Sustainable lifestyles to be focus of annual Red Clay law conference

Writer: Heidi M. Murphy, 706/583-5487, hmurphy@uga.edu Contact: Emily Wyche, 864/561-2861, emilycwyche@gmail.com Sustainable lifestyles to be focus of annual Red Clay law conference Athens, Ga. – Making a sustainable lifestyle accessible to all is the working title of the 28th Annual Red Clay Conference to be held Feb. 26 in the University of Georgia School of Law’s Larry Walker Room in Dean Rusk Hall. The daylong program will include discussions on solar power in the Southeast and Georgia’s new “Household Solar Panel” bill, flood insurance and the tensions between risk and affordability, and farm-to-school food initiatives and child nutrition reauthorization. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency General Counsel Avi S. Garbow will provide a special address, while Robert R.M. Verchick, a legal expert in environmental regulation, climate change and the developing field of disaster law, will deliver the keynote address. Garbow, who became the EPA’s general counsel in August 2013, has worked closely on President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, Clean Water Rule and other initiatives to protect public health, improve public access to environmental information and advance environmental justice. Previously, his work at the EPA focused on the agency’s air and water programs and serving in the area of enforcement and compliance assurance. He also served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section. Verchick, who is the Gauthier-St. Martin Eminent Scholar and Chair in Environmental Law at Loyola University New Orleans, served in the Obama administration as deputy associate administrator for policy at the EPA in 2009 and 2010. He is the author of three books, including Facing Catastrophe: Environmental Action for a Post-Katrina World, which was selected as a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association. Verchick is also a Senior Fellow at Tulane University\u27s Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy and president of the Center for Progressive Reform, a national policy institute focused on public health, public welfare and environmental protection. The conference, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes lunch for registered attendees, is open to the public and is free for members of the UGA community. The cost for non-UGA members is $10. For attorneys seeking continuing legal education credits of 6.0 hours, including 1 ethics hour, the cost is $60. The annual Red Clay Conference aims to increase public awareness of environmental issues of regional, national and international significance through a series of educational presentations and open forum discussions. It is entirely student-organized by members of the law school’s Environmental Law Association. For more information or to register for the conference, please visit www.law.uga.edu/environmental-law-association. UGA School of Law Consistently regarded as one of the nation’s top public law schools, Georgia Law was established in 1859. Its accomplished faculty includes authors of some of the country’s leading legal scholarship. The school offers three degrees – the Juris Doctor, the Master of Laws and the Master in the Study of Law – and is home to the Dean Rusk International Law Center. Georgia Law is proud of its long tradition of providing first-rate legal training for future leaders who will serve state and nation in both the public and private sectors. For more information, see www.law.uga.edu