Michael Shellenberger, who won the Time magazine Hero of the Environment award in 2008, will be the keynote speaker at the Resource Management Law Association’s (RMLA) annual conference in Christchurch from 26-27 September.

Mr Shellenberger is a Green Book Award winner and the founder and president of Environmental Progress, an American research and policy organisation campaigning for clean power and energy justice. As one of the world’s leading pro-nuclear environmentalists, he is considered a climate guru.

He advises policy-makers around the world, including in the US, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium.

In the 1990s, Mr Shellenberger helped save California’s last unprotected ancient redwood forest and inspired Nike to improve factory conditions in Asia.

He will be speaking on “Why energy saves the environment” at the conference.

Other speakers at the conference include Rosie Bosworth, a future foods consultant, speaker and entrepreneur; Bob Bower who has over 25 years’ experience in the field of applied water resource research including hydrology, hydrogeology and the biophysical sciences; Rachel de Lambert, a consultant in landscape design, heritage planning and management, urban design and landscape assessment; Antony Gough, the creator of “The Strip”, a parade of bars and restaurants along Oxford Terrace in Christchurch, and Bret Walker, a barrister practising out of Sydney.