Buzz Thompson in California

Barton “Buzz” Thompson, ’73, MBA ’76, JD ’76, is a global expert on water and land conservation.  He is the Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law at Stanford Law School and a professor of environmental behavior sciences in Stanford’s new Doerr School of Sustainability.  He also is a senior fellow in the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, which he co-founded in 2004 and then co-directed for a dozen years.  He serves on the boards of multiple land trusts and conservation organizations, including as a trustee of The Nature Conservancy.  He believes that the best way to teach his students about the environment is while enjoying the environment.  He has taught western water policy while rafting with his students down the Colorado River, public land policy while hiking national parks in Utah, and South African environmental law while on safari with his law students.

During our program, Buzz will lecture on the National Parks' controversies and importance with relation to Joshua Tree and Death Valley, past and present water availability, and a history of the settlement of the area.