Hothouse Earth

GuestsDavid Deen, President, Connecticut River Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Trout Unlimited Vermont Council, former VT state legislator for 30 yearsKathy Urffer, River Steward, Connecticut River ConservancyJulia MacDonald JD'21, Vermont Law School Peter Malicky MELP'21, Vermont Law SchoolRecommended ResourcesTo get an update on the latest in surface water legislation in VT, visit the Act 173 Committee webpage.For more background on the issues, read the Environmental Advocacy Clinic's report on Vermont surface waters.

Patents on living things threaten biodiversity and our resilience against climate change. In this episode, we examine how a VLS professor is helping plant breeders use “defensive publication” to keep innovations open-source and promote biodiversity.GuestsMolly McDonough, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, Vermont Law SchoolJim Myers, Professor, Vegetable Breeding and Genetics, Oregon State UniversityEmily Spiegel, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems, Vermont Law SchoolRecommended ResourcesA Breed Apart: The Plant Breeder's Guide to Defensive Publication“Could a simple database prevent massive ag companies from patenting and guarding seed varieties?” The Counter, May 13, 2021. 

The second episode in the Hothouse Earth Podcast’s “Elevate” miniseries features Brandi Colander JD’06. One of the first students to complete VLS’s dual degree with the Yale School of the Environment, Colander has a career that spans sectors and disciplines. Her work shows that environmental law can expand well beyond the scope of traditional environmentalism, intersecting with social justice and corporate governance. Listen as she shares inspiring career advice for women on support systems, inclusivity, disruption, confidence, and growth.Guest:Brandi Colander, Chief Sustainability Officer at WestRock CompanyHosts:Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff AttorneyVeronica Ung-Kono, JD/MERL'21 and IEE Research AssociateRecommended Resources:Operating with the Full Life Cycle in Mind  - A Q&A with WestRock Chief Sustainability Officer Brandi ColanderVermont Law School Dual Degree Programs 

GuestKarin Sheldon, President of Four Echoes Strategies and Adjunct Professor at Colorado Law University of Colorado BoulderHostsJeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney, Energy ClinicVeronica Ung-Kono JD/MERL 2021Recommended ResourcesBowman, Cynthia Grant, Women in the Legal Profession from the 1920s to the 1970s: What Can We Learn from Their Experience about Law and Social Change? (2009) Cornell Law Faculty Publications. Paper 12. Green 2.0, exploring diversity in environmental organizations. https://www.diversegreen.org/See in particular, Taylor, Dorceta E., The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations, July 2014.2019 report card with a summary hereHalton, Mary, Climate change ‘impacts women more than men’, 8 March 2018, BBC News. McCarthy, Joe, Why Climate Change Disproportionately Affects Women, 5 March, 2020, Global Citizen.  

Over the next few months, Hothouse Earth will be sharing  conversations with women about their experiences in shaping environmental and social change through the power of the law and some of the challenges that they've faced along the way. 

Environmental justice activist Fred Tutman is the only Black waterkeeper in the United States, and in this candid discussion with his close friend and fellow waterkeeper Theaux Le Gardeur, the duo reflect on how racism has affected their very different experiences in the environmental movement. Listen as they discuss how environmentalism has historically failed BIPOC communities and consider the potential—and dire need—for the movement to change.Guests:Fred Tutman,  Patuxent RiverkeeperTheaux Le Gardeur, Gunpowder RiverkeeperHosts:Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney, Energy ClinicMason Overstreet, Staff Attorney, Environmental Advocacy ClinicResources:Chesapeake Bay Magazine – November 17, 2017 – Fearless Riverkeeper Fred Tutman fights for the Patuxent River and for the people who live alongside its shoresSpinsheet – December 5, 2014 – Bay People: Fred Tutman, Patuxent RiverkeeperBay Journal – April 11, 2014 – With river in his blood, Fred Tutman stands his ground wholeheartedlyCapital Gazette – Oct. 2, 2013 – Fred Tutman, Patuxent RiverkeeperWaterkeeper Alliance – Native Son Fred Tutman, Patuxent RiverkeeperSmithsonian podcast: Ep. 13: The Riverkeeper The outro music in this episode is WAKAN TANKA by Carl Filipiak and the Jimi Jazz Band, courtesy of Carl Filipiak, Art of Life Records and Geometric Records. 

Exploitation, heat exhaustion in a warming climate, and a heightened risk of COVID-19 are among the many challenges farmworkers face—often magnified by undocumented immigration status. Why does the law fail to protect these essential workers, and how can advocates step in where the law falls short? In this episode we speak with a Vermont-based farmworker from Mexico, activists at the organization Migrant Justice, and Vermont Law School Associate Dean Jenny Rushlow to find out. Guests:Molly McDonough, Environmental Communications Specialist, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems and Environmental Law CenterJose Luis Cordova Herrera, Dairy Farm WorkerMarita Canedo, Organizer, Migrant JusticeWill Lambek, Organizer, Migrant JusticeJennifer K. Rushlow, Associate Dean for Environmental Programs and Director of the Environmental Law Center Resources:Support and get involved with Migrant Justice.Call your legislator to support the Vermont Coronavirus Relief Fund for immigrant families. Donate to Movimiento Cosecha’s Undocumented Worker Fund.Dontate to Justice for Migrant Women COVID-19 Relief Fund.Sew #Masks4Farmworkers.Sign up to milk cows in Vermont if farmworkers get sick.Download Housing and Employment Rights for Vermont Dairy Workers, published by Vermont Law School’s Center for Agriculture and Food Systems.Read Associate Dean Jenny Rushlow’s latest journal article on farmworkers and access to justice.

