Environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr., co-host of Ring of Fire on the Air America Radio network, will visit the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum on Wednesday, Sept. 20 to discuss "Crimes Against Nature." His discussion begins at 6:45 p.m., with overflow seating in McKenna Auditorium. A book signing will follow.
Kennedy was named one of Time magazine's "Heroes for the Planet" for his success in helping Riverkeepera watchdog coalition founded in 1966 for the protection of New York's water supply fight to restore the Hudson River. The group's achievement helped spawn more than 125 Waterkeeper organizations across the globe.
Kennedy serves as senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper organization, and president of the international Waterkeeper Alliance, a coalition of 99 grassroots groups. He also is the founder and director of Pace University's Environmental Litigation Clinic in White Plains, N.Y., which allows second and third-year law students to try cases against Hudson River polluters. Earlier in his career, he served as New York City assistant district attorney.
Kennedy is the author of numerous articles and books including The New York Times bestseller Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy (2004), and coauthor of 1997's The Riverkeepers: Two Activists Fight to Reclaim Our Environment as a Basic Human Right. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The Nation, Outside magazine, the Village Voice, and many others. He also has been a recent contributing blogger for Arianna Huffington's The Huffington Post.
Kennedy, a graduate of Harvard University, studied at the London School of Economics and received his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. Following graduation, he attended Pace University School of Law, where he was awarded a master's degree in environmental law. In addition to his studies, he is a master falconer, kayaker, skier, sailor, fisherman, and father of six.
His lecture is supported with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Roberts Environmental Center, and the Kravis Leadership Institute, and is part of the Athenaeum series Leadership in Times of Crisis: The Environment.