by Sam Capasso

Pace’s Land Use Law Center recently held a conference on the existing legal framework supporting sustainable development entitled “Rediscovering Sustainable Development Law.”  Professor John Nolon, the head of the Land Use Law Center, welcomed the attendees with a brief discussion of the history of sustainable development law. We were then fortunate enough to have Congresswoman Nita Lowey give a brief presentation regarding sustainable development at the federal level and what is being done.  Professor John Dernbach from Widener Law School gave a persuasive and moving keynote address discussing the challenge this and future generations are presented. Dan Spitzer, a partner of Hodgson Russ LLP, then gave an engaging presentation on how practicing attorneys can use existing legal tools to support sustainable development and Professor Patricia Salkin from Albany Law School discussed the great variety of tools lawyers have to use and the power of local governments. The conference closed with Professor Jessica Bacher and Tiffany Zezula speaking about the practical problem of local support and the usefulness of collaborative processes. After the conference there was a lunch where New York Times Dot Earth Blogger Andrew Revkin received an award from Pace Law School’s Kheel Center and gave a presentation on the problem of communication with regard to climate change.

I think the articles and presentations contain some good material and may deserve a look. For those interested, the Land Use Law Center has posted the video recordings of the presentations on its website.