Come September, Alex Bomstein will begin his final year at Columbia’s School of Law. At the same time he’ll continue his efforts for the good of the Earth that began in his undergraduate years at Cornell.

Bomstein is passionate about the environment and a just world. “It’s hard for me to read newspaper stories on over-fishing and drying lakes, for example, and not be emotionally affected. If you really understand what’s going on, it’s hard not to do something,” he says.

A member of the Columbia chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Bomstein has done legal observation under the Guild’s auspices and co-organized a workshop at their regional conference last spring. The group was founded in 1937 and is the first bar association in the country to be racially integrated. According to the NLG website, the “New York City chapter is the oldest and largest public interest human rights-based organization in the United States.”

Bomstein says the group does lots of pro bono work, provides legal support at demonstrations as well as know-your-rights training.

He has also worked with the More Gardens! Coalition that supports existing community gardens in the New York metro area and lobbies for increasing their number.

Bomstein says the biggest campaign he’s been involved in at Columbia is the recycled paper initiative. Students for Environmental and Economic Justice, of which Bomstein is a member, worked with several University groups to evaluate options for recycled paper.

The present endorsement is for 30 percent recycled content paper, with 100 percent recycled content paper available, but at a higher price.

“Any steps in the right direction are good steps,” Bomstein says. “I’m happy the University is working on this.”

He’s enthusiastic about Columbia’s “Green Umbrella,” of which any environmental group can be part. It meets often and includes a broad range of students – a vital consideration, Bomstein believes.

One of his major concerns is getting students more involved in environmentally related projects. “Part of the challenge in getting more student participation is getting past their initial interest to make them want to keep going,” he says. One way to make this happen is a better integration of environmental issues into the classroom, Bomstein says. He cites engineering classes as examples of incorporating “projects with a good cause” into the curriculum.

“Student groups themselves need to do more direct outreach,” he says. “They need to follow up on campus activities so students know what they can do personally when they get home. People need to realize everything they do has an impact – and not just on the environment.”

Bomstein, from Wyncote, Pa., isn’t sure in what area his law future lies. Besides his commitment to human rights, he says he’s concerned for animal rights. Looking ahead, he says his work will continue to build on whatever work preceded it.

In any case, he believes, “if we really look for what’s going on, we’ll find we need to do something. I don’t think that’s hyperbole.”