In an effort to find legal solutions to climate change鈥檚 most pressing challenges, two University of Colorado Law School professors hosted the Climate Change Law & Policy Works-in-Progress Symposium August 10 and 11, 2017.
Professors and started the symposium in 2009 because at the time there was a shortage of scholarship on climate law and policy, despite its importance in the world.
鈥淣ow, of course, there are mountains and mountains of scholarship, but still not enough solutions, legal or otherwise,鈥� Krakoff said.
Law professors at all career stages attended the symposium to discuss climate change, renewable energy, and environmental protection.
鈥淢ost of us are engaged in these topics as advocates, as well as academics, and the need for serious discussion and feedback about what we are writing is critical."
- Professor Sarah Krakoff
During the symposium, each attendee presented a work-in-progress, and each was also responsible for reading all of the scholars鈥� papers. The symposium focused less on presentation and more on in-depth discussion of the drafts.
鈥淢ost of us are engaged in these topics as advocates, as well as academics, and the need for serious discussion and feedback about what we are writing is critical,鈥� Krakoff said.
Krakoff said the objective was to leave participants feeling rejuvenated and 鈥渨ith a renewed commitment to making their work the best it can be.鈥�
鈥淪everal of our colleagues tell us this is their favorite academic gathering of the year,鈥� Krakoff said. 鈥淚ts small size and structure lend themselves to serious discussion, instead of just Q and A, and of course, it is in Boulder in the summer.鈥�
The symposium is not all work and no play. On the Saturday after the conference, organizers took participants on a hike in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Krakoff said the hike is usually everyone鈥檚 highlight, and this year included sightings of pikas, high-altitude creatures threatened by climate change.
Krakoff鈥檚 areas of expertise include American Indian law, natural resources and public land law, and environmental justice. She also runs the Colorado Law Acequia Project, which provides free legal services to low-income farmers in the San Luis Valley.
Boyd is a professor of law and John H. Schultz Energy Law Fellow at Colorado Law. His areas of expertise include energy law and regulation, climate change law and policy, and environmental law.
Conference participants included:
- Alex Camacho, University of California, Irvine
- Ann Carlson, UCLA
- James Coleman, Southern Methodist University
- Brigham Daniels, Brigham Young University
- Greg Dotson, University of Oregon
- Sara Gosman, University of Arkansas
- Sanne Knudsen, University of Washington
- Douglas Kysar, Yale
- Sharon Jacobs, University of Colorado
- Alex Pearl, Texas Tech University
- Jed Purdy, Duke University (co-host)
- Noah Sachs, University of Richmond
- Jim Salzman, University of California, Santa Barbara (co-host)