Guests:Sophia Kruszrewski, Clinic Director, Center for Agriculture and Food SystemsHillary Hoffmann, Professor of Law, Environmental Law CenterBarry Hill, Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute and Adjunct Faculty at Vermont Law SchoolRussel Mendell, MERL’20Patrick Parenteau, Professor of Law and Senior Counsel in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC)Hosts:Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney, Energy ClinicMason Overstreet, Staff Attorney, Environmental Advocacy Clinic

Guests:Marianne Engelman Lado, Visiting Professor, Douglas Costle Chair in Environmental Law and Director of the Environmental Justice Clinic at Vermont Law SchoolPhyllis Gosa, sixth-generation resident of the Ashurst Bar/Smith CommunityRonald Smith, Pastor and resident of the Ashurst Bar/Smith CommunityAshley Harper JD'21, Vermont Law SchoolEnvironmental Justice Law Society at Vermont Law School - Arielle King JD/MELP’21, Jameson Davis JD'20/MELP'19, Mariana Muñoz JD'21, Jerry Thomas JD'21Hosts:Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney, Energy ClinicMason Overstreet, Staff Attorney, Environmental Advocacy ClinicRecommended Resources:EPA Slams Door to Justice on Historic Black Community, Earth JusticeEPA Quietly Closes Complaint at Heart of Civil Rights Suit, GreenwireThe Jemez Principles for Democratic OrganizingUS Commission on Civil Rights, "Environmental Justice" (2016)Marianne Engelman Lado, No More Excuses: Building a New Vision of Civil Rights Enforcement in the Context of Environmental Justice, 22 U. Pa. J.L. & Soc. Change 281 (2019).Costle Lecture at Vermont Law School by Douglas Costle Visiting Professor of Law, Marianne Engelman Lado, No More Excuses: Building a New Vision of Civil Rights Enforcement in the Context of Environmental Justice, November 2019.

Guests:Erik Dorfman, Activist and PoetRussel Mendell, MERL’20Gus Speth, Co-Founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, former Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Vermont Law School Professor 2010-2015 Hosts:Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff AttorneyPat Parenteau, Professor of Law and Senior Counsel in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC)Recommended Resources:Children Change Their Parents’ Minds about Climate ChangeIs There Any Point to Protesting?What Is the Climate Strike? An Adult’s Guide to What, Why, and How to HelpJuliana vs. United States 

Guests:Barry Hill, Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute and Adjunct Faculty at Vermont Law SchoolCarmen Gonzalez, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of LawHosts:Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff AttorneyFor more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com.

Guests: Barry Hill, Visiting Scholar at the Environmental Law Institute and Adjunct Faculty at Vermont Law School Carmen Gonzalez, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic Recommended Resources: Professor Carmen Gonzalez's Hot Topic Lecture: Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene Their country is disappearing, a short documentary on the Marshall Islands Natural Disasters: Developing Resilience and Addressing Climate Refugees, VJEL Top 10 Watch List 2019 For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com.

In the third and final episode on Trump's "America First Energy Plan" hosts Jeannie Oliver and Mason Overstreet examine the wide variety of regulations that protect our water, air, land and public health. In an effort to put industry first, is the Trump administration ultimately putting environment last? Vermont Law School Professor Pat Parenteau and Boston College Law School Professor Zygmunt Plater discuss the legal actions fighting regulatory rollbacks as well as the effect these decisions have on the economy and public health. For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com. Guests: Patrick Parenteau, Professor of Law and Senior Counsel in the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) Zygmunt J. B. Plater, Professor of Law at Boston College Law School Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic

For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com. Guest: Professor John Echeverria, Environmental Law Center Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic Recommended Resources: Professor John Echeverria's Hot Topic Lecture United States District Court, Northern District of California Decision Court of Appeals Filings United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit Oral Arguments

For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com. Guests: Kyle Tisdel JD'05, Western Environmental Law Center Shiloh Hernandez JD'08, Western Environmental Law Center Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic With special thank you to the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law and the Top 10 Environmental Watch List 2019: http://vjel.vermontlaw.edu/topten/?toptenyear=2019

For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com. Guests: Hillary Hoffmann, Professor of Law, Environmental Law Center Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic With special thank you to the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law and the Top 10 Environmental Watch List 2019: http://vjel.vermontlaw.edu/topten/?toptenyear=2019

For more Hothouse Earth, follow us on Twitter @HothouseEarth, and subscribe to our newsletter on our website, www.hothouseearthpodcast.com. Guests: Laurie Beyranevand, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law Sophia Kruszrewski, Clinic Director, Center for Agriculture and Food Systems Ferd Hoefner, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Cynthia Larson, Larson Farm and Creamery Cris Coffin, American Farmland Trust Hosts: Jeannie Oliver, Assistant Professor and Staff Attorney Mason Overstreet, LLM Toxics Fellow with the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic With special thank you to the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law and the Top 10 Environmental Watch List 2019: http://vjel.vermontlaw.edu/topten/?toptenyear=2019

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