Keeping the world and the environment clean is one major issue today. Many people ask: “What is being done to help? What are the issues being addressed?” One answer lies with Elizabeth Burleson and her foundation. The Burleson Institute addresses a range of environmental concerns.

Burleson started out as an environmental law professor at Pace University and earned her LLM, Masters of Law, degree from the London School of Economics. She has gone on to work on several different projects such as being an advisor to UNICEF for the environment as well as taking part in the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.

On Sept. 23, Burleson came to Iona and delivered a speech called “Engaging the Environment: Law, Ecology, and the World,” where she addressed some major issues with the climate we have presently and what her institute does.

“She has provided climate energy expertise to the French, Japanese, United States, and Uruguayan governments,” according to works.bepress.com.

This proves that she is getting involved with many nations to try and change and improve the climate around us.

“We’ve created an institute that looks at climate, energy and water,” Burleson said. “Climate is not a single issue.”

She went on to talk about how the world’s biggest issue is natural gas and that it is the sector that is getting most coverage in the world.

She spoke about methane and how it is a major issue today in regards to pollution and is more potent than the greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide.

Everyone who is familiar with the gas knows how toxic it can be and should not take the presence of methane in the atmosphere lightly. According to Burleson, methane is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

“If there’s no price to reduce carbon, then there’s no increase to emit carbon,” Burleson said.

However, she is not the only person who is currently pushing for a change in the climate and environmental movement.

The United Nations also recently held the Climate Summit, which took place in Manhattan to adjust climate agreements between countries and make changes all over the globe.

Climate change is no small subject to ignore, and because of Elizabeth Burleson and her institute’s work with other countries, there may be hope for a change in the environment in the upcoming years as all nations strive to make a difference by making our world safer, cleaner and better suited to be called green and natural.