hong Kong meeting with professors from Chinese University of Hong Kong (to discuss research collaboration), U.S. Consulate officials, managing partners of major law firms and international environmental NGOs. Today, I arrived in Guangzhou, China, with 6 Vermont Law School students participating in our Joint Research Project Program. Vermont Law School students are paired with Chinese students from Sun Yat-sen University, Renmin University and CUPL to write a joint research paper, and students travel to Guangzhou and Beijing to present their work. Students will also have the opportunity to meet with American and Chinese government officials, and environmental experts in China, as well as do some sightseeing. After China I’m off for meetings at the National University of Singapore and then meetings in Bangkok, all before travelling to Scandinavia where I am collaborating with Uppsala University on a China conference and researching eco-labeling for food.

http://watchlist.vermontlaw.edu/

http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/the-year-in-environmental-news

“There are only a few weeks till 2012, which means you are probably trying to shovel your way through the flurries of “year-in-review” summaries that tend to accumulate around this time. One that stands out is Vermont Law School’s Top 10 Environmental Watch List, the venerated law school’s yearly synthesis of the country’s most pressing and topical environmental issues and developments.”

http://legalplanet.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/is-epa-regulation-of-carbon-dioxide-anti-democratic/