Environmental Law and Policy

Abstract

More and more, environmental laws and policies and their consequences pervade our lives: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the land we live on, the plants and animals that share these resources. As the imprint of humans on the earth continues to grow, the import of these laws and policies can only increase. This course surveys the historical origins, the leading conflicts, and the evolving processes of this new and controversial field. Approached from a global perspective, environmental law offers a glimpse at some of the most far-reaching issues that confront the world today. The study of environmental law, policy, and politics necessitates several different perspectives. As we shall see, the international character of problems like global warming and urban environmental degradation requires global analyses. At the same time, in domains like water resources, air quality and urban sprawl, the key to environmental performance is often found in the arrangements of local communities. Alongside multiple geographic scales, environmental policy and law combine various professional specialities. To master the field requires knowledge not just of legal institutions and how they work, but of natural science, engineering, economics, and politics. In this course, we will combine readings of more traditional texts with legal materials, practical case analyses, in-class exercises, internet analyses, guest speakers and multimedia presentations. In the first weeks of the course, we will examine how environmental law and policy emerged over the course of the twentieth century, and the issues and debates at the core of environmental decision-making. In the following two weeks, we will turn to the institutional infrastructure of environmental law in the United States and worldwide. For most of the remainder of the course, successive sessions will take up leading domains of environmental law–water resources, water