Richard Reibstein

Richard Reibstein, affiliated faculty with the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS), has taught environmental law (Law for Sustainability, EE521) to non-law students in the Department of Earth & Environment since 2000, while also developing technical assistance and enforcement efforts for the state of Massachusetts and the Environmental Protection Agency. He created the courses Research for Environmental Agencies and Organizations (EE538), Developing Sustainable Environmental Responsibility (EE522), and Reconstructing Environmental Governance (EE552), and has served as consultant to BU’s Campus Sustainability Steering Committee.

He is primarily interested in issues relating to the improvement of environmental governance: effective ways to assist people (incorporations, schools, agencies, households) in reducing pollution and environmental and public health impact; and efficient ways to regulate to ensure a bottom line of necessary progress, with the least unnecessary adverse economic or other impact from the regulation itself. His focus is on finding root causes and stimulating a culture of democratic engagement so that positive results can come from public conversations. Reibstein recently published the book Reconstructing Environmental Governance: The Chance to Choose a Better Future (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2022).

See the work students have produced in Reibstein’s project class at www.bu.edu/rccp: several include energy, such as solar without cutting trees, expert opinion on the electrical system we need, the value of community choice aggregation, passive cooling in buildings, and how to get climate credits for tree preservation.

Pronouns: he/him/his