I just received the following announcement from my friend William Yu, CEO, World Green Organisation. It may be of interest to my friends and colleagues in HK.

www.thewgo.org If you are unable to see this HTML email, please click here. The Hong Kong Observatory and World Green Organisation are jointly organising "Climate Change Forum: Overview of Latest Scientific Findings of IPCC AR5 Report" on 15th October, 2013. This forum will present a number of highlights from the new report. Academicians and professionals will then exchange their ideas about the possible threats to our economy and human health, which will lead us to the discussions on community initiatives. * IPCC : Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change Details: View Larger Map Add to Google Calendar Date: 15th October, 2013 (Tuesday) Time: 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. Venue: Rm M5050, Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre, City University of Hong Kong Language: Cantonese Enquiries: Mr. Alan YEUNG or 2991 9111 Registration: This event is free of charge but registration is needed. *Name: *Company *E-mail: Job title: *Tel: *Compulsory Field Please click here if you cannot submit. Time Content 2:00 p.m. Registration 2:30 p.m. Welcoming remarks By Mr. Shun Chi Ming, Director, Hong Kong Observatory 2:40 p.m. Presentations Climate Change in Global Perspective – IPCC AR5 Report and Latest Scientific Findings (By Mr. Edwin Lai, Hong Kong Observatory) Climate Change in Hong Kong (By Mr. Lee Sai-ming, Hong Kong Observatory) Ice Sheet, Rising Sea Levels and Freshwater Resources (By Professor Alexis Lau, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) 3:40 p.m. Coffee break 3:50 p.m. Presentations The Simulation and Projection of Heat Waves in Present and Future(By Professor Gabriel Lau, The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Community Education & Engagement in Climate Change (By Dr. Eddy Lee, Science Writer and Member of the Science Museum Advisory Panel) Climate Impact and Public Health (By Professor Emily Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong) 4:50 p.m. Panel discussion (35 mins) Stakeholder actions: Academic, business, NGO, community and individuals Floor discussion (30 mins) Moderators Mr. Leung Wing Mo, Former Assistant Director, Hong Kong Observatory Dr. William Yu, CEO, World Green Organisation 5:55 p.m. Closing remarks By Dr. William Yu, CEO, World Green Organisation Unsubscribe

Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Lecture on Environmental Law

Professor Jason Czarnezki
Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law

“New York City Rules! Regulatory Tools and the Environment”

>> View lecture video

http://streamingmedia.pace.edu/law/KerlinLecture092513/KerlinLecture09-25-13.html

Had a great conversation with the guys who setup the NYC water fountains near City Hall Park to encourage drinking tap water and reusable bottles rather than plastic water bottles. Thanks for setting up the fountains everyday!

The latest from Pace’s Environmental Program is available at http://issuu.com/pacelawpubs/docs/pace_greenvision_2013. A few of the highlights from our report:

Pace faculty published more than 30 articles this year across the spectrum of environmental issues, including climate change, sea level rise, Brazilian ethanol regulation, transboundary groundwater management, "humane" standards for animal agriculture, hydraulic fracturing and land use law, public/private environmental governance, and public trust servitudes, to name a few. The Pace Environmental Law Review published a special symposium edition on nanotechnology this winter, with an introduction by Distinguished Scholar in Residence Leslie Carothers.

The first English/Mandarin Dictionary of Environmental and Climate Change Law (Edward Elgar), involving several years of work by teams of students and faculty at Pace and at Shanghai Jaio Tong University, was published this summer.

Other books launched this year are Dick Ottinger’s compilation of global case studies and analyses on Renewable Energy Law and Development (Edward Elgar), Nick Robinson’s Environmental Law in ASEAN (with Profs. K.L. Koh and Lye Lin Heng), Jason Czarnezki’s Food, Agriculture and Environmental Law (with Profs. Mary Jane Angelo and Bill Eubanks), the Land Use Law Center’s Technical Guidance Manual for Sustainable Neighborhoods (in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council), and Franz Litz/World Resources Institute’s Can the U.S. Get There from Here? Using Existing Federal Laws and State Action to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

The Land Use Law Center is training government leaders in Colorado to manage water-challenged urban growth in the Front Range; partnering with Yale to link science to hydraulic fracturing controls; and creating sustainability tools to measure New Jersey communities’ progress in sustainable development. John Nolon has developed a suite of five land use and environmental law courses at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies as part of our ongoing JD/Masters of Environmental Law partnership. LULC’s 12th annual national conference, "Leading Communities Toward a Resilient Future," will be held December 6.

