All-Alumni Reunion > Programs >
Hot and Hotter: A Climate of Change
Saturday, September 30
9:30 - 10:45 am
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Listen to the panel (1 hr 16 min, 87.2 mb) |
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| Global warming is perhaps the greatest and most pervasive environmental challenge of the 21st century. Hear from environmental law experts about what's being done and what's needed on the legislative front to tackle this far-reaching problem. Ruth Greenspan Bell '67, director of the International Institutional Development and Environmental Assistance at Resources for the Future moderates this discussion with Jared Blumenfeld '92, director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment; Marc N. Melnick '93, deputy attorney general for the California Attorney General's Office; and Roger Peters '77, vice president and general counsel of PG&E Corporation. |
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Ruth Greenspan Bell '67 directs International Institutional Development and Environmental Assistance (IIDEA) at Resources for the Future, a program that helps build more effective systems of environmental protection globally. She was previously senior adviser to the assistant secretary of state for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Ruth has also held various management positions in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of General Counsel.
Much of Ruth's current work is focused on environmental public participation in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia and on realistic ways to manage climate change. She also directed a highly acclaimed study of the policy process and changes that led to recent improvements in air quality in Delhi, the most important being the switch of all commercial vehicles from petrol and diesel to commercial natural gas.
Ruth publishes extensively about the environmental issues connected with the political and economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe, ways to stimulate better implementation of domestic environmental requirements in the developing world and the countries in transition, and international environmental requirements. Her writings can be found in publications as diverse as Foreign Affairs, Harvard International Review, Environment Magazine, Issues in Science and Technology and the Environmental Forum.
Ruth serves on several boards and on the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a graduate of UCLA and a 1967 graduate of Boalt; and a member of the bar in Connecticut, Massachusetts and North Carolina.
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Jared Blumenfeld '92 was appointed director of San Francisco Department of the Environment in August 2001. Before coming to San Francisco, he was global habitat director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). During his tenure at IFAW, Jared focused on environmental problems in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Central and South America, working directly with and advocating on behalf of indigenous communities. He led IFAW's successful campaign to stop Mitsubishi Corporation from building a salt factory in Baja's San Ignacio Lagoon, the winter calving grounds for the gray whale.
Jared has been employed by some of the nation's top conservation organizations. Prior to joining IFAW in 1995, he helped the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (now EarthJustice) document links between human rights and the environment. He was also executive director of Earth Summit Watch, a project of the Natural Resources Defense Council that organized campaigns on improving the quality of air and drinking water and on certifying timber as logged in an environmentally responsible manner.
Jared specialized in environmental law and human rights at Boalt. He also holds a degree from the University of London in international environmental law. He is a member of the New York Bar Association.
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Marc N. Melnick '93 is deputy attorney general serving in the California Attorney General's office. He has served in this position for the past 11 years, litigating a wide range of environmental cases for various state agencies. He is currently one of the primary lawyers defending the California Air Resources Board's regulations setting greenhouse gas emission standards for motor vehicles.
Marc graduated from Boalt in 1993. He was an articles editor of the Ecology Law Quarterly (ELQ) as a 3L. He received ELQ's highest honor, the Ellis J. Harmon Prize, for “Watching the Candy Store: EPA Overfiling of Local Air Pollution Variances.” His article examined the practical realities of overlapping federal and local Clean Air Act enforcement.
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Roger Peters '77 is senior vice president and chief utility counsel of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). He began working at PG&E upon completing law school in 1977 and became vice president and general counsel in 1997. He was made senior vice president several years later with oversight responsibilities of the environmental service and safety, health and claims functions.
Roger has been involved in various climate change activities on behalf of PG&E, including the company's proposed climate protection tariff, currently pending before the Californian Public Utilities Commission (CPUC); PG&E's CO2 monitoring and certification activities as a charter member of the California Climate Action Registry; the CPUC's proposed greenhouse gas performance standards; and various related energy and environmental legislation.
Roger earned both a law degree from Boalt Hall and an MBA from the Haas School of Business. While at UC Berkeley, he was a member of the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law and the Environmental Law Society. He is a member of the American Bar Association on natural resources law, and public utility and administrative law. After 29 years at PG&E, he recently announced his retirement, effective October 2006.
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