J. Marc McGinnes is an environmental leader, lawyer, and educator. After the 1969 Santa Barbara oil blowout and subsequent oil spill, Rep. Pete McCloskey urged McGinnes,who was then practicing law in San Francisco, to go to Santa Barbara to assist in that community’s response. McGinnes served as chair of the January 28, 1970 Environmental Rights Day national conference, a precursor of Earth Day observances later that year. He became a public interest environmental lawyer and led the founding of the Community Environmental Council and the Environmental Defense Center.
Education
Stanford University. ;. UC Berkeley School of Law. Boalt Hall* ; University of Nancy*, France.
Teaching career
In 1971 he became a member of the faculty of the Environmental Studies Program of the University of California, Santa Barbara, one of the first undergraduate programs of its kind in the United States. In 1983, he began full-time there, developing courses for both the Environmental Studies and Law and Society programs. He also served in various campus advisory and administrative positions. Since 2005, he has served in an emeritus capacity. The Environmental Studies Program awards each year the McGinnes Environmental Law and Advocacy scholarship to an outstanding graduating senior. In 2016, he donated his research papers, teaching and practice papers and materials to the UCSB Library. In 2017 he developed and convened a seminar titled Hope That Works.
Environmental Rights Work
In 1969 he served as chair of the national Environmental Rights Day conference in Santa Barbara following the January 28, 1969, offshore oil platform blowout and oil spill. In 1970, he was founding president of the Community Environmental Council, one of the nation’s first ecology center/think tanks. In 1977 he was the founding chief counsel of the Environmental Defense Center, one of the nation’s first regional public-interest environmental law firms.
Books
In Love with Earth: Testimonies and Heartsongs of an Environmental Elder.
