Events in 2025-26
March 21, 2025
"The Voice of the River, the Language of the Territory" with Featured Panelists from Colombia
In January 2020, the Menominee Nation of Wisconsin adopted resolution 19-52, affirming the rights of the Menominee River to "exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve naturally." Two months earlier, Colombia's Special Jurisdiction for Peace recognized the Territory as a victim of the armed conflict in a case involving the Awá People, one of the more than 115 indigenous peoples of that country. These milestones exemplify a trend of recognition of the rights of Nature and Territory and how non-human entities communicate and instruct on ways forward in a climate future. This workshop will consider how territories express themselves with their multiple life systems or how non-human entities communicate to walk in balance and harmony, guaranteeing future generations a sustainable natural environment.
Part One will highlight the voices of indigenous leaders and academics deeply committed to claims for historical, social, and environmental justice through their work as expert jurists, artists, and historians. Panelists will reflect on their knowledge systems, law and institutions, sacred plants, art, crafts, and ceremonies. They will also explain the interconnections between language, affection, and bodily practices that allow relationships between humans, non-humans, guardian spirits, nature, and the environment to flourish, all in one fabric.
Part Two will actively engage the attendees. They will participate in writing and art activities, among other methods, to explore what it means for the territory to feel, express itself, and have knowledge and that listening to its voice guides us on the paths to follow in a climate future.
April 24, 2025
International Organizations and You speaker series: Flash Talks on the World Trade Organization
4:00-5:30, Lubar Commons (with reception)
Speakers: Professors Tana Johnson (La Follette), Jason Yackee (Law), Joe Contie (Sociology) and Sumudu Atapattu (Law) (moderator)
April 25, 2025
Incorporating Climate Change into Law Curriculum
11:30-1:00pm (lunch served), Lubar Commons
Speakers: Professors Katrina Kuh, Achinthi Vithanage (Pace Law School), Alice Kaswan (University of San Francisco), Alexandra Huneeus (UW Law School) and Sumudu Atapattu (UW Law School)
Climate change will affect many areas of law. This workshop will discuss how we can incorporate climate change into doctrinal/clinical classes, especiall non-environmental law classes. We will also discuss what other law schools are doing and the ABA Taskforce on embedding sustainable development into the legal curriculum and other ABA efforts to promote climate conscious lawyers.
April 25, 2025
Civil Dialogue on Climate Justice
3:00-5:00pm, 3260 Law (with reception)
Facilitators: Alice Kaswan (University of San Francisco), Katrina Kuh (Pace Law School), Achinthi Vithanage (Pace Law School), Freya Doughty-Wagner (GNHRE), Chelsea Chandler (Clean Wisconsin), Ellen Tyler (Southwestern WI Regional Planning Commission), Peg Sheaffer (Midwest Environmental Advocates), Skylar Harris (Midwest Environmental Advocates)
Summary: Climate change is a global threat that affects everyone. Yet, it has become a highly politically charged term. How we frame it can have important ramifications. Is it an environmental issue, public health issue, security issue, human rights issue, legal issue or an economic issue? Or all the above? How do we have a dialogue with others, especially those who have different ideologies or political views? Join this session to see how we can have a civil dialogue on climate justice.
Sponsored by the Wisconsin Initiative on Law and climate Change (WILCC), HRP, WI Institute for Citizenship and Civil Dialogue (WICCD)
Previous Events
2024-2025 Events
September 17, 2024:
"Climate Change and Disasters: The Experience in Rural Australia"
Dr Andrew Lawson, Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director, Agriculture and Law Research Hub, University of New England, Australia
4pm in Lubar Commons (7200 Law), Reception to follow
Sponsored by WI Initiative on Law & Climate Change (WILCC) and the Global Legal Studies Center (GLS)
October 7, 2024:
"Solar Radiation Modification to Combat Climate Change: Into the Great Wide Open?"
Dr Wil Burns, visiting professor, Northwestern University
Noon-1:00pm, 3260 Law (A light lunch will be served on a first come, first served basis)
Sponsored by WI Initiative on Law & Climate Change (WILCC) and the Global Legal Studies Center (GLS)
October 16, 2024:
"Shared Values, Distinct Roles: The Council of Europe and the European Union" by Dr Reut Paz, JLU Giessen, Germany
International Organizations and You speaker series, sponsored by GLS, School of Business and La Follette School of Public Affairs
4:00-5:00pm Lubar Commons (7200 Law), reception to follow
Free and open to the public
November 14, 2024:
"CO2 Emissions and Constitutional Provisions that Protect the Environment"
Lunch & Learn with Professor Adrian Treves (UW-Madison) with comments by Professor Steph Tai (UW-Madison)
Noon-1:00pm, 3260 Law (A light lunch will be served on a first come, first served basis)
Sponsored by WI Initiative on Law & Climate Change (WILCC) and the Global Legal Studies Center (GLS)
2023-2024 Events
November 2, 2023:
"The World Bank's Development Work - And Why it Matters"
Presented by Dr. Indermit Gill
Chief Economist, World Bank Group & Senior Vice President for Development Economics
4:30-5:30pm (doors open at 4:00pm), reception to follow.
