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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LIVING AS IF NATURE MATTERED THEME FOR 23rd PUBLIC INTEREST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CONFERENCE EUGENE, OR, October 12, 2004 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- Members of Land Air Water (LAW), the nation’s oldest environmental law society, chose “Living As If Nature Mattered” as their theme for the 23rd Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) March 3-6, 2005. LAW officers have been planning this year’s conference since the conclusion of last year’s conference. “Keynoters are the idealistic face of the conference,” said Zack Mazer, conference co-director. “They were selected because we felt they exemplify the leadership, dedication, and level of success that deserves our undivided attention. The speeches they give will be of great interest to conference attendees and will provide a true sense of inspiration for current and future lawyers, activists, and educators,” added Rachel Kastenberg, another conference co-director. LAW conference co-directors Rachel Kastenberg and Kathryn Moore began scheduling keynote speakers last summer. Each year conference organizers select between ten and fifteen speakers from the environmental community. Activists, professors and lawyers are among the people who have accepted the invitation to speak at the conference. Below are some of the speakers scheduled to attend: Bill Devall inspired the theme for this year’s conference with his book “Deep Ecology, Living as if Nature Mattered”. In the book Devall and his co-author George Sessions explore the intellectual basis for the environmental movement and provide a foundation for modern environmental philosophy. Devall is currently a professor in the sociology department at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. Zygmunt Plater, a law professor at the Boston College of Law, brought the snaildarter, a fish threatened by dam construction in Tennessee, to the nation’s attention. He was instrumental in spearheading the Endangered Species Act litigation that closed the Tellico dam. This case established the Endangered Species Act as an important tool for protecting biological diversity. Dr. Samuel Epstein is a leading cancer researcher who focuses on avoidable causes of cancer. His research focuses on the many cancer-causing substances that consumers are exposed to through cosmetics, food, prescription drugs and other products. Dr. Epstein has testified on senate committees and spoke on numerous television programs about his research. Leslie Carothers is the president of the Environmental Law Institute, an organization that studies environmental policy and helps promote sustainable practices in business and government through education. She started her environmental career thirty years ago with the Environmental Protection Agency and was instrumental in defending some of the agency’s first regulations in court. Carla Zendejas, a Mexican attorney, has been working to improve environmental conditions by empowering citizens in Mexico. She worked with environmental organizations in Tijuana to write and enact legislation that forces polluters to disclose the composition of their discharges. She has also worked with a variety of organizations on cross-border issues between Mexico and the United States. This year’s conference will be held in conjunction with the biennial meeting of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW). E-LAW is an organization that brings together environmental lawyers around the world and helps support those attorneys in their endeavors to protect the environment internationally. There will be numerous E-LAW attorneys from around the world meeting to discuss environmental issues. CONTACT: Jason Hartz at email: jhartz@law.uoregon.edu or phone: 541-346-3828.
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