Showing papers on "Environmental law published in 2014"

Green Criminology: An Introduction to the Study of Environmental Harm

Abstract: Introduction Part 1: Conceptual and Methodological Foundations 1.Green Criminology and Environmental Crime 2. Eco-global Criminology and Transnational Environmental Crime 3. Eco-Justice and Ecocide 4. Dimensions of Environmental Crime 5. Researching Environmental Harm Part 2: Transgression and Victimisation 6. Climate Change and Social Conflict 7. Abuse and Harm to Animals 8. Threats to Biodiversity 9. Pollution and Toxic Waste 10. Environmental Victims Part 3: Intervention and Prevention 11. Environmental Regulation 12. Environmental Law Enforcement 13. Environmental Forensic Studies 14. Environmental Courts 15. Environmental Crime Prevention Conclusion

Local Environmental Enforcement Constrained by Central–Local Relations in China

Abstract: Environmental pollution has become a major health concern and has escalated to a major political issue in China. It has been identified that enforcement of environmental regulation is the weakest link in environmental protection. Local government is often the focus of study because of its legal obligation for enforcement under national environmental law, and for its significance in the complex and intriguing central–local relations in the Chinese government system. We propose an interpretative framework to explain the local environmental enforcement dilemma in China, based on an institutional approach. Local governments tend to underperform. We argue that the overall national institutional environment that defines central–local relations in both political and financial terms is key for explaining why local governments fail to meet their obligations. Local governments tend to promote economic growth and maximize tax revenue, by attracting external investment and protecting polluting businesses, at the expense of environmental quality. Inadequate disclosure of environmental data and occasionally intentionally distorting information obstruct public participation and supervision – a key factor for ensuring the accountability of local enforcement. The policy implications of this analysis are that central government, in its capacity as the rule-maker, must take action to adjust the existing central–local relations with respect to the political promotion system and the tax-sharing mechanism. In addition, more stringent procedures and standards must be made by central government regarding the disclosure of environmental data to enable effective public participation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Global Environmental Law and Treaty-Making on Hazardous Substances: The Minamata Convention and Mercury Abatement

Abstract: In global environmental cooperation, legally binding agreements remain a customary way for states to set common goals and standards. This article analyzes the Minamata Convention on Mercury by addressing three questions: First, how did linkages to earlier agreements shape the negotiations? Second, what were the main legal and political issues during the negotiations? Third, what are the major issues moving forward with treaty implementation and mercury abatement? The analysis shows that the decision to start treaty negotiations was influenced by related policy developments on hazardous chemicals as well as differences in national interests. Five sets of issues dominated the negotiations: 1) supply and trade, 2) products and processes, 3) emissions and releases, 4) artisanal and small-scale gold mining, and 5) resources and compliance. The article concludes that future mercury abatement hinges on the parties' ability to move beyond the initial mandates, as the convention may affect decisions by a wide rang...

Policy development for environmental licensing and biodiversity offsets in Latin America.

Abstract: Attempts to meet biodiversity goals through application of the mitigation hierarchy have gained wide traction globally with increased development of public policy, lending standards, and corporate practices. With interest in biodiversity offsets increasing in Latin America, we seek to strengthen the basis for policy development through a review of major environmental licensing policy frameworks in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. Here we focused our review on an examination of national level policies to evaluate to which degree current provisions promote positive environmental outcomes. All the surveyed countries have national-level Environmental Impact Assessment laws or regulations that cover the habitats present in their territories. Although most countries enable the use of offsets only Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru explicitly require their implementation. Our review has shown that while advancing quite detailed offset policies, most countries do not seem to have strong requirements regarding impact avoidance. Despite this deficiency most countries have a strong foundation from which to develop policy for biodiversity offsets, but several issues require further guidance, including how best to: (1) ensure conformance with the mitigation hierarchy; (2) identify the most environmentally preferable offsets within a landscape context; (3) determine appropriate mitigation replacement ratios; and (4) ensure appropriate time and effort is given to monitor offset performance.

