Prof. Luke Cole and Center on Race, Poverty and Environment Nominated for ABA Award

Professor Luke Cole and the Center on Race, Poverty and Environment have been nominated for the American Bar Association's "Award for Excellence in Environmental Law." If you would like to add to the nomination, you can email Dana Jonusaitis, the Executive Director of ABA Section on Environment, Energy and Resources, about Luke's and the center's contribution.

Luke Cole

Professor Luke Cole died on Thursday, June 4 in a motor accident in western Uganda. He was 46. His wife, Nancy Shelby, was also injured in the accident and is stable in an Amsterdam hospital. 

Luke taught environmental law both as a visitor and as an adjunct over the last nine years. He was a very loved teacher. Luke spearheaded the environmental justice movement, authoring a major book in the field and founding the Center on Poverty, Race and the Environment, which is one of the leading advocacy groups opposing environmental racism. In that capacity he was very effective at organizing communities of racial minorities and indigenous groups to resist environmental damage to their communities.

In addition to being a great teacher and advocate, Luke was a wonderful friend, an avid bird watcher, and a connoisseur of root beers. (He was once even featured on NPR’s Saturday morning program with Scott Simon on the subject of root beer.) Luke had a great passion for life and a generous spirit.

Contributions may be made in his name to the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment at http://www.crpe-ej.org/  to continue his work. If you would like to write to Luke's family members, please write them in care of the Center.