In April of next year, the world will be celebrating Earth Day’s 50th anniversary. According to the ultimate source—Wikipedia—Earth Day is now celebrated in more than 193 countries. Among those celebrations is one held annually in Dallas, which this year drew a record crowd of 175,000 visitors. This particular celebration, formerly known as Earth Day Texas and rebranded as EarthX, was adopted by environmentalist Trammell S. Crow in 2011 and turned into the world’s “largest annual environmental exposition and programming initiative.”
In describing its founder, EarthX’s website notes “[w]ith a focus on inspiring environmental leadership across sectors and party lines, Trammell has succeeded in bringing together people and organizations from all walks of life to explore and collaborate on solutions for some of today’s most pressing environmental [concerns].” For example, at one of EarthX’s events this year, Susan Eisenhower moderated a discussion on climate change by Senators Lindsey Graham (R. SC) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D. RI), and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry spoke about how innovation is revolutionizing the country’s energy production and consumption. Another of this year’s EarthX events was a Law and Policy Symposium, which, consistent with EarthX’s theme of water, was entitled “Water, Water Everywhere…” The Symposium brought together prominent thought leaders, including ACOEL fellows, representing diverse perspectives to discuss legal and policy implications of a range of pertinent topics.
The Symposium included discussions of: water issues facing Texas (“Don’t mess with Texas”); federal water quality issues (“A River Runs Through It”); coastal issues (“Surf’s Up”); water issues facing cities (“Going with the Flow”); and the water energy interface (Thirst for Power”). A luncheon presentation (“Making Waves”) included the showing of an excerpt from the Emmy-award winning documentary—“The Sonic Sea”--on the threat oceanic man-made noise poses to marine life, presented by Stephen Honigman, a former general counsel of the U.S. Navy who is one of the filmmakers.
The federal water quality panel was representative of the dialog the Symposium tried to foster and resulted in a lively discussion of “water of the U.S.” involving Matt Leopold, EPA’s General Counsel, and representatives from the National Wildlife Federation, the American Farm Bureau, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, and a moderator and a panelist from private practice. Other prominent speakers at the Symposium included Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, on the topic of water energy interface, former DOJ official John Cruden, on water issues facing cities, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, on cooperative federalism (“Keeping Both Oars in the Water”).
Last year’s Symposium entitled “Back to the Future,” also included a diverse array of prominent environmental thought leaders, and focused on the future of: environmental regulation; sustainable and ethical corporate decision-making; disaster response; and domestic energy production. Reflective of the diversity of speakers, the energy session included representatives from the Edison Electric Institute, the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Citizen’s Climate Lobby, and the Climate Leadership Council, as well as a private practitioner.
The Symposium the year before dealt with fundamental environmental issues that included: integrating science into regulatory decision-making; reconciling energy and economic development with protection of the public health and environment; facilitating resolution of environmental disputes associated development; and integrating sustainability into corporate decision-making.
Next year’s Law and Policy Symposium will focus on environmental developments over the past 50 years since the first Earth Day and on where we are, or should be, headed. The Symposium organizers hope that next year’s program will result in a dialog among diverse perspectives that results in the identification of points on which there might be consensus and of a range of paths forward to realize the objective of EarthX--and its patron and founder, Trammell S. Crow--“to inspire people and organizations to take action towards a more sustainable future worldwide.”