International environmental law as a complex adaptive system

Abstract: Complex adaptive systems are a special kind of self-organizing system with emergent properties and adaptive capacity in response to changing external conditions. In this article, we investigate the proposition that international environmental law, as a network of treaties and institutions, exhibits some key characteristics of a complex adaptive system. This proposition is premised on the scientific understanding that the Earth system displays properties of a complex adaptive system. If so, international environmental law, as a control system, may benefit from the insights gained and from being modelled in ways more appropriately aligned with the functioning of the Earth system itself. In this exploratory review, we found evidence suggesting that international environmental law is a complex system where treaties and institutions self-organize and exhibit emergent properties. Furthermore, we contend that international environmental law as a whole is adapting to exogenous changes through an institutional process akin to natural selection in biological evolution. However, the adequacy of the direction and rate of adaptation for the purpose of safeguarding the integrity of Earth’s life-support system is questioned. This paper concludes with an emphasis on the need for system-level interventions to steer the direction of self-organization while maintaining institutional diversity. This recommendation stands in contrast to the reductionist approach to institutional fragmentation and aims at embracing the existing complexity in international environmental law.

Global Environmental Constitutionalism

Abstract: Reflecting a global trend, scores of countries have affirmed that their citizens are entitled to healthy air, water and land, and that their constitution should guarantee certain environmental rights. This book examines the increasing recognition that the environment is a proper subject for protection in constitutional texts and for vindication by constitutional courts. This phenomenon, which the authors call environmental constitutionalism, represents the confluence of constitutional law, international law, human rights and environmental law. National apex and constitutional courts are exhibiting a growing interest in environmental rights, and as courts become more aware of what their peers are doing, this momentum is likely to increase. This book explains why such provisions came into being, how they are expressed, and the extent to which they have been, and might be, enforced judicially. It is a singular resource for evaluating the content of and hope for constitutional environmental rights.

Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

Abstract: Sustainable development, a notion of obligation to future generation which was first used in Brundtland Commission in 1987 which states that development which is taking place to meet the demands of present generation without compromising or affecting the needs of future generations. This very process of sustainable development is one of the most important concerns to globalized and developing nations like India which is still confronted with many social, economic and especially environmental challenges such as Global Warming, Health issue, Toxins release, Water Crisis and Pollution. This paper through a doctrinal research tries to analyze the above mentioned environmental concerns and tries to suggest the probable solution for various problem that stands as obstacle in the way of sustainable development and access to justice. The Indian legislator has played a vital role in conserving environment and empowering the sustainable development and also enacted many laws and provisions such as Article 48A, Article 51-A (g) of the Indian constitution, and Acts like Easements Act 1882 which talks about the riparian owners right and unreasonable pollution of water, Fisheries Act, 1897 which penalized the killing of fish by water poisoning and by using explosives and other laws which follow the suits are The Factories Act, 1948, The River Boards Act, 1956 but most important of all these developments was the bringing into force of Environmental protection Act 1986, New Company Act, 2013 which deals with various aspects of social responsibility, development and moved forward for the preservation of environment. The Supreme Court of India in its effort devised two principles they are 'Polluter Pays' Principle which states that the polluter has to bear the cost of all remedial and clean up measures also the amount payable as compensation to pollution victims and 'Precautionary Principle' which requires the government authorities to anticipate, prevents, and attacks the causes of environmental pollution. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) 2010 was established with the view of speedy trials with respect to environmental matters and enforcement of legal rights relating to environment in this regard paper tries to analyze the process of functioning of NGT and tries to put forth a few suggestions to promote the better functioning of these tribunals by invoking the concept of public participation. However in spite of the constant efforts by Indian legislature and judiciary the existence of various environmental issues clearly indicates that there is a need for further effective implementation and enforcement of the existing laws and provisions which can only be attained through an active public participation in environmental decision making and resolving the environmental issues. The concept of public participation is one of the most important pillars of 'Aarhus convention' which was signed on 25th July in the Danish city of Aarhus which grants the public rights regarding access to information, public participation and access to justice in governmental decision making processes contained in Article 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the convention which is related to matters concerning the local, national and trans-boundary environment. It abridges the gap between public and public authorities. Access to environmental information is the necessary starting point for any public involvement in decision making process. Public participation is based on the belief that those who are affected by a decision have a right to be involved in the decision-making process. It promotes sustainable decisions by recognizing and communicating the needs and interests of all participants, including decision makers. The aim of this paper is to accentuate certain aspects of access to justice. To some extent this paper also concerns the role of the court in relation to the environmental area. It also compares the procedural aspects of the NGT with that of environmental court of Sweden. Further the paper intents to deal with the principle 17 of Rio declaration which states Environmental Impact Assessment. The objective of the paper is to seek right of the public both in present and future generation to know and to live in the healthy environment.