To facilicate planning, please register online. We welcome walk-ins, too.
Meeting with graduate students, November 2nd, 10:30-11:30am, 1328 Sterling Hall, register online
Meeting with undergraduate students, November 2nd, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. at 3290 Grainger Hall (Career
Engagement Studio),
Sponsored by: Global Legal Studies Center
Wisconsin School of Business
La Follette School of Public Affairs
IRIS
December 4, 2023:
Live from Dubai: WI Goes to COP28
Speakers: Jonathan Patz (Nelson Institute and GHI), Nova Tebbe (Nelson Institute), Sumudu Atapattu (UW Law) and moderated by Deneine Christa Powell (African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs) online event
Live from Dubai - Wisconsin Goes to COP28 | wisconsinacademy.org
February 27, 2024:
"Catch up on COP28," 1:00-2:00pm, Landmark Room (3rd Floor), Union South, University of Wisconsin-Madison, featuring: Sumudu Atapattu (UW Law School), Lisa Rausch (SAGE, Nelson Institute), and Nova Tebbe (Nelson Institute), moderated by Associate Dean Steph Tai, sponsored by the Climate People and the Environment Program, Center for Climatic Res m, Center for Climatic Research, Wisconsin Academy and the WI Initiative on Law & Climate Change.
Livestream available and cookies and coffee will be served.
March 6, 2024:
"Flash Talks on Climate Change: Climate Change is not Just About the Environment" in the speaker series "International Organizations and You," 4:00-5:00pm (followed by a reception), Plenary Room (1310 Grainger Hall), WI School of Business, featuring:
Tana Johnson (climate change & trade), Greg Nemet (climate change & energy), Sumudu Atapattu (climate change & human rights), Nova Tebbe (climate change & health), sponsored by International Business Program, WI School of Business, Global Legal Studies Center, La Follette School of Public Affairs, Laurie Carlson Progressive Ideas Forum and the WI Initiative on Law & Climate Change (WILCC).
To facilitate planning, please register here. We welcome walk-ins too
April 22, 2024:
Book launch of Atapattu's book on "UN Human Rights Institutions and the Environment" and panel discussion, 4:00-5:30pm, followed by a reception, Lubar Commons (7200 law), UW Law School.
Speakers: Professors David Boyd (joining virtually), James May, Maya Prabhu and Rebecca Bratspies, moderated by Professor Steph Tai, part of the Earth Fest sponsored by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Office of Sustainability, Global Legal Studies Center, Wisconsin Initiative on Law & Climate Change, and Laurie Carlson Progressive Ideas Forum.
2022-2023 Events
Spring 2023
April 10, 2023: "Climate Change and Human Rights in Brazil"
By Fabio Feldmann, lawyer, activist and environmental consultant, 11:00am-12:00pm, Room 5246 Law, part of the Wisconsin Initiative on Law and Climate Change (WILCC), multiple sponsors.
See "Climage Change and Human Rights in Brazil" flyer (PDF)
April 14-15, 2023: "Climate Justice and Racial Capitalism" Workshop
Part of the Wisconsin Initiative on Law and Climate Change (WILCC).
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- Day 1: 3250 Law - 9:30am-5:30pm
- Day 2: 7200 Law - 9:30am-12:30pm (informal session to discuss next steps)
Description: The concept of racial capitalism has been embraced by scholars and activists as a means of exploring the common roots of contemporary social and ecological crises. These include unprecedented environmental degradation, extreme economic inequality, the resurgence of authoritarian ethno-nationalism, increasingly militarized and racialized policing and border control, and the expulsion to the margins of society of growing numbers of humans, including persons who are unemployed, incarcerated, or homeless or belong to a minority group or simply poor. This workshop which is part of a larger research project seeks to flesh out the various aspects of the racial capitalism framework and apply it to the work of scholars participating in the workshop/research project. See flyer
April 18-19, 2023: Earth Day conference, 2023: Species on the Move
April 18, 2023 (in-person event): "Addressing Human Mobility in a Warming World: Challenges and Opportunities"
By Erica Bower, climate displacement researcher, Human Rights Watch Cohosted by the Laurie Carlson Progressive Ideas Forum and the Wisconsin Initiative on Law and Climate Change
Fall 2022
October 5, 2022: Law School Discusssion on incorporating climate change into the law curriculum
Part of the climate law initiative, at noon. Lunch will be served.
