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Bringing the Climate Crisis Close to Home

/ Ian Hurley / Leave a comment

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”
— John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra

When I started my career in journalism, I often heard this maxim about audience building: All news is local. The general idea underlying the concept (if you’re a journalism professor avert your eyes) was that no matter how national the story or the publication, it related to some localized community. The “locality” could be geographical, but equally, it could be about different identities, economic standings, experiences, etc. 

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Environmental Law and the Climate Apocalypse

/ Ian Hurley / Leave a comment

He rounded a bend to hear the roar of the conflagration and see a fire a half mile ahead like a black-and-red curtain dropped from a night sky. Even from that distance the heat stopped him. He collapsed to his knees, sat in the warm ashes through which he’d been wading, and wept.  – Denis Johnson, Train Dreams.

Fire has always been an inherent part of life in the American West. The mountains, plains, and forests that sprawl from the Mississippi to the Pacific see conflagrations that can reduce thousands of acres of landscape into smoldering ash in just a few days. Then, over time, the plants and wildlife return, and the ecology and lifestyles of the place return to normal over time. But nothing is normal anymore. And I fear we are long past the point where any legal efforts can save humanity from the bed it has made for itself.

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Why We Chose Environmental Law

/ Fiona Maguire / Leave a comment

The following post was written by 1L, Logan Hagerty. Logan is an avid member of the BC Environmental Law Society (ELS) and serves as a 1L Representative. ELS is the umbrella organization for the BC Land & Environmental Law program. We lead research, service, professional training, social events, and more. As President of ELS, it has been a pleasure working with the new students like Logan who share my commitment to environmental law. -Fiona Maguire

I read dozens of faculty bios and course listings when applying to law school. I keyword-searched more variations of “environmental law” than I thought was possible: “Land,” “energy,” “property,” “environmental justice,” and “natural resources,” just to name a few. You guessed it – I came to law school with an interest in environmental law. 

Professor Plater’s bio (and bow tie!) stood out on the BC Law website. I’d struck a gold mine. I explored the BC site some more, finding pictures from the Environmental Law Society (ELS) Barbeque and Winter Weekend events. I was hooked! (I also attended both of these events). Now I view the environmental law program as more than a “gold mine.” The program is an old-growth forest; it offers rich, deep-rooted connections, support, and development. 

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