February 2010: Loyola
Environmental Law Society Website
NAELS 2010 Conference Website
Welcome Letter from Conference Organizer Samuel Steinmetz
This spring, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law is hosting the National Association of Environmental Law
Societies (NAELS) Annual Conference March 4-7, 2010. This is the 23rd annual conference put on by NAELS, and with
the backdrop of New Orleans, along with the recent developments over the past few years in environmental law, this conference should not only be on your school’s Environmental Law Society agenda, but you as a future environmental attorney should be making your way down here as well.
Conference Title
Our conference title is *Staying Afloat: Adapting to Climate Change on the Gulf and Beyond*, and our theme
revolves around what we can do to combat global warming, while recognizing that we must prepare for, and look ahead
to, those changes we cannot prevent. We are promoting this as a "solutions" conference, exploring adaptation to climate change and how we can live sustainably in the 21st century and beyond through environmental law.
Conference Activities
While Conference Keynotes and Panels will run on Friday, March 5th and Saturday, March 6th, the NAELS National Organization and Loyola’s Conference Board has been working hard to give you the ultimate New Orleans
experience, including the opportunity to give back. OnThursday, March 4th, we will kick things off with a
service project. Later that evening, Loyola Law School will be hosting a screening of the documentary film
Trouble the Water. On Sunday, March 7th, conference attendees will have the chance to truly explore a side of
New Orleans most tourists never get to see. We will explore the *new* New Orleans, where community leaders,
activists, and members work together in building a resilient and sustainable urban coast. We will take a bus ride to the lower 9th ward, and see sustainable housing projects, wetlands restoration on Bayou Bienvenue, and a look at the future to come with river turbine projects to provide clean, renewable energy. You will not want to miss this tour as it caps off an exciting weekend in New Orleans.
Keynote Speakers
The keynotes we have secured for the conference are John M. Barry, author of *Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi
Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America*, Michael Gerrard professor of law at Columbia, director of the Center for
Climate Change Law, and author of the ABA's resource book entitled *Global Climate Change and the Law*, Richard Louv,
author of the book *Last Child in the Woods* and founder of the Children & Nature Network, Amory Lovins, Chairman
and Chief Scientist for the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Beverly Wright, Executive Director for the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.
Panel Discussions
In addition to these great speakers, we are in the midst of developing over a dozen plenary panels on topics such as environmental justice on the Gulf Coast and how governmental policy can help those underrepresented, adapting to rising sea levels and loss of coastal wetlands, "green" energy and the economics behind it, a sustainable future for New Orleans and the United States, coastal restoration, ecosystems services, international environmental law, questions of federalism, and the
interaction of regulation and with the scientific method.
While many of the panels are still in development, we intend to bring some of the brightest minds in the legal and scientific fields to help explain to future lawyers and professionals what they can do to ensure we head down a path that is good for us, and future generations.
Please visit our website for more information on the conference, and updates, including a complete conference schedule.
Conference Information
http://law.loyno.edu/national-association-environmental-law-societies-annual-conference
Registration
http://law.loyno.edu/naels-conference
Best,
Samuel T. Steinmetz
Assistant Director
Loyola Center for Environmental Law and Land Use (CELLU)
Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
