When I was ten years old, Hurricane Sandy hit my hometown on Long Island in October 2012. My concerns at the time were centered on whether the neighborhood would cancel trick or treating and if the medium-sized pear tree on our front lawn would survive after the storm knocked it over. For me, Hurricane Sandy represented a vacation from school and a chance to finish Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Fortunately, circumstance shielded me from the extent of the damage — our utilities survived most of the storm and were replaced quickly. This was not the case for everyone. Friends who lived five minutes away lost water for days and power for longer. My aunt had to move after her home was flooded. A friend from high school still had nightmares when it rained — six years after the storm.
At twenty years old, I stood at the Calabasas Farmers Market and listened as Gene Etheridge, a local farmer, explained that in the summer heat, the Valencia orange turns green on the outside — a sort of natural sunscreen to protect from the rising temperatures. As the Earth continues to get hotter, the Valencia orange will be green for longer, resulting in supermarkets dying the fruit orange to make it more appealing on the shelves. When he sliced open the fruit to reveal the perfectly orange insides, he told me “Nature takes care of itself.” But what happens when — through human activity — the safeguards that keep the natural world in equilibrium can no longer keep up with the pace of climate change? This question became reality as the first hurricane to hit California in nearly a century made landfall — right outside my college dorm. The difference between my perspective of this hurricane and Hurricane Sandy was my understanding that this was a symptom of a larger problem — the heating Earth. As this understanding grew over the course of ten years so did my desire to practice environmental law.
During undergrad, I joined a solutions journalism research team. We explored solutions to climate anxiety for youth and young adults. The stress about a changing climate is not just limited to me, but manifests in different ways for different people: anxiety about having children, anger, dread, and PTSD are just a few examples of what people my age face every day. A lot of this anxiety comes out of the average youth’s inability to make the necessary wide scale changes to lessen the effects of climate change on their communities. As a reporter, a member of a research team exploring youth climate anxiety solutions, and a student, I learned in many cases what can either be a saving grace for these communities or an omen of doom is the laws — or lack thereof — put in place to protect those that live within it. As I have explored solutions for climate anxiety, it has become clear to me that a law degree plays a pivotal role in navigating the ever-changing climate. Whether it is a lawyer in Topanga Canyon using his experience in law to open a co-op regenerative farm for community members or a restaurant owner in San Diego utilizing his knowledge of business law to create contracts with local farms, there are multiple ways that a law degree can help the environment beyond the courtroom.
Environmental law impacts nearly every field of law. Whether it’s the import of invasive species, boots made of endangered snakeskin, or a heatwave creating a spike in crime and medical incidents, decisions made about the environment in a courtroom are felt around the world. In my twenty years of life, news organizations have used the adjectives “hottest,” “coldest,” “most severe,” “strongest,” and “most deadly” to describe weather events more than I can count. As I have grown as a person, and as a reporter through my university’s newspaper, I have learned that the climate is changing at a rapid rate — and the worst effects of climate change will be felt by people in the most precarious positions. Climate change is not merely an existential crisis that can be counted by a doomsday clock, but rather a collection of crises that affect communities in various, perhaps yet unknown ways. In my time studying law, I hope to explore these avenues and put my knowledge and skills to the best possible use.
I want to study environmental law to help preserve delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them. Through law school, I hope to investigate the how behind climate law and use my skills in communication, writing, and research to make the world around me a better — and more climate-resilient — place. At the conclusion of my studies, I hope to employ both my passion for the environment and my beliefs about humanity’s role within it to practice a form of law that protects not just people but the planet too — from a medium-size pear tree in Long Island to a courtroom and everything in between.
Samantha Torre is a 1L and brand new Impact blogger. Contact her at torrs@bc.edu.
BC Law: Impact 