Environmental Law

A Small Symposium on “Environmental Law”
as part of the 17th Annual International Conference on Law
13-16 July 2020, Athens, Greece
Sponsored by the Athens Journal of Law 

The Law Unit and the Environment Unit of ATINER will hold a Small Symposium on “Environmental Law”, 13-16 July 2020, Athens, Greece as part of the 17th Annual International Conference on Law sponsored by the Athens Journal of Law.

Widely recognized in the scientific community as perhaps the biggest threat to face mankind, climate change has captured the public’s attention while politicians, constrained by re-election realities, often ignore, downplay, or completely dismiss the threat. However, in this symposium we would endeavor to discuss the nature and extent of the threat, and also to address more diverse issues involving other threats to the global environment, ecological issues, and sustainability. It is our goal to make this symposium truly inter-disciplinary in terms of seeking out input from scientists, public policy experts, environmentalists, economists and others because issues around climate and the environment impact every aspect of our lives as global citizens.

To quote from Earth Under Fire, How Global Warming is Changing the World by Gary Braasch: “Let me state the goal clearly: No policy should be promulgated, no program initiated, no alliance sealed, no machine designed or built, no land use permitted, no product introduced, no law passed, no politician elected unless the action is a step forward to reduction and reversal of the effect of greenhouse gases.” Braasch published his book in 2007; tragically, few governments have taken steps to meet his challenge. Among those that have, the United States is conspicuously absent. As many of the leaders of the movement to address this most monumental of challenges have said, action to address the issue will have to come from the bottom up because politicians remain blissfully unaware of the gargantuan challenge facing humankind.

Global citizens often don’t recognize the climate change threat and others (land degradation, water shortages, invasive species, and fouling of our oceans) threatening the ecosystems on which we all depend. While public ignorance or avoidance are inevitable given the daily pressures of earning  livings and caring for families, we aim to both inform the general public, increase inter-disciplinary engagement, and spark debate within the relevant communities

Fee structure information is available on www.atiner.gr/fees.

Special arrangements will be made with a local hotel for a limited number of rooms at a special conference rate. In addition, a number of special events will be organized, including a pragmatic symposium (as organized in Ancient Athens but fine-tuned to synchronous ethics), a special one-day educational island tour, a Mycenae and island of Poros visit, an Athens educational walking tour, a day trip to Delphi, and an ancient Corinth and Cape Sounion visit. Details of the social program are available here.

Please submit an abstract (email only) to: atiner@atiner.gr, using the abstract submission form by the 29 June 2020 to: Dr. Kurt Olson, Academic Member, ATINER & Professor, Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, USA. Please include: Title of Paper, Full Name (s), Current Position, Institutional Affiliation, an email address and at least 3 keywords that best describe the subject of your submission. Decisions are reached within 4 weeks.

If your submission is accepted, you will receive information on registration deadlines and paper submission requirements. If you want to participate without presenting a paper, i.e. lead a stream, chair a session, review papers to be included in the conference proceedings or books, contribute to the editing of a book, or any other contribution, please send an email  to Dr. Gregory T. Papanikos, President, ATINER (president@atiner.gr).

The association was established in 1995 as an independent world association of Academics and Researchers. Its mission is to act as a forum where Academics and Researchers from all over the world can meet in Athens, in order to exchange ideas on their research, and to discuss future developments in their disciplines.

The organizing and hosting of International Conferences and Symposiums, the carrying out of Research, and the production of Publications are the basic activities of ATINER.  Since 1995, ATINER has organized more than 400 International Conferences and other events, and has published close to 200 books. In 2012, the Association launched a series of conference paper publications (click here), and at the beginning of 2014, it introduced its own series of Journals (click here).

Academically, the Association is organized into 6 Divisions, 37 Units and 6 Centers.  Each Unit organizes at least an Annual International Conference, and may also undertake various small and large research projects.

Academics and Researchers are more than welcome to become members and to contribute to ATINER’s objectives. If you would like to become a member, please download the relevant form (membership form). For more information on how to become a member, please send an email to: info@atiner.gr.