Library Highlights: Environmental Law


The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law

Daniel Bodansky

K3585 .B63 2010

From the Publisher: International environmental law is often closer to home than we know, affecting the food we eat, the products we buy, and even the air we breathe. Drawing on more than two decades of experience as a government negotiator, consultant, and academic, Daniel Bodansky brings a real-world perspective on the processes by which international environmental law develops, and influences the behavior of state and non-state actors. In self-contained chapters that offer a clear guide to a complex field, Bodansky answers fundamental questions about how international environmental law works. What role can law play in addressing global environmental challenges such as climate change, ozone depletion, and loss of biodiversity? How do environmental problems come onto the international agenda? What are the obstacles to international cooperation, and what can international environmental law do to address them? How do international rules develop? How are they put into practice and what makes them effective?

Taking Back Eden: Eight Environmental Cases that Changed the World

Oliver A. Houck

K3585 .H68 2010

From the Publisher: Taking Back Eden is the gripping tale of an idea—that ordinary people have the right to go to court to defend their environment—told through the stories of lawsuits brought in eight countries around the world. Starting in the United States in the l960’s, this idea is now traveling the planet, with impacts not just on imperiled environments but on systems of justice and democracy. It has brought people back into the question of governing the quality of their lives. [The author] describes the sites under contention in their place and time, the people who rose up, their lawyers, strategies, obstacles, setbacks and victories. Written for general readers, students, and lawyers alike, [this book] tells the stories of a lone fisherman intent on protecting the Hudson River, a Philippine lawyer boarding illegal logging ships from the air, the Cree Indian Nation battling for its hunting grounds, and a civil rights attorney who set out to save the Taj Mahal… .

Should Trees have Standing?: Law, Morality, and the Environment

Christopher D. Stone

KF5505 .S86 2010

From the Publisher: Originally published in 1972, Should Trees Have Standing? was a rallying point for the then burgeoning environmental movement, launching a worldwide debate on the basic nature of legal rights that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. [This new edition] updates Stone’s original thesis and explores the impact his ideas have had on the courts, the academy, and society as a whole. At the heart of the book is an eminently sensible, legally sound, and compelling argument that the environment should be granted legal rights. For the new edition, Stone explores a variety of recent cases and current events–and related topics such as climate change and protecting the oceans–providing a thoughtful survey of the past and an insightful glimpse at the future of the environmental movement. This enduring work continues to serve as the definitive statement as to why trees, oceans, animals, and the environment as a whole should be bestowed with legal rights, so that the voiceless elements in nature are protected for future generations.

The Clean Water Act and the Constitution: Legal Structure and the Public’s Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment

Robin Kundis Craig

KF3790 .C73 2009

From the Publisher: Robin Kundis Craig explores the structural implications for water quality regulation when the primary federal statute for regulating water quality—the Clean Water Act—operates in a context complicated by a variety of constitutional requirements and dictates. After examining the Supremacy Clause, constitutional interstate common law, federal sovereign immunity, the Commerce Clause, the Fifth Amendment’s “taking” clause, the Eleventh Amendment, and the separation of powers principles, Craig concludes that constitutional law has had a more significant effect on the Act’s intent to involve citizens in public interest enforcement than on the Act’s basic structure of “cooperative federalism.” This second edition thoroughly updates the first edition, particularly in areas where the Supreme Court has issued significant new decisions. Craig argues that environmental constitutional jurisprudence may have progressed to the point where the structure of the Constitution impedes necessary solutions to pressing environmental issues. She concludes by proposing a structural amendment to the Constitution that would restore Congress’s vision of citizen participation in environmental law.

Regulation, Enforcement and Governance in Environmental Law

Richard Macrory

KJE6242 .M33 2010

From the Publisher: Laws concerning environmental protection have a long history in the UK, but the last thirty years have seen unprecedented development in both the substantive body of environmental legislation and in thinking about underlying principles and institutional arrangements. The materials in this book, based on some of Richard Macrory’s most significant writings, demonstrate how far environmental law has come in less than a generation, focussing in particular on the major themes of regulation, institutional arrangements, and enforcement which underlie the substantive detail of the law. Whilst acknowledging the growing importance of public international law relating to the environment, the book is largely concerned with UK and EC law, though many of the core themes have much wider relevance…

Environmental Water Markets: Restoring Streams through Trade

Brandon Scarborough

HD9718.5.W362 S334 2010

From the Publisher: Western water law is a bit peculiar. It provides limited usage rights to parties who have legal claims on water. Most of the rules date to the settlement of the western United States in the nineteenth century. The traditional rules, which were codified by state legislatures, worked well in an agricultural economy. But, as changes in values evolved, some limits inherent in the prior appropriation doctrine have become apparent. It was, and still can be, difficult to change the use of water from its historic designation to one with greater value. Such is the case for restoring instream flows through water markets. Societies with strong property rights allow parties to protect their property, develop it, trade it, or give it away. They enjoy greater prosperity and freedom than societies that impose many restrictions on property or suffer from a lack of clarity in rules. As Brandon Scarborough explains in this Policy Series, restrictions in water rights and uncertainty about how particular water trades can be affected limited the ability of parties to voluntarily use water for environmental benefits. As often happens when the rules are unclear, people make do and struggle to create new arrangements that allow resources to move to higher-valued uses. Water rights have evolved in recent years as parties express desires to sell, lease, or give water for environmental or recreational purposes. Legal entrepreneurs plowed new ground. Some states have assisted in the move to expanded water rights, others have been less supportive. This Policy Series provides guidance for improving the legal environment for parties who wish to engage in the beneficial exchange of water rights.

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