Teaching Environmental Law in the Era of Climate Change : A Few Whats, Whys, and Hows

In this article, excerpted from comments prepared for a symposium honoring University of Washington Professor William H. Rodgers, Jr., Professor Robinson-Dorn addresses the manner in which law schools teach environmental law. Against the backdrop of the recent releases of the Carnegie Report and the Best Practices Report, the article is designed to catalyze a discussion addressing what, and how, law schools should be teaching the next generation of environmental law students. Using Bill Rodgers' career as an exemplar, and an electronic dialogue among environmental law professors as a foil, the article begins with a discussion of the goals of environmental education in law schools, and then turns to a discussion of the ways in which law faculties might go about the task. Although the narrative focuses on teaching environmental law, the pedagogical goals elucidated, and the corresponding techniques described and recommended in the article, have application and resonance to many areas of teaching in law schools