ENVS2258 · Environmental Studies

Environmental Law and Policy in the United States and Europe

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

This course will cover environmental law and policy in the United States and Europe. Taught in London, it will compare the environmental laws and policies of the United States to those established by the European Union (EU), while also assessing the consequences of the United Kingdom (UK) leaving the European Union (Brexit). The United States initially (during the 1970s) led the world in formulating environmental policies. However, the European Union later became a strong environmental actor, leading to the establishment of strict environmental standards throughout much of Europe. In many areas of environmental law and policy, it is now Europe that leads the world. Thus, this course will cover European as well as U.S. approaches to environmental protection in order to learn about the most protective approaches. While there are many similarities regarding how environmental issues are being addressed in the United States and Europe, this course also will assess the key differences. Understanding both the similarities and differences will help students to understand how major environmental issues can best be addressed. This course will be useful to pre-law students who want to learn about the different kinds of environmental laws. However, this course will be focused more on policy issues rather than requiring extensive legal analysis, and thus should be accessible to students with a variety of different backgrounds. This course will emphasize the practical aspects of environmental law and policy. There will be field visits related to topics discussed in class, and guest speakers from the U.K. environmental agency. This will be a small interactive class with extensive opportunity for class discussion. This course also will provide an opportunity for students to develop their writing skills. There will be four short written exercises (in lieu of exams), with the instructor providing detailed written comments on all of the writings.