He can talk dirty. He can talk clean. But whatever the topic, Nick Schroeck talks green.

Dirty air, clean water and a host of other environmental issues are on the menu for Schroeck every day. He’s executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center and a 2007 graduate of Wayne State University Law School, where he teaches and directs the Transnational Environmental Law Clinic. He is an expert for conservation groups, scholarly conferences, law schools across the country, the State Bar of Michigan Environmental Law Section, law journals, and also for reporters when they need help making sense of environmental issues.

It’s not easy being green, as a certain famous frog once told us, but for Schroeck, it’s the only way to be. And he’s gaining recognition. In May, he received the Recent Alumni Award from the Wayne State University Alumni Association for outstanding professional achievement, community contributions and service to the university.

Schroeck frequently appears in the media as an expert on high-profile environmental law issues, including the ongoing dispute over how to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes and the controversy over oil and gas extraction by hydraulic fracturing or "fracking."

He recently spoke about fracking and Great Lakes water resources at Case Western Reserve University Law School, and is co-authoring an accompanying article for the school’s law review on the topic. And he has been invited to tackle the same issues and present a paper at the Great Lakes Water Resources Governance Symposium at Indiana University McKinney School of Law in March.  

"Also, I have been asked to submit a paper and present at the American Bar Association 42nd spring meeting in Salt Lake City on March 22, 2013," he said. "The topic there is Stormwater: From Regulation to Resource. I will be discussing the clinic’s advocacy for Detroit and other water utilities around the region to incorporate green technologies as part of their stormwater and wastewater treatment and management programs."

Schroeck recently was the luncheon keynote speaker at a conference sponsored by the State Bar of Michigan Environmental Law Section and East Michigan and West Michigan Chapters of the Air & Waste Management Association. The conference, titled “Michigan Environment in 2012 and Beyond: Developments and Emerging Issues in the Management and Regulation of Air, Water, Energy and Waste,” took place at Lansing Community College. Schroeck updated the attendees on Great Lakes water law and policy developments.

He presented at the recent Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit Conference at Marygrove College, speaking on Great Lakes policy and fracking. This fall, he debated fracking at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee and served on a panel at the University of Toledo Law School’s Great Lakes Water Conference on the topic of the U.S. and Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Other topics he’s presented on recently and written about include Asian Carp litigation, oil pipelines in the Great Lakes region and offshore wind development.