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Widener Law Commonwealth, Harrisburg University To Host Public Lecture, Legal Conference On Deep Decarbonization April 25 & 26 In Harrisburg

On April 25 and 26, the Environmental Law and Sustainability Center at Widener University Commonwealth Law School and the Center for Environment, Energy, and Economy (E3) at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology will host a public lecture and Conference on Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in Pennsylvania: What Are the Best Ways Forward?

The public lecture will be held on April 25 on The State of Climate Science, and What It Means at Harrisburg University.

The Conference, designed for lawyers, law students, and public policy professionals, will be held at the Widener Law School in Harrisburg

Public Lecture

Harrisburg University’s Center for Environment, Energy, and Economy (E3) will host a free lecture for the general public on The State of Climate Science, and What It Means on April 25 starting at 6:00 p.m. at the 14th floor auditorium at Harrisburg University, 326 Market Street.

The event will feature two prominent expert speakers, Richard Alley, Pennsylvania State University, and Donald A. Brown, Widener Law Commonwealth, both of whom will be featured at the conference the next day.

Alley is the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences and an associate of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at Penn State University.

Alley is widely credited with showing that Earth has experienced abrupt climate change in the past—and likely will again, based on his meticulous study of ice cores from Greenland and West Antarctica.

His research interests focus on glaciology, sea level change and abrupt climate change.

In recent years, he served as one of the authors on the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose members shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2008.

Brown is the scholar in residence and professor of sustainability ethics and law, Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg.

He is a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 5th Assessment Report. Previously, he was associate professor of environmental ethics, science, and law at the Penn State University.

Prior to that, he was an environmental lawyer for the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and program manager for U.N. Organizations at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of International Environmental Policy where he represented U.S. EPA negotiating sustainability issues at the UN including climate change, international water issues, biodiversity, and Agenda 21.

His newest book, Navigating the Perfect Moral Storm, Climate Ethic, was published in 2012. He has written over 180 books, book chapters, and articles on environmental and sustainability ethics and law. He manages an award-winning website, EthicsandClimate.org, which examines ethical issues that arise in climate change policy formation.

Click Here to RSVP for this free event.

Conference

The Conference will be held on April 26 at the Widener Law School, , Administration Building, Room A180, 3737 Vartan Way in Harrisburg from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Conference is named after a newly published book co-edited by Michael Gerrard of Columbia Law School and John Dernbach of Widener Law Commonwealth, Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States.

The book contains a comprehensive description and analysis of legal tools for deep decarbonization-- reducing U.S. greenhouse emissions by at least 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. In 35 chapters, authored by 59 experts, the book identifies more than 1,000 federal, state, local, and private legal tools for deep decarbonization.

The Conference will feature a variety of expert panelists and public officials engaging with attendees on:

-- The state of climate science, and what it means;

-- Climate choices and bridging divides;

-- Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States; and

-- The state of play in Pennsylvania.

Attendees will hear from experts and dialogue about the best ways forward for Pennsylvania on electricity, transportation, energy efficiency, and a just transition. The event will conclude with a discussion about what lawyers should do to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Click Here to register for the Conference or for more information.

For more information, questions should be directed to John C. Dernbach, Commonwealth Professor of Environmental Law and Sustainability and director, Environmental Law and Sustainability Center, jcdernbach@widener.edu, 717-541-1933 or John Quigley, director, Center for E3, JQuigley@HarrisburgU.edu, 717-901-5100 Ext. 1659.

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