Lecture at USF Sarasota-Manatee to discuss whether “Green Jobs” are really beneficial to the environment and our economy

 

SARASOTA, FL (March 19, 2009) – On Tuesday, April 7 from 12:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Andrew P. Morriss, Professor of Law at the University of Illinois, will speak on “Green Jobs: Myth or Reality” at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.

 

His speech is the fourth lecture in a four-part Community Leadership Forum on Environmental Economics at the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus.  Each of the four events, presented by the College of Business and the Institute for Public Policy and Leadership at the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus in partnership with the Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC), has an admission fee of $25 and includes lunch.  The events run monthly January through April.

 

Topics covered at the events include environmental and water issues, climate change, recycling, "Green" Jobs, environmentalism as religion, and efficient, long-lived solutions to environmental issues.

 

Morriss’s lecture will debate whether 'Green' jobs, or jobs that are environmentally friendly, really translate into higher wages, an end to urban sprawl, less energy consumption, less pollution, and more economic growth.  It will separate the myth from the reality of one of the most controversial 'solutions' to our environmental and economic problems.

 

Professor Morriss received his law and masters of public affairs degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  While a graduate student at Texas, he worked for the Texas Department of Agriculture’s pesticide regulatory office.  Morriss also worked on several pesticide exposure cases while an attorney with Texas Rural Aid.  He has written several articles using empirical methods to analyze the law and has explored the role of common law in addressing environmental problems.  His writing has been published in numerous law journals, as well as the Wall Street Journal and reports for the Property and Environmental Research Center.

 

“The four speakers engaged for this series are among the top environmental economists in the country,” said Dr. Robert Anderson, Associate Dean of the College of Business at USF Sarasota-Manatee. “Their whole approach is to make sure the marketplace has a role in providing environmental alternatives.”

 

Environmental Economics is devoted to applying economic principles to a variety of environmental issues – for example, air and water management, sustainability of species, and land use. Tools used by the economist to deal with these issues rely heavily on an understanding of expected cost vs. expected benefit of specific policies/laws/regulation.

 

The Environmental Economics series seeks to:

·        Provide the community (business, government, education) with an understanding of environmental issues we face locally, statewide, nationally and internationally.

·        Review various market driven/market based methods of dealing with the respective environmental issues.

·        Help community leaders gain an understanding of how market driven/market based methods may be used to deal with local/regional environmental issues.

 

To make a reservation or find out more information, visit www.sarasota.usf.edu/ippl/ or call the USF hotline at (941) 359-4602.