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The Power of Public Apology We invite you to join Patrick Field, Consensus Building Institute, in a wide-ranging discussion about apology as a tool for conflict prevention or resolution in public and private disputes – in the environmental context and beyond. It seems that every time we turn around, another public figure is apologizing on the evening news; even the U.S. President summons the press and declares "I screwed up." Why is everyone apologizing and is there something useful for environmental advocates and other attorneys to learn from this epidemic? Perhaps. There is an accumulating body of evidence about the power of apology to heal rifts and allow parties to channel their energy into building a positive future rather than being pulled backwards in anger. As most of us have experienced, there are effective apologies and apologies that do more damage than good--the consequences at both ends of the spectrum can be astonishing. In particular, the Superfund context is especially fertile ground for thinking about apologies due to the potentially broad range of stakeholder involvement. |