The Pace Energy and Climate Center is working to incorporate a clean distributed energy and electric vehicle policy into Consolidated Edison’s rate case; leads a pioneering microgrid research study for New York state; works to maximize New York’s "15×15" energy efficiency policy; led a coalition supporting Governor Cuomo’s New York Sun solar initiative; and continues to marshal diverse, nationwide coalition efforts to engage EPA in the forthcoming carbon pollution standards. Its workshop on "Community Microgrids in Connecticut," co-hosted with the Connecticut DEP, will be held later this month.

The Center for Environmental Legal Studies successfully passed seven groundbreaking new policies at the World Conservation Congress, finished the Dictionary of Environmental and Climate Change Law, hosted numerous international visitors, created a summer environmental law program with international courses that attracted students from around the world, and sent a presenting delegation to the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law in Waikato, New Zealand, this summer.

The Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic’s 20-case docket action this year kept its students busy filing a summary judgment motion in a long-running challenge to the EPA’s "Water Transfers Rule" on behalf of a dozen national clients, battling state deregulation of certain CAFOs in the wake of the Greek yogurt boom, and fighting New York City’s longstanding conversion of parkland to landfill in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

We welcomed Jason Czarnezki to our faculty this past week as our Kerlin Distinguished Environmental Law Professor. Professor Shelby Green is now teaching our historic and cultural preservation courses.

Our classroom building was renamed in April in honor of our dean emeritus, Richard L. Ottinger, who helped found the Peace Corps and served in Congress as an environmental champion over two decades before coming to Pace Law School in 1983 as professor and eventually dean, founding the Pace Energy Center.

Pace, and Pace people, received a total of four of ABA SEER’s highest awards this year, including the Distinguished Achievement for Environmental Law award for the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition and the individual Distinguished Achievement award for Leslie Carothers.

…or as the Post writes: "As government shuts down, Google marks anniversary of national park you suddenly cannot see."

H/T: My student Lisa Covert

The NY Times writes:

"Just five years after China’s high-speed rail system opened, it is carrying nearly twice as many passengers each month as the country’s domestic airline industry. With traffic growing 28 percent a year for the last several years, China’s high-speed rail network will handle more passengers by early next year than the 54 million people a month who board domestic flights in the United States."

Full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/business/global/high-speed-train-system-is-huge-success-for-china.html

(1) Disco Soup in NYC: Friday 20 September, 5-9pm, Super Pier (15th Street and Westside Highway), Free party to chop, peel and prepare surplus fruit and vegetables to the sound of dance music. All with fresh ingredients that would have otherwise been wasted and salvaged from farms around New York and New Jersey: blemished tomatoes, supersized watermelons, surplus squash and other fresh delicious produce.

(2) NYC’s Greenmarkets this weekend, as is the Montpelier farmers market. I think I’ll hit City Hall market today and Union Square tomorrow.

(3) (PARK)ing Day today: A national movement to temporarily reclaim urban parking spaces. Montpelier, VT info here. Portland, Maine too. HT: Steve Hingtgen and Sarah Schindler.

(4) The Horticultural Society of New York’s annual show of international contemporary botanical art opens in Midtown. HT: New York Today.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/expiration-dates-food-waste-harvard-nrdc-report-96989.html

Come see my lecture next week Wed @ 5pm.

http://www.law.pace.edu/gilbert-and-sarah-kerlin-lecture-environmental-law

A interesting post by Karl Coplan at Pace Law that I am re-posting:

GOOD NEWS OR BAD NEWS FOR THE CLIMATE? TWO BITS OF SCIENCE SUGGESTING LESS INTRACTABILITY