More than a thousand students, lawyers and advocates gathered at the Knight Law Center over the weekend to partake in the University’s 29th annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference.
The conference, an entirely student-organized event sponsored by the law school, is regarded as one of the premier meetings in the world for environmental law groups. Beginning Thursday morning, the PIELC lasted until Sunday afternoon with approximately 125 discussion panels covering a broad spectrum of environmental issues.
In addition, dozens of research and advocacy groups lined the hallways of the Knight Law Center, offering information on their respective causes and adding to the festive yet serious nature of the conference.
“Our goal at this conference is to allow for a wide variety of viewpoints,” Emily Follansbee, a second-year law student and PIELC co-director, said. “People all across the country are out there doing great things for the environment, so this is a great opportunity for them to come together and discuss things when they otherwise might not have a place to do so.”
Issues put forth at the conference included anything and everything remotely related to the environment.
Animal rights, pollution, climate change and the dangers of rural development were some of the recurring themes, but other panels were offered, as well.
One panel, titled “Activist Self-Defense,” educated ambitious environmentalists on how to defend themselves should their efforts bring about a lawsuit.
In all, more than 100 student volunteers worked to organize this year’s PIELC, which throughout the weekend registered approximately 1,400 people from dozens of countries across the world.
Though there were several conference newcomers among the crowd, most were long-time attendees, many of whom represented groups that have been attending PIELC for several years.
“The main thing about environmental law in the United States is the community that has developed between practitioners,” said Josh Prowse, a senior law student from the University of Victoria in Canada.
Prowse is part of the Environmental Law Centre at his university — a well-established program that frequents PIELC events.
“This sort of conference is what over the last several years has helped create that community,” Prowse said. “The University of Oregon should feel proud that this is one of the premier environmental law conferences in the world.”
The highlight of past PIELCs has often been the remarkable selection of keynote addresses from some of the world’s most prominent environmentalists. Past speakers include the 2009 keynote Pablo Fajardo, who just three weeks ago won an 18-year-old court case — netting $8 billion — against the corporate giant Chevron for its past pollution of Ecuadorian rainforests.
One of this year’s main keynote speakers was women’s rights and environmental advocate Dr. Vandana Shiva, who, with her speech, wrapped up her three-week stay at the University.
Another major speaker was former U.N. Secretary Jeremy Wates, whom PIELC organizers honored with the David Brower Lifetime Achievement Award. Wates is also the incoming Secretary General to the European Environmental Bureau, a coalition of 143 organizations representing 15 million advocates across Europe. The secretary leaves Monday to attend a preparatory meeting for the Earth Summit 2012 in Rio De Janeiro.
At the conference Sunday, Wates described how, following the disappointment of the 2010 Copenhagen Climate Summit, he hopes to encourage unprecedented cooperation at the international level.
“One of the key issues will be how the Rio conference can be used to strengthen the role of the public and involve citizens in the decision-making progress,” Wates said. “It’s still too early to be optimistic, but I certainly don’t rule out the possibility that the summit can produce something really useful. I do think we will need to work really hard to put pressure on governments. There is a lack of political will to address these problems.”
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University hosts 29th annual environmental law conference
Daily Emerald
March 6, 2011
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