Ecological Law and the Planetary Crisis A Legal Guide for Harmony on Earth Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies Series

This book uses a transdisciplinary systems approach to examine how Earth?s human-caused ecological crisis arose and presents a new legal approach for overcoming it.

Ecological Law and the Planetary Crisis first examines how the history of humanity?s social metabolism, along with the history of human inventions and ideas, led to the human-Earth dilemma we see today and explains why contemporary law is inadequate for confronting this dilemma. The book goes on to propose ecological law?law that maintains human activity within ecological limits such as planetary boundaries while ensuring social justice and equity?as an essential element of an urgently needed radical pathway of change toward a perpetual, mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship. Finally, it offers a systems-based analytical tool for organizing actions to promote the transition from environmental to ecological law.

Increasing the visibility, clarity and development of ecological law, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of ecological and environmental law and governance.

Part 1: The Role of Law in the Rise of the Global Ecological Crisis 1. The Anthropocene as a Frame of Reference 2. The Human Dilemma in the Anthropocene 3. Energy Transitions in History and Their Impacts 4. How Conceptual Factors Like Law Helped Lead to the Anthropocene Part 2: The Failure of Environmental Law to Respect Key Ecological Limits 5. An Overview of the Failures of Environmental Law 6. Key Examples of the Inadequacy of Environmental Law Part 3: Ecological Law 7. What is Ecological Law? 8. A Mutually Enhancing Human-Earth Relationship as the Primary Goal for Law 9. The Systems-Based Perspective Underlying Ecological Law 10. The Limits-Insistent Narrative and Planetary Boundaries 11. Eleven Core Features of Ecological Law 12. Ecological Integrity and Attachment to Place in Ecological Law Part 4: Getting from Environmental to Ecological Law 13. A Systems-Based Guide for Moving from Environmental to Ecological Law 14. Overcoming Ecological Challenges of International Trade Part 5: Degrowth and Ecological Law 15. The Degrowth Movement as a Testing Ground for Ecological Law

Geoffrey Garver teaches part time at McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and coordinates research on law and governance for the Leadership for the Ecozoic program of McGill University and the University of Vermont. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Ecological Law and Governance Association and is active in the international degrowth movement. He received his PhD (Geography) from McGill University in 2016 and has a B.S. (Chemical Engineering) from Cornell University, a J.D. from Michigan Law School and an LL.M. from McGill University.