Sentencing the Green-Collar Offender: Punishment, Culpability, and Environmental Crime

Abstract: The federal sentencing guidelines for environmental crimes reflect an ad hoc, largely incoherent approach to guidelines development. In some cases of minimal culpability, the guidelines recommend sentences far in excess of what seems theoretically justifiable. This article develops a new culpability-based approach to environmental sentencing and proposes specific reforms to the federal guidelines based on the theoretical model.

Vernacular knowledge and environmental law: cause and cure for regulatory failure

Abstract: The Australian environment and agriculture is suffering from land degradation and declining biodiversity. Laws protecting native vegetation are aimed at addressing these problems but have been resisted by farmers, compromising the social agreement necessary for regulatory success. A case study drawing on farmer interviews in central northern New South Wales reveals that the laws are considered to be under-achieving environmental outcomes since they are ill-suited to local conditions. The low feasibility of the rules is also undermining rule and state legitimacy. Regulatory resistance is due to the lack of recognition of place-specifics by government and laws that impose universal requirements. There is an epistemic distance between the bureaucratic knowledge held by government and the vernacular knowledge (place-based knowledge) of heterogeneous environments held by farmers. Incorporating vernacular knowledge so that laws are more geographically sympathetic may close vernacular disjunctures and cure regul...

Rethinking Global Environmental Law and Governance in the Anthropocene

Abstract: The word Anthropocene describes a new geological epoch that follows the Holocene epoch. It is the signifier of the period in which people have a devastating and overwhelming impact on the earth and its systems. The Anthropocene also describes the new context in which we are going to have to consider how we should deal with the effects of global anthropogenic ecological change, including how we think about natural resources and energy security. This will require new perspectives on and reimagining orthodox social institutional constructs such as global environmental law and governance, among others, and their ability to successfully mediate the human-environment interface. This article reflects on how we will have to rethink global environmental law and governance as a result of the Anthropocene. It specifically attempts to identify a host of considerations that environmental lawyers, including those who focus on natural resources and energy law, will have to contemplate if global environmental law and gov...

Health in international environmental law : an analysis of the health objectives and impact of international environmental legal regimes in developing countries with a focus on Africa and the options for reform

