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Connecticut Tour – UConn Law: The Green Consumer and the Future: From Today’s Fast Fashion to the Law of Tomorrow
April 21, 2023, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm EDT
Maya K. van Rossum, author of The Green Amendment, The People’s Fight For a Clean, Safe & Healthy Environment will be touring Connecticut to talk about her new book, the Green Amendment movement, and how Connecticut can benefit from securing a constitutional right to clean and healthy air, water, and soil; a stable climate; and health ecosystems as part of its state constitution.
van Rossum is a veteran environmentalist on a mission to use our state and federal constitutions to empower activists and provide hope to communities everywhere seeking to address environmental racism, the climate crisis, and the ongoing ravages of polluted water and air, toxic contamination, and withering ecosystems nationwide. She is the founder of Green Amendments For The Generations, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring passage of Green Amendments in every state across the U.S. that would recognize and protect environmental rights on par with other inalienable civic and political freedoms such as speech and property.
In 2023, Connecticut joined over a dozen states that have active Green Amendment efforts underway. The CT Environmental Rights Amendment was introduced in the General Assembly and had a public hearing in the Environment Committee. Although the CT Environmental Rights Amendment gained support from over 30 environmental, civic, and religious organizations, it was not brought up for a vote by the committee. The CT Environmental Rights Amendment Alliance will continue efforts to broaden and extend community support. Learn more.
Friday, April 21, 9:00am-3:00pm EDT
William F. Starr Reading Room, University of Connecticut School of Law, 55 Temple Street, Hartford
Directions
The Green Consumer and the Future: From Today’s Fast Fashion to the Law of Tomorrow
Morning: Experts on the legal and ethical aspects of fashion and on the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act
Afternoon: Attorney General William Tong, joined by members of the Environmental and Consumer Protection Divisions
Followed by a panel on the future of law including Maya van Rossum
More information and free registration here.
UConn’s Center for Energy and Environmental Law’s annual Earth Day conference will tackle the question of what it means to be a “green consumer,” and will seek to understand how the law can protect both consumers and the planet.
Our day begins with keynote speaker, Maxine Bédat, an ethical fashion expert and author of Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment, who will lay out the legal and ethical problems of the fast fashion industry.
Our first panel will then seek to define the “green consumer” in fashion and beyond. Hilary Jochmans, a leading policy advocate for transparency in the fashion industry, will join Ms. Bedat and Professor Sarah Ku of Loyola University-Chicago for a conversation about “greenwashing” and the relationships between law, business and individual consumer choice.
Next, Bob Langer, a co-author of the leading treatise on the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) will kick off our second panel with the story of how Connecticut’s “Little FTC Act” came to be a powerful legal tool for protecting consumers. He is joined by Annie Ugurlayan of the Better Business Bureau, and Lesley Fair of the Federal Trade Commission, who will discuss their successes at the federal level in combating greenwashing in advertising.
We are honored to have an afternoon keynote, Attorney General William Tong, joined by members of his Environmental and Consumer Protection divisions, who will tell us about their current efforts to fight for Connecticut consumers and the environment.
Our final panel will look to the future, exploring ways to promote more transparent, innovative, sustainable, and accountable business practices in the fashion industry and beyond. Moderated by UConn School of Business professor Stephen Park, the conversation will feature perspectives from across business and law, including Ellie Chen and Jensen Neff, founders of the recycled clothing company Oddli; Aaron Yoon, a professor at Kellogg School of Management specializing in ESG investing; and Maya Van Rossum, founder of the movement for state “green amendments.”
After the third panel, we invite you to continue these conversations over UConn Dairy Bar ice cream, while exploring a live “clothing swap” on the UConn Law campus. More details about the clothing swap, and how to participate by donating, will be forthcoming.
Registration is free for students, faculty, staff and the general public.
