Message from the Director

Dear CLEAR Friends and Supporters:

It is an exciting time to be starting the Center for Law, Environment, Adaptation, and Resources (CLEAR) at UNC School of Law. Thanks to new environmental enforcement initiatives, new understanding of the science of pollution and resources, and the growing impact of climate change, environmental law is undergoing its most radical change and restructuring since its inception.

CLEAR will be a part of that change by continuing faculty research on air and water pollution, coastal resources and impacts, and environmental justice, while moving into the new fields of climate change adaptation, business and mitigation. CLEAR will provide a focal point for law's role in environmental problems as they are studied across campus and throughout the university system. Most importantly, CLEAR will provide unparalleled educational opportunities for Carolina Law students in the study of emerging issues in environmental law, and providing research support and solutions for some of society's most vexing environmental problems.

With UNC's strengths in public health, disaster response and management, water and coastal resources, insurance and banking, and with the coordination support of the UNC Institute for the Environment, CLEAR will avail itself of the most cutting-edge research on the impacts of climate change on the environment and society and what can be done to lessen and adapt to its impacts. Our students will be prepared for the new world of environmental law with courses in climate change, carbon trading, insurance and environmental risk regulation, and interagency environmental cooperation. CLEAR has emerged because of the vision of the state of North Carolina, the UNC administration, the law faculty, the environmental law students and law alumni, and in particular Tom and Elizabeth Taft, who have recognized the need for and potential of environmental law and provided some of the funding that will make our work possible. We hope that you will be a part of our exciting journey.

Victor B. Flatt
Tom & Elizabeth Taft Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law
Director, Center for Law Environment, Adaptation, and Resources