On December 19, 2013, in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held unconstitutional major parts of Pennsylvania’s “Act 13”—a 2012 oil and gas law designed to facilitate the development of natural…
After more than a decade of laying a foundation for sustainability activities, the American Bar Association is poised to take its act to a higher level with a presidential level Task Force on Sustainable Development. The Task Force is intended…
On Friday, September 27, 2013, Widener University Law School in Harrisburg held a first-of-its-kind conference on sustainability and Marcellus Shale development. Video recordings of each panel at the conference, as well as PowerPoint slides from…
The American Bar Association’s House of Delegates—the policy making body for the ABA, adopted in August a resolution urging “all governments, lawyers, and ABA entities to act in ways that accelerate progress toward sustainability.” The…
As the urgency of climate change, biodiversity loss, severe poverty, and other global environmental and development challenges continues to grow, concerted international action to address them is becoming even harder. National efforts are thus more…
At a local government meeting on a land use plan, officials hear opposition based on the claim that it is tainted by Agenda 21. A state public utility commission considering smart meters hears similar claims. They are confused: what is Agenda 21…
Sustainable development has its origins in the conservation and environmental movements in the United States and other countries, and in the laws that were adopted because of those movements. Lawyers in the public and private sectors drafted these…