JASON J. CZARNEZKI

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL SEEKING POLICY DIRECTOR FOR ENVIRONMENTAL LAW PROGRAM

Reporting to the Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program, the Policy Director will lead the policy component of the HLS Environmental Law and Policy Program and work closely with environmental law faculty, who will determine the Program’s priorities. The Relationship between the Policy Component of the HLS Program and the existing Clinical Component will be synergistic. The Policy Director will:

1) Coordinate with HLS’s Emmett Law and Policy Clinic to build out clinic projects into longer term, broader research efforts aimed at producing a range of deliverables, including white papers for legislators and regulators; guides and model codes for state and local actors and journal articles and books for academic audiences and think tanks; 2) Initiate research and policy projects that, in turn, may be pursued in the Clinic; 3) Work closely with environmental law faculty in developing constructive approaches to pressing environmental issues and overcoming hurdles to effective lawmaking; and 4) Be responsible for convening programs that bring law and policymakers to Harvard for meaningful dialogue, and also for reaching out to law and policy makers to promote the research of HLS environmental faculty and students via written submissions, oral testimony, or policy papers.

Topics to be addressed by the Policy Director will include a variety of energy/environment issues including climate change mitigation and adaptation, water resource management, environmental impacts of energy technologies (including fracking and carbon capture and sequestration), renewable energy, and energy efficiency. In certain years, some topics may achieve more attention than others, and topics of focus may expand or contract over time depending on the HLS Program’s priorities, and relevant legal and political developments. The scope of the projects (local, state, national, international) will vary, as will the intended audience for the research or policy deliverables.

Note: this is a two year term appointment, with possibility for renewal based on funding and business need. This position is not tenure-track, and does not include teaching responsibilities. This is a professional, exempt position. Regular work schedule is anticipated to exceed 35 hours in a work week, sometimes exceeding 50 hours including some nights and weekends

Credentials: JD, and 8-10 years minimum experience preferably in a variety of roles in public and private sector e.g., several years at an NGO, on the Hill, US DOJ ENRD, EPA, DOI, at a think tank and/or private practice. Bar membership required.

A combination of experience and training in different arenas will be preferred to experience in just one. The Policy Director must be nimble and able to work well with multiple constituencies both across the university and in the public and private sectors. Outstanding legal analytic, research and writing ability; experience convening public-private events such as workshops and conferences; ability to effectively translate and deploy student work product in public policy and legal arenas; excellent communication skills; track record as a team player.

TO APPLY, PLEASE VISIT THE HARVARD LAW SCHOOL WEBSITE AT http://www.law.harvard.edu/about/administration/hr/careers/apply-to-job/index.html

I have noted in this article that China and the U.S. are the key to building an international climate regime. And now this article in the NY Times, and its money quote:

Jo Leinen, the German Social Democrat who leads the delegation from the European Parliament, lashed out at both superpowers on Wednesday afternoon. “What is really frustrating to see is this conference is again hijacked by the Ping-Pong game between the U.S. and China,” he said. “It is unacceptable and no more tolerable that this game is blocking the overall process. Now that China has done some moves, let’s test their seriousness. I don’t see the same commitment, the same signals from the U.S. The one is not yet ready; the other is not willing. We really have a problem.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/us/eat-more-kale-t-shirts-challenged-by-chick-fil-a.html?_r=1&src=tp&smid=fb-share

http://youtu.be/gs_CchfoI0c

http://www.eatmorekale.com/donate.html

A fantastic discussion by Professor Bob Adler (Utah Law).

http://www.wptz.com/video/29828910/detail.html

Try the The Wiggly Tendrils new album Gobble
http://thewigglytendrils.bandcamp.com/album/gobble

See here.

Or is it a fruit?

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This must-read article in The Atlantic, in drawing a structural link between the Communist Party and Wal-Mart (this is interesting since a book I just read drew a similar link between the Chinese Communist Party and the Vatican), attempts to understand and evaluate Wal-Mart’s actions on the road to environmental sustainability, and in addressing the fact that "growing numbers of Chinese were also becoming worried, even frightened and angry, about pollution, adulterated foods, and the corruption that kept local government agencies from taking remedial actions." On the food front, this is the money quote to explain why my Chinese friends do not understand why I would shop at a small local co-op:

"No wonder, then, that many in China’s burgeoning middle class, especially those with children, are seeking refuge in brand-name restaurants—particularly fast-food chains such as McDonald’s and KFC—and grocery markets such as Walmart. Walmart has several times come under fire in China for selling produce tainted with toxic chemical residues, and for mixing organic and nonorganic foodstuffs: this fall, for example, the Chongqing municipal government fined Walmart, and temporarily closed some of its stores, for mislabeling pork as organic. Still, because Walmart is a well-known multi-national corporation with so much at stake in terms of its global brand, Chinese shoppers have assumed that it will be a more trustworthy outlet. (Of course, Americans and Europeans have exactly the opposite reaction, seeking safety in small organic producers rather than big corporations.) And since the Chinese government, too, is concerned about people’s health and social stability, and its own legitimacy, it tends to see these larger, well-branded outlets as both models and responsible allies."

I have no idea what to make of this article.