Avi Garbow ’92, former general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency and the first environmental advocate for clothing retailer Patagonia, will deliver the keynote address at a Nov. 13 symposium at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Garbow, who was also a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, will be among the scholars and business and nonprofit leaders to speak at “The Green New Deal: Examining Climate Change in the Business Context,” hosted by the Virginia Environmental Law Journal. The event will take place in the Law School’s Purcell Reading Room.

The Green New Deal refers to legislative proposals to reduce fossil fuels and curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions across the economy, while attempting to guarantee new high-paying jobs in clean-energy industries.

“We wanted to use the prominence of this piece of legislation as a way to reexamine the discussion on climate change from an interdisciplinary perspective,” said Rebecca Robinson ’20, VELJ’s projects director. “Climate change is a problem that multiple sectors are talking about — law, business and policy. By hosting a symposium on the Green New Deal and climate change, we can look at what impact the GND would have on business as well as other roles that businesses can play in addressing climate change.”

The symposium is free and open to the public. Parking is available in D2 parking lots.

Schedule

Wednesday, Nov.​ 13

Purcell Reading Room

8:45-9:30 a.m.

Breakfast

9:30-9:45 a.m.

Symposium Opening

10-11:30 a.m.

Panel 1 | The Link Between Climate Change and Business

• Alex Bond, Associate General Counsel, Energy & Environment, Edison Electric Institute
• Michael Burger, Executive Director, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School
• Hana Vizcarra, Staff Attorney, Environmental and Energy Law Program, Harvard Law School
• Andrew Wicks, Ruffin Professor of Business Administration; Director, Olsson Center for Applied Ethics; Director, Doctoral Program, UVA Darden School of Business
• Moderator: Cale Jaffe ’01, Associate Professor of Law, General Faculty; Director, Environmental and Regulatory Law Clinic, UVA School of Law

11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.

Panel 2 | The Future of Climate Change: Is Business the Answer?

Co-Sponsored by the Black Law Students Association

• Steve Bowers, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Apex Clean Energy
• Anne Havemann, General Counsel, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
• Dawone Robinson, Eastern Region Co-Director, Energy Efficiency for All, Resilient Communities, Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
• Michael Vandenbergh ’87, David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair of Law; Director, Climate Change Research Network; Co-Director, Energy, Environment and Land Use Program, Vanderbilt Law School
• Moderator: Michael Lenox, Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration; Senior Associate Dean and Chief Strategy Officer, UVA Darden School of Business

1:15-1:30 p.m.

Lunch

1:30-3 p.m.

Keynote Address

Avi Garbow ’92, Environmental Advocate, Patagonia; Former General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency