Jim Blackburn

Jim Blackburn is an environmental lawyer and Professor in the Practice in Environmental Law in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Rice University. At Rice, Blackburn is a Faculty Scholar at the Baker Institute and co-director of the Severe Storm Prevention, Education and Evacuation from Disaster (SSPEED) Center and teaches courses in Sustainable Design and Environmental Law. At SSPEED Center, Blackburn is working on the Galveston Bay Park Plan, an innovative in-bay hurricane surge solution and nature-based solutions to modern engineering problems. He is also currently Chairman of the Board of BCarbon, a carbon credit non-profit registry that was formed from research at the SSPEED Center and the Baker Institute. Among other awards, he was designated a Rice University distinguished alumni laureate in 2018 and is a member of the American College of Environmental Lawyers and was awarded the Barbara C. Jordan Community Advocate Award from Texas Southern University in 2007 and the Robert Eckhardt Lifetime Coastal Achievement Award from the General Land Office of the State of Texas in 1998, among others. Blackburn has authored The Book of Texas Bays and A Texan Plan for the Texas Coast, both published by Texas A&M Press for which he is working on a third book in that series on the future of the Texas coast. Jim Blackburn is widely recognized as one of the most influential leaders and experts in carbon credit development and environmental conservation, combining science, law, and strategic vision to address the challenges of the future.