"Foreword" [2017] ELECD 731; in Scanlan, K. Melissa (ed), "Law and Policy for a New Economy" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) xiii

Book Title: Law and Policy for a New Economy

Editor(s): Scanlan, K. Melissa

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781786434517

Section Title: Foreword

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

Foreword
Jim Salzman* 1




By many measures, the modern era of environmental law has been impres-
sive in its accomplishments. Looking from today back to the United States
of 1970, the air is cleaner, water safer to drink, wetlands better protected,
and waste more properly treated and disposed. To be sure, much remains
to be done, but overall this represents a success story ­ glass half full.
At the same time, however, larger trends give real cause for concern.
Greenhouse gas concentrations are still on the rise, as are extreme weather
events around the world; global deforestation continues; biodiversity loss
proceeds; water scarcity has become an ever-greater threat; the nitrogen
cycle continues to be disrupted. While the oft-used image of rearranging
deck chairs as the Titanic sinks may seem melodramatic, it has a kernel of
truth, particularly if climate change models prove accurate.
Increasingly sophisticated and funded, the environmental movement
has been remarkably effective in improving air quality, water quality and
waste disposal in the United States, yet many of the most important global
measures are going in the opposite direction. As Gus Speth has provoca-
tively charged, the environmental movement has fallen short in addressing
these larger threats and there is little reason to think that more of the same
will make a difference. How have we done so poorly while doing so well?
Something new is needed. But what? It's hard to think of a more impor-
tant question of our time. More specifically, what would ...