Article
We Are All Sustainability Lawyers Now
The Environmental Forum
(2023)
Abstract
As this article explains, sustainable development grows out of environmental and natural resources law, but it is different in many ways. American environmental lawyers, like most Americans, tend to see sustainable development through the lens of environmental law and the overall policy it represents, and thus miss the transformative potential of this framework. Sustainable development also does not have the kind of “heft” or visibility environmental law does because so much of it comes from international conferences and agreements that are not considered “law.”
If the United States remains stuck in seeing environmental protection largely or entirely through the lens of environmental law, or even environmental and energy law, we are not going to get the environmental protection we need. Nor are we going to get the kind of economic development, social wellbeing, and peace and security that will be essential in the decades to come. As other countries, such as many in Europe as well as China and Japan, closely focus on coordinating across environmental, economic, and social goals, our own myopia will likely put the U.S. at a long-term competitive disadvantage.
What needs to be done to achieve a sustainable America? This article describes the many specific recommendations for action published by the Environmental Law Institute over three decades. They make clear that while all of us have a role to play in achieving a sustainable society, regardless of where we live, what kind of work we do, and whatever our skills and abilities, environmental lawyers in particular need to reimagine ourselves as sustainability lawyers.
Keywords
- sustainable development,
- sustainability,
- environmental law,
- law,
- Environmental Law Institute,
- climate change,
- sustainable development goals,
- SDG,
- SDGs,
- poverty; partnerships; environmental protection; justice
Disciplines
- Law and
- Environmental Law
Publication Date
2023
Citation Information
John C. Dernbach and Scott E. Schang. "We Are All Sustainability Lawyers Now" The Environmental Forum Vol. 40 Iss. 6 (2023) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/john_dernbach/181/