About

Community Education and the School of Law at the University of Canterbury present a new series of lectures that explore a number of legal issues from personal privacy to environmental and indigenous rights. Whether you have a personal or professional interest in the legal system and current legal issues this series will enable you to develop a deeper understanding of the impact of law on our society and environment.

WHITHER THE WORLD? LEGAL, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL OPTIONS IN AN AGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS Presented by David Round

We may say, and even believe, that the world and its communities face grave environmental and resource problems, but we continue to behave as if there were no problem. This discrepancy between thought and action cannot continue. Nor will our current laws be of much use in avoiding the problems. Whether we like it or not, profound changes in many of the most basic aspects of our social, legal and political organisation will soon be forced upon us. The sooner we think about and face the issues, the greater will be our ability to fashion congenial new institutions and ways of living, instead of having unpleasantness forced upon us.

David Round is an environmentalist and tramper, a former long-time chair of the Christchurch Native Forests Action Council and North Canterbury Forest and Bird, and an executive member and former national president of Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC). He teaches environmental law at the University of Canterbury and has just been appointed to the Canterbury Conservation Board.