Sustainability Essentials

John C. Dernbach is Commonwealth Professor of Environmental Law and Sustainability at Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is director of the school’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Center. Professor Dernbach has written extensively on sustainable development, climate change, and environmental law. He has chaired or cochaired the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER) Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems Committee and is a member of the ABA SEER Climate Change Task Force. He helps lead the Model Laws for Deep Decarbonization Project, a pro bono legal drafting project endorsed by the ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and the American College of Environmental Lawyers. He currently lives in Harrisburg, PA.Irma S. Russell is the Edward A. Smith/Missouri Chair at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law. She served as Dean of the Montana School of Law and as Director of the National Energy- Environment Policy Institute at the University of Tulsa. She is a former chair of the ABA SEER and served on the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism and the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility. In practice, she represented potentially responsible parties, government entities, and lenders on NEPA and CERCLA matters. She was founding Chair of the Environmental Law Section of the Memphis Bar and Chair of the Tennessee Bar Environ- mental Section. She is an elected member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and the American Law Institute. Irma currently lives in Kansas City, MO. Matt Bogoshian leads the American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative, a successor organization to an Obama administration initiative he helped to lead as Senior Policy Counsel at the U.S. EPA. His range of law experience includes time as a business litigator and general counsel, policy official at the California EPA, consumer and environmental prosecutor, and U.S. Navy JAG Corps officer. His past work includes cofounding the Fourth Sector Group, service on educational and affordable housing boards, writing, podcasting, and teaching environmental and sustainability law at Georgetown University Law Center and at King Hall, University of California, Davis Law School. He currently lives in San Francisco, CA.

“This is a great leadership guide for lawyers. The test for any lawyer is ethics, leadership, and sustainable development.”—Leon E. Panetta, Chairman, The Panetta Institute; Former U.S. Secretary of Defense“The urgency to integrate sustainability into the forefront of business decision making has never been greater, and this book uniquely contributes to this goal.”—Roger Martella, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, General Electric; Former General Counsel, EPA“This is a must read for any attorney or legal professional who needs the easy, quick how-to on integrating sustainable development within legal practices.”—Gayatri Joshi, Executive Director of the Law Firm Sustainability Network; Vice President of Vorgate LLC“This book provides an empowering blueprint for any lawyer seeking to integrate climate justice into every dimension of their work.”—Tim Hirschel-Burns, Amelia Keyes, and Devin Oliver, Law Students for Climate Accountability“Many lawyers, regardless of their specialties or the stage of their careers, hunger to use their professional skills and develop new ones to address climate change and other environ- mental threats. Built on the pillars of sustainable development, ethics, and leadership, this deeply researched book provides pathways for lawyers to pursue this goal.”—Michael Gerrard, Columbia Law School Professor; Faculty Director, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law“I am heartened to see a new generation of lawyers seeking to be effective in advancing sustainable development goals in their daily life work. In this book they will find both theory and practical ideas for making a difference.”—Mary D. Nichols, Former Chair, California Air Resources Board“If law is the heart of the legal practice, then sustainability may well be its soul, moving lawyers toward a legacy of conscious commitment to vital and necessary change to transform society. This guide, by three of the most well-known sustainability, leader- ship, and ethical practitioners in the country, is a helpful walking stick on the pathway to sustainability.”—John C. Cruden, Former Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice“This book updates both the theory and practice of law so that it can embody a missing set of values—such as offering future generations a livable earth. It is not just timely; it is overdue.”—Hal Harvey, CEO, Energy Innovation“We need a new generation of lawyers who recognize that we can create the power to confront the climate crisis, the governance crisis, and other existential threats only by combining sound lawyering with organization. This book is an important step in the right direction.”—Marshall Ganz, Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Organizing, and Civil Society, Harvard Kennedy School of Government“Sustainable development has emerged as a foundational framework for life in the 21st century—and this Leadership Guide for Lawyers offers clear and comprehensive guidance to law students and attorneys in a wide range of settings about how to make sense of this multidimensional concept and fold its principles into their work and professional lives.”—Daniel C. Esty, Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University; Former Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection“This guidebook is long overdue, thank you! It’s high time more lawyers learn to organize and lead the systemic changes we need in the 21st century. This book shows the way!”—Kathleen Rogers, President, Earth Day Network“As law students, we’re taught that law structures society. Hardly—if ever—are we taught how to use the law to restructure society in a sustainable way. This guide not only explains how the law can be used to restructure society more sustainably, but also posits that this is the ethical duty of every lawyer.”—Minha Jutt and Chloe Ketchmark, University of Kansas School of Law, Class of 2022“Lawyers and their clients talk a lot about sustainability, but what does that mean in practical terms? Dernbach, Bogoshian, and Russell answer that question and provide a real-world guide in this admirable volume.”—Ken Alex, Director, Project Climate at UC Berkeley; Former Senior Policy Advisor, California Governor Jerry Brown“Hello to the curious and hopeful—this book is for you! It has all that you need to know on how to become a part of the movement that creates a more wonderful and sustainable planet for us all!”—Arlena Barnes, Former Senior Attorney, Bonneville Power Administration