JASON J. CZARNEZKI

NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/science/earth/vermont-cant-shut-down-nuclear-plant-judge-rules.html?_r=1&src=tp&smid=fb-share
VtDigger: http://vtdigger.org/2012/01/20/judge-rules-against-state-says-entergy-can-continue-to-operate-vermont-yankee/ Rutland Herald:
http://rutlandherald.typepad.com/vermonttoday/2012/01/judge-sides-with-entergy-in-federal-case-yankee-can-stay-open.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-j-czarnezki/boom-to-bust-china-the-us_b_1214471.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Jan. 19, 2012

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT –– Vermont Law School has received a $1.25 million grant to support its new Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, which advocates for community-based agriculture across the United States.

The anonymous grant, which will be distributed over four years, will allow the center to hire a director with national experience and to expand its agricultural law and policy curriculum and training, research and support programs.

“This generous grant recognizes Vermont Law School’s growing strength in agricultural law and policy,” said Professor John Echeverria, acting director of the Environmental Law Center.

The agriculture center builds on Vermont’s reputation for small-scale agricultural innovation and ethos of environmental and social sustainability. It will provide support for community-based
agricultural systems, sustainable agriculture advocates, agencies, food hubs, incubators and farmers.

“This center is unique in its focus on sustainable food, food safety and the regulatory, tax and governance systems that support
agricultural policy,” said Dean Jeff Shields.

VLS is launching a national search for a director to work with VLS’s environmental faculty, Food and Agricultural Law Society students, alumni who work in organizations such as the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the Center for Food Safety, and the Vermont Department of Agriculture, and a network of national and international advisors.

The VLS agriculture center is:

Expanding the law school’s curriculum to create a comprehensive academic program in agriculture and food policy.

Continuing research and education projects, such as The Farmer’s Handbook for Energy Self-Reliance. The handbook is distributed to more than 4,000 farmers and taken to more than a dozen farmers’ forums and conferences nationally.

Organizing conferences for agricultural leaders such as the 2010 Food, Fuel, and the Future of Farming, which brought together more than 200 scholars, activists, policy leaders and farmers.

The center focuses on legal and policy issues related to
community-based agriculture, including the regulation of food, the Farm Bill and agricultural subsidies, energy-efficient food
production, energy independence for farmers and other issues that are key to retaining a successful working landscape for rural communities.

Current projects range from agriculture policy to individual faculty and student research in a variety of areas. Recent projects include a study of the regulatory barriers to grain production in Vermont, the Open Space Vermont blog, and a survey of property tax incentives for U.S. agricultural lands.

The center also is supporting the research of key scholars in sustainable agriculture and food issues by hosting a Sustainable Food Systems Summer Scholar during VLS’s summer session. Last year’s inaugural Summer Scholar was Mary Jane Angelo, a professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and a former senior attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency. This year’s Summer Scholar will be Stephanie Tai, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and an expert on the role of environmental and health sciences in developing regulatory safeguards.

More information about the VLS agriculture center is available at http://www.vermontlaw.edu/x12888.xml.

China report spells out grim climate change risks
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE80H06J20120118?irpc=932

I am blogging on the train from Kristianstad to Växjö; needless to say, this small Swedish local train is nicer than any train in the U.S. except the Acela Express. My roundtable discuss yesterday at Kristianstad University when quite well as we discussed areas of collaboration. Two potential areas are (1) research on comparative natural resource management, and (2) research on comparative cultural and social norms related to the environment, building on their environmental psychology work and the thesis I lay out in my book "Everyday Environmentalism." Given the dynamics much of the discussion had a US-Europe-China focus; for some of the researchers there are doing water research in the Mekong.

With a stick a friend gave me, this evening I was invited to and did play "innebandy," otherwise known as indoor bandy or indoor hockey, but most commonly known as floorball in English. I have never before picked up a hockey stick so my back is quite sore after an hour of play. Floorball is essentially hockey played on a basketball court with a sticks, a wiffle ball, and very small goals. It is exhausting and fun. In pro games, the goals are the size of hockey goals but in pickup games there is no goal and goals are the size of a kitchen trash can.

I hope I’m not too sore for tomorrow. I taking the train to Kristianstad, Sweden. where I have been invited to attend a roundtable discussion about Kristianstad University’s Man and Biosphere Health Project. "Man & Biosphere Health is a multidisciplinary research platform at Kristianstad University" with research "focusing on the interplay between human impacts on ecosystems, ecosystem functioning and biodiversity, and human health and well-being."

Click here.

Already there are some interesting Swedish efficiencies presenting themselves here in Sweden:

(1) There are no paper checks. All transactions are done electronically. Our downstairs neighbor said he’s not seen a check in over 20 years!
(2) No post offices. Public post offices were completely abandoned in 2001. So now I’m trying to figure out how one actually mails a letter.
(3) No receipt signing is necessary if you have a European credit card. You have a PIN code instead.

I’m sure the list will grow.

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.