A 2019 paper by ERI affiliate Rob Fishman was recently named one of the 15 best environmental law articles of the year by the Land Use and Environmental Review, an annual compilation of the best scholarship in the field.

Fischman’s paper, “Letting Go of Stability: Resilience and Environmental Law" argues that the concept of resilience offers a better framework for reconceiving environmental law than stability or sustainability. Fischman, a professor at the IU Maurer School of Law, said the topic for the paper grew out his involvement with the Prepared for Environmental Change (PfEC) Grand Challenge and the inaugural lecture he delivered for the George P. Smith, II Distinguished Professorship.

“I can honestly say that I would not have thought about, let along written about, this topic if it were not for the grand challenge,” Fischman said. "I learned so much from my ERI colleagues in the social and natural sciences that contributed to my understanding of resilience."

Fischman became involved with the PfEC Grand Challenge in its early days, helping to write the original proposal. He later served two years on ERI’s steering committee, contributed to ERI’s governance document, and recruited and mentored ERI’s environmental law fellows.

This is the seventh time since 2002 that one of Fischman's articles has been named a finalist by the Land Use and Environmental Review.