Event Details

Presenters: Dr Ben Mayfield, Lecturer in Environmental Law; Dr Anita Purewal, Lecturer in Environmental Law; Dr Gary Potter, Reader in Criminology, Dr Gina Collins, Lecturer in Property Law.

The session will examine the journey of an environmental law, from an idea to the reality of practice through facilitated activities. Lancaster colleagues will briefly explain the role of law in preventing climate change and other environmental harms before participants are invited to choose an environmental harm, for example air pollution from cars, single use plastics in the ocean, extinction of pollinating species. Working in small groups facilitated by academics, you will work to identify legal solutions to these environmental harms. For example, a ban on single use plastics.

After the collaborative, guided activities, participants are invited to discuss ways that they could lobby to introduce their chosen law. We expect to discuss the membership of pressure groups, party politics and even the politics and legality of protest. We will discuss what happens to laws once they come into force. Are they always successful? Have polluters found loopholes? How do courts prosecute environmental crimes?