Abstract: Higher Degrees by Research VII, 54. Due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any material contained in, or derived from, this thesis. DECLARATION I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of the university or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text. This thesis includes papers of which I am the sole author that are contained within the body of the thesis text. I was solely involved in designing the research and data analysis, conducting field and library research and related work and writing the publications. No parts of this work have previously been submitted for any similar qualification. I have also included a list of related publications in Annex II demonstrating my contributions to the health and international environmental law fields. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am extremely grateful to my family, friends and colleagues for their support throughout my study. I thank Professor Gavin Little who provided me with the best supervision and was a source of encouragement throughout my PhD study. I thank my colleagues at the University of Bradford Law School and at the World Health Mbengue and Dr Jackson Maogoto for the intellectual exchanges and friendship. I thank the several anonymous peer reviewers whose comments enabled me to publish articles which comprise and inform this thesis. I'm particularly thankful to Dr Barbara Anderson of Salisbury, Wiltshire without whose support and encouragement, it would have been very difficult for me to complete my studies. I thank my big family (in both UK and Uganda), including my owe my late dad Paul Wenna who instructed us to focus on education as the pinnacle of our lives. I'm also indebted to my late Brother, Dr Gervase Atama Matua whose previous doctoral accomplishment was an inspiration for my pursuit of the PhD. Most importantly, I thank my children Rianna, Genevieve, Alexandra and Matthew for their bundles of joy. However, the person to whom I owe the biggest debt of gratitude is to my best friend and wife, Jennifer Onzivu. Not only did she support me in all the tribulations of a PhD study alongside work and family but she remains a great of source …

The Stringency of Environmental Regulations and Trade in Environmental Goods

Abstract: This report assesses conceptually and empirically the extent to which the stringency of environmental regulations drives international trade in environmental goods. Many of the measures governments adopt to address issues such as local air and water pollution or GHG emissions take the form of regulations that aim to change the behaviour of firms or households. Compliance by private actors with those regulations in turn generates a growing market for environmental goods and services that is increasingly international in scope as more countries tighten their environmental regulations. Regulatory stringency thus spurs the development of a market for a whole range of equipment specifically meant for preventing and abating pollution, with important implications for international trade in such equipment. The different indicators of regulatory stringency considered in the present analysis generally support the notion that the stringency of environmental regulations positively affects countries’ specialisation in environmental products, even when considering specific sectors such as solid-waste management or wastewater treatment. While increased trade in environmental products is not an end in itself, the environmental benefits this entails can contribute to global improvements in environmental quality. By increasing demand for environmental products and technologies, environmental policy can complement trade policy in supporting pollution-reduction efforts not just domestically, but also abroad.

The Glass House Effect: Big Data, the New Oil, and the Power of Analogy

Abstract: It is increasingly said that "Big Data is the new oil." The phrase has an optimistic ring to it. Big Data has many productive uses, just like oil. It will be a key resource for the information economy, just as oil has been for the smokestack economy. This article examines the underside of the comparison. Oil certainly has many productive uses, but it also leads to oil pollution. Big Data is similar. It produces tremendous benefits, but simultaneously generates significant privacy injuries. Environmental law has developed ways to reduce oil pollution. This article draws on these environmental law strategies to identify laws and policies that can protect privacy in the era of Big Data. Oil pollutes in two principal ways. It spills, and so despoils beaches, coastlines and waters. It also produces carbon emissions and so contributes to the greenhouse effect and climate change. Big Data creates analogous privacy injuries. Like oil, it spills. Data security breaches cause broad harm much as oil spills create wide-spread damage. Big Data’s privacy impacts are also analogous to carbon emissions. Just as oil combustion adds to the growing accumulation of greenhouse gases, so the producers of Big Data are generating layer upon layer of personal information. This build-up, too, creates a kind of heat. It increases the hot glare of public scrutiny and so makes the social environment a less hospitable place for the development of the human personality. This is not the greenhouse effect, but the glass house effect since it gives each of us the sense that we are living in a glass house. Society has developed legal and policy solutions to oil spills and to climate change. The second part of this article takes these measures, translates them into the privacy realm, and so generates ideas about how to reduce Big Data’s privacy impacts. It explains how the 1970 Clean Water Act and the 1990 Oil Pollution Act succeeded in reducing oil spills. Based on these strategies, it produces a set of legal and policy recommendations for decreasing data spills. It then turns to climate change policy — particularly laws and policies designed to promote clean energy innovation. Drawing on these initiatives, it develops a strategy for promoting technologies that will allow us to achieve the many benefits of Big Data, while reducing its harmful privacy impacts.

