AT: HNPAT~ Jim Blackburn’s talk on the Texas Coastal Exchange

This month we have the honor of hosting Jim Blackburn, who will be discussing the Texas Coastal Exchange, a system developed at the Severe Storm Prevention, Education and Evacuation from Disaster (“SSPEED”) Center at Rice University, for buying and selling ecological services such as carbon sequestration, water supply enhancement, flood mitigation and fish and wildlife enhancement. Restoration of coastal and inland prairies is a key driver of Texas Coastal Exchange, and this restoration along with certain grazing techniques could revolutionize conservation thinking as well as the farm and ranch economy and the oil and gas industry.

Jim Blackburn is an environmental lawyer and professor in the practice of Environmental Law in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Rice University. At Rice, Blackburn is a Faculty Scholar at the Baker Institute, co-director of the SSPEED Center and directs the undergraduate minor in Energy and Water Sustainability. Texas A&M Press published Blackburn’s Book of Texas Bays in 2004 and his new book, A Texan Plan for the Texas Coast, was published in 2017 by Texas A&M Press. Blackburn has also co-authored a book of poems and paintings with artist Isabelle Scurry Chapman titled Birds: A Book of Verse and Vision. Blackburn still maintains his private law firm, Blackburn Carter, and also owns a planning firm called Sustainable Planning and Design that is working on coastal Louisiana land loss issues including restoration.