October 10, 2022: Virtual Roundtable on “Recent Developments in Climate Law in the US”, Inaugural event of the Wisconsin Initiative on Law and Climate Change (WILCC)
Description: In recent weeks there have been several developments in the US relating to climate change. On June 30, 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in West Virginia v. EPA. On August 6, 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act with significant funding to address climate change. At the global level, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 76/300 recognizing, for the first time, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right (which surprisingly received an affirmative vote from the US) closely following the UN Human Rights Council resolution last year. This inaugural event of the Wisconsin Initiative on Law and Climate Change (WILCC), featuring legal academics and practitioners, will discuss these developments and their implications for climate law.
Speakers:
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- Professor Michael Gerrard, Columbia Law School
- Professor Alice Kaswan, University of San Francisco School of Law
- Professor Steph Tai, UW Law School
- Professor Rebecca Bratspies, City University, New York
Moderator: Sumudu Atapattu, Director, Global Legal Studies Center, UW Law School
Sponsors: Global Legal Studies Center, Laurie Carlson Progressing Ideas Forum, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
2021-2022 Events
March 31, 2022:
Day 1 of the Wisconsin International Law Journal symposium on the theme: "Climate Change and Law: Global to Local Legal and Policy Challenges" (multiple sponsors) and the launch of the Wisconsin Initiative on Law and Climate Change (WILCC), sponsored by the Progressive Ideas Forum (4:00pm-7:00pm)
April 1, 2022:
Day 2 of the Wisconsin International Law Journal symposium (9:00am-5:45pm)
April 21, 2022:
Earth day panel: A Half-Century of Environmental Co-operation: The US-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement" featuring: Susan Hedman (UW Law School, visiting scholar and chair of panel); Mike Goffin (Environment and Climate Change, Canada); Mic Isham (Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission); Chris Korleski (US EPA Great Lakes National Program Office); Lana Pollack (former US co-chair, International Joint Commission); and Sumudu Atapattu (UW Law School)(2:30-3:30pm)
2019-2020 Events
April 20, 2020:
Annual Earth Day Conference, on the theme Earth Day @ 50: Aspiring for Sustainability, Striving for Justice, Crafting the Earth, Monona Terrace, details pending. 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and Progressive Ideas Forum will be a major sponsor of this celebration. The event was made virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
About the Forum
The Forum is supported by a fund established to honor Laurie Carlson's lifelong commitment to progressive ideas, laws and policies. Formed by his family, the fund is designed to provide support to University programs that present, explore and discuss current progressive issues in law, legal institutions, public policy and social thought. While the Forum will initiate its own speakers and programs, it also seeks to encourage and assist learning opportunities suggested by others in various formats, including guest speakers, discussion panels, seminars, workshops, and classroom activities. One goal of the Forum is to promote an exchange of ideas that joins the University community with the local community, by, among other things, fostering a discussion of current progressive ideas and issues on campus and encouraging public participation in Forum-sponsored events.
About Laurie E. Carlson (1908-1999)
Laurie Carlson was born in Bayfield, Wisconsin. His first political involvement occurred at age 12, when he and his father traveled Bayfield County in a horse-drawn wagon, campaigning with Robert La Follette, Sr. This experience coupled with later meetings with Bob La Follete left an impression that would stay with Carlson for a lifetime. In 1934, Carlson helped form the State Progressive Party, along with La Follette sons, Phil and Bob, Jr. Carlson won election as a Progressive to the State Legislature in 1936 at age 28 and served until 1942. After his legislative career, Carlson began a career in business, but was always very active in Wisconsin politics. In 1969, the Dane County Democratic Party prevailed on Laurie to run for Clerk of Courts, and he served four terms before retiring from public office. In 1986, Governor Tony Earl honored Carlson with a Proclamation declaring him a "state treasure." Laurie died in 1999 at age 91, fighting to the end for the poor, the common people, the rights of labor, civil rights, and the protection of the environment.
Suggestions for Forum Programs
Individuals or groups interested in making suggestions for Forum programs should prepare a description of the program including a draft budget and submit at least three months before the proposed event to:
Sumudu Atapattu
University of Wisconsin Law School
975 Bascom Mall, Madison, WI 53706
Email: sumudu.atapattu@wisc.edu
Phone: 608-890-1395
Past speakers and programs