Locating Nature: Making and Unmaking International Law

Abstract: This article explores the relationship between international law and the natural environment. We contend that international environmental law and general international law are structured in ways that systemically reinforce ecological harm. Through exploring the cultural milieu from which international environmental law emerged, we argue it produced an impoverished understanding of nature that is incapable of responding adequately to ecological crises. We maintain that environmental issues should not be confined to a disciplinary specialization because humanity's relationship with nature has been central to making international law. Foundational concepts such as sovereignty, development, property, economy, human rights, and so on, have evolved through understanding nature in ways that are unsuited to perceiving or observing ecological limits. International law primarily sees nature as a resource for wealth generation to enable societies to continually develop, and environmental degradation is treated as an economic externality to be managed by special regimes. Through tracing the co-evolution of these assumptions about nature alongside seminal disciplinary concepts, it becomes evident that such understandings are central to shaping international law and that the discipline helps universalize and normalize them. By comprehending more broadly the relationship between nature and international law, it is possible to see beyond law's potential to correct environmental harm and identify the disciplinary role in driving ecological degradation. Venturing beyond the purview of international environmental lawyers, this article considers the role of all international lawyers in augmenting and mitigating ecological crises. It concludes that disciplinary solutions to environmental problems require radical departures from existing disciplinary tenets, necessitating new formulations that encapsulate rich and diverse understandings of nature.

The Political Logic of China's New Environmental Courts

Abstract: China boasts over 130 environmental courts opened between 2007 and 2013, a trend that promises to re-shape environmental law. What accounts for the political appeal of specialized justice? Overall, China’s specialized environmental courts are a method for local officials to signal commitment to environmental protection and a forum to defuse potentially explosive disputes. They symbolize the increasing importance placed by China’s leaders on environmental issues, while also offering welcome flexibility. Courts can accept cases when disputes are rising, and turn them away when local power holders are involved and caution appears prudent. Many courts struggle to find enough cases to survive, and even the most active courts do not necessarily tackle China’s most pressing environmental problems. A new analysis shows that the Guiyang court’s docket is dominated by minor criminal cases — crackdowns against powerless rural residents, rather than more ambitious attempts to hold polluters accountable.

The next generation of trade and environment conflicts: the rise of green industrial policy

Abstract: A major shift is transforming the trade and environment field, triggered by governments' rising use of industrial policies to spark nascent renewable energy industries and to restrict exports of certain minerals in the face of political economy constraints. While economically distorting, these policies do produce significant economic and environmental benefits. At the same time, they often violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, leading to increasingly harsh conflicts between trading partners. This Article presents a comprehensive analysis of these emerging conflicts, arguing that they represent a sharp break from past trade and environment disputes. It examines the causes of the shift and the nature of the industrial policies at issue. The ascendance of these Next Generation conflicts transforms both the international and domestic political economies of trade litigation and environmental policy. It raises implications for the choice of forum for trade litigation, the divide between industrialized and developing countries' strategic interests, the stability of domestic political alliances, and the availability of WTO legal exceptions for environmental measures. Perhaps surprisingly, the most worrisome implication of Next Generation cases for both environmental protection and trade liberalization arises from often-overlooked trade remedy laws. The choice of litigation forum matters greatly because the compliance options differ depending on the forum. As a result, the environmentally harmful consequences of Next Generation cases are likely to be greater in domestic trade remedies cases than in WTO dispute settlement cases. To mitigate the environmental harms from Next Generation cases and reduce the threat of a green trade war, this Article suggests that we focus on reforming domestic trade remedies rules.

An Analysis of Environmental Law in Pakistan-policy and Conditions of Implementation

Abstract: We have human-environment relations inseparable since the creation of mankind. Being a developing country, Pakistan is striving to make developments in all the respective fields which alleviate our hot raising socio- economic issues. But beside the infrastructural and economic growth our environment is also getting polluted leaving behind several drastic and severe environmental crises and one of the adverse repercussions is environmental pollution. The extreme effects of environmental pollution cannot be neglected and through proper and genuine laws and policies implementations we can cope up such issues. This study reveals the history of environmental laws and policies and their implementations in Pakistan. Pakistan has a wide range of laws related to environment but the practice shows there is some problem which hinders to achieve the desired targets. This study mainly includes two main factors of pollution; water pollution and air pollution and their effects on population of Pakistan. Air pollution is top of the list for environmental protection agencies all over the world and same in Pakistan which is acting as a destructive bump for the economic growth of Pakistan. Moreover abruptly elevating health issues are one of the consequences of such factors of environmental pollution. This study also debates some survey of World Health Organization (WHO) and Health institute of USA about the number of people affected by these issues all over the world and in Pakistan. At the end there are concluding remarks concerning the environmental laws and policies in Pakistan, its implementation, current environmental situation with some suggestions and recommendations.

Rethinking Environmental Law Enforcement in Nigeria

Abstract: Environmental degradation has continued to generate unpleasant challenges for health and economic development in Nigeria. Some of these problems include deforestation, pollution, global warming and improper pesticides. Despite environmental laws and policies targeted at amelio-rating these problems, the situation in Nigeria seems degenerating owing to the fact that these laws are not effectively enforced. This paper analyzes the use of environmental laws by different enforcement agencies in Nigeria, the methods of enforcement these agencies invoke, and the challenges they face in enforcing the relevant laws. These challenges include low-level constitutional provision for environmental protection, roles and conflicts in environmental management, undue adherence to legalism by the courts and absence of mandatory disclosure of information. Thus, the legislative objectives remain unachieved because enforcement is superficial; excessive time exists between non-compliance and enforcement; available punishment for non-compliance is inadequate; injured parties are not properly compensated; and some environmental crimes receive administrative instead of remedial measures or criminal punishments. The study advocates for the encouragement of private and public interest litigation, creation of procedure for enhancing public participation in Nigerian environmental protection, creation of environmental emergencies and establishment of environmental courts.

Investment Treaty Law, Sustainable Development and Responsible Business Conduct: A Fact Finding Survey

Abstract: Investment treaty law – which is scattered over 3 000 international investment agreements adopted over a period of 50 years – is a crucial but complex basis for regulating international investment flows. Investment treaties are often thought to be silent on investors’ responsibilities to host societies and on their contributions to sustainable development. The present paper establishes a factual and statistical basis for understanding the relationship between investment treaty law and governments’ ability to advance the sustainable development agenda and promote responsible business conduct. The paper presents survey results of 2 107 investment treaties and 1 113 treaty-based arbitration cases in order to shed light on how (if at all) labour, environmental, human rights and anti-corruption considerations are referred to in investment treaties and investor-state arbitration cases based on them.

EU Environmental Law and the Internal Market

Abstract: General Introduction PART I: INTRODUCTION TO EU ENVIRONMENTAL LAW Introduction 1 Environmental Objectives, Principles, and Criteria of the Environmental Policy in the TEU and TFEU 2 The Right to Environmental Protection in Treaty Law, in the ECHR, and in the EUCFR 3 Competences, Powers, and Legal Bases 4 General Overview of EU Secondary Environmental Law Conclusions PART II: THE RESPECT OF TREATY PROVISIONS ON FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS, SERVICES, AND ESTABLISHMENT Introduction 5 Free Movement of Goods 6 Freedom of Establishment, Free Movement of Services, and the Environment 7 National Provisions Derogating from Secondary Law Conclusions PART III: COMPETITION LAW AND ENVIRONMENT Introduction 8 The Concepts of Undertakings and the Relevant Market in Light of Environmental Considerations 9 Article 101 TFEU 10 Article 102 TFEU 11 Environmental Regulation and EU Competition Law 12 State Aids and Environmental Protection Conclusion General Conclusion

The Political Logic of China’s New Environmental Courts

Abstract: China boasts over 130 environmental courts opened between 2007 and 2013, a trend that promises to re-shape environmental law. What accounts for the political appeal of specialized justice? Overall, China’s specialized environmental courts are a method for local officials to signal commitment to environmental protection and a forum to defuse potentially explosive disputes. They symbolize the increasing importance placed by China’s leaders on environmental issues, while also offering welcome flexibility. Courts can accept cases when disputes are rising, and turn them away when local power holders are involved and caution appears prudent. Many courts struggle to find enough cases to survive, and even the most active courts do not necessarily tackle China’s most pressing environmental problems. A new analysis shows that the Guiyang court’s docket is dominated by minor criminal cases—crackdowns against powerless rural residents, rather than more ambitious attempts to hold polluters accountable.

The objective of Sustainable Development. Are we coming closer

Abstract: This paper discusses the shortcomings of the two main regulatory arena's for decision making concerning sustainability: state regulation and market regulation. With a view on these shortcoming, a third international arena of decision making is proposed based on fundamental ethical principles and international dialogue.

An Introduction to the Green Economy : Science, Systems and Sustainability

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Sustainability Science 3. Climate Change and Carbon Management 4. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 5. Green Technology and Renewable Energy 6. Environmental Law and Social Justice 7. The Green Economy in Practice 8. Outlook for the Green Economy

The Glass House Effect: Big Data, The New Oil, and the Power of Analogy

Abstract: It is increasingly said that "Big Data is the new oil." The phrase has an optimistic ring to it. Big Data has many productive uses, just like oil. It will be a key resource for the information economy, just as oil has been for the smokestack economy. This article examines the underside of the comparison. Oil certainly has many productive uses, but it also leads to oil pollution. Big Data is similar. It produces tremendous benefits, but simultaneously generates significant privacy injuries. Environmental law has developed ways to reduce oil pollution. This article draws on these environmental law strategies to identify laws and policies that can protect privacy in the era of Big Data. Oil pollutes in two principal ways. It spills, and so despoils beaches, coastlines and waters. It also produces carbon emissions and so contributes to the greenhouse effect and climate change. Big Data creates analogous privacy injuries. Like oil, it spills. Data security breaches cause broad harm much as oil spills create wide-spread damage. Big Data’s privacy impacts are also analogous to carbon emissions. Just as oil combustion adds to the growing accumulation of greenhouse gases, so the producers of Big Data are generating layer upon layer of personal information. This build-up, too, creates a kind of heat. It increases the hot glare of public scrutiny and so makes the social environment a less hospitable place for the development of the human personality. This is not the greenhouse effect, but the glass house effect since it gives each of us the sense that we are living in a glass house. Society has developed legal and policy solutions to oil spills and to climate change. The second part of this article takes these measures, translates them into the privacy realm, and so generates ideas about how to reduce Big Data’s privacy impacts. It explains how the 1970 Clean Water Act and the 1990 Oil Pollution Act succeeded in reducing oil spills. Based on these strategies, it produces a set of legal and policy recommendations for decreasing data spills. It then turns to climate change policy — particularly laws and policies designed to promote clean energy innovation. Drawing on these initiatives, it develops a strategy for promoting technologies that will allow us to achieve the many benefits of Big Data, while reducing its harmful privacy impacts.

Fundamental Principles of Law for the Anthropocene

Abstract: A wide array of questions arises from global change to confront environmental law. The IPCC has examined social decisions affecting the climate in the design of human settlements, transport systems, industrialisation, agriculture and silviculture, waste management, provisions for energy, and virtually all other socio-economic dimensions of human life. The AR-5, too, cannot avoid raising issues of human ethics and values at local and regional scales. Such issues reach environmental policy and law directly. The IPCC’s AR-5 report furthers widespread public debate about the human dimensions of climate change, and how social theory relates to environmental change. Already, climate change has captured the imagination, and a new genre of literature, climate fiction, or “cli-fi”, is engaging readers in imagining what is happening and will happen to each of us and our society.