Article Institutionalizing Sustainability across the Federal Government (original) (raw)
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Institutionalizing Sustainability across the Federal Government
Sustainability, 2010
A notable aspect of sustainability is its holistic and cross-cutting nature-it cannot be achieved by any single rule, statute or agency. Instead, sustainability must be institutionalized across the legal system and government as a whole. In this paper, we propose and examine five mechanisms for institutionalizing sustainability across the federal legal system: (1) an Executive Order on sustainability; (2) a sustainability impact assessment process; (3) a non-partisan Congressional Joint Committee on Sustainability; (4) a federal Sustainability Commission; and (5) a Sustainability Law Reform Commission. Each is modeled on an existing institution in the United States or another jurisdiction. We discuss and compare the advantages and disadvantages of each mechanism, and discuss how the mechanisms might best be used, singly or in combination, to institutionalize sustainability across the federal government.
The United States Department of Sustainability: Its Purpose and Moral Underpinnings
Sustainability and Climate Change
The United States Department of Sustainability does not exist yet, but culminating efforts of cities and states imply that its emergence could bolster their effects. This notion suggests that, while the movement to balance environmental, social, and economic interests has momentum, it remains at a significant disadvantage without a meaningful federal response. The ill effects of climate change will continue to advance, challenging the conditions for living in our accustomed manners. While practical considerations should motivate the needed mitigatory endeavors, moral demands support this view. The purpose of this article is to flesh out these ideas, revealing the origins of this extension of the executive branch, its purpose, and its moral dimensions.
The Growing Importance of Sustainability to Lawyers and the ABA
Sustainable development has its origins in the conservation and environmental movements in the United States and other countries, and in the laws that were adopted because of those movements. Lawyers in the public and private sectors drafted these laws and worked with clients to implement them. Sustainable development is becoming increasingly important to lawyers and their clients in a world with a growing economy and population in some places, widespread poverty in others, and growing environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. And the ABA, including the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER), is keeping step.
Not at All: Environmental Sustainability in the Supreme Court
Sustainable Development Law and Policy, 2010
The principle of “sustainability” is soon to mark its 40th anniversary. It is a concept that has experienced both evolution and stasis. It has shaken the legal foundation, often engaged, recited, and even revered by policymakers, lawmakers, and academics worldwide. This essay assesses the extent to which sustainability registers on the scales of the United States Supreme Court, particularly during the tenure of Chief Justice John Roberts.None of the environmental cases decided thus far during the tenure of Chief Justice Roberts engage sustainability. The word “sustainability” does not appear to exist before the Court. It does not appear in any majority, concurring, or dissenting opinion. While the Court seems to be agnostic about the idea of sustainability as a governing norm, strong astringent reveals that with some counterexamples the extent to which decisions before the Roberts’ Court regarding biodiversity, land use, air pollutant emissions, and cleanup standards implicate susta...
The Principle of Sustainability: Transforming Law and Governance
Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 2010
© Klaus Bosselmann 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission ...
LAW AND SUSTAINABILITY: THE CANADIAN CASE
This paper examines the relationship between law and sustainability; particularly the role law and the Canadian legal system play in promoting or impeding sustainable development. Key legal concepts such as private and public law, the rule of law, and environmental rights are also defined. The chapter begins by briefly examining the potential roles law may play in promoting sustainable development. The article then provides an overview of the Canadian legal system, including the key institutions and actors that create, influence, interpret and apply domestic and international laws. Canadian private law is then examined with emphasis on its failure to contend with environmental issues. The article then critically examines the development of Canadian public law and its effectiveness in addressing the failures of private law. This section includes a summary of the major legal and policy initiatives employed in Canada over the course of the last thirty years and emerging legislative strategies. Particular challenges in implementing sustainability, including declining budgets and enforcement for environmental matters, and the deficiencies in information available to guide decision-makers are then discussed. Legal mechanisms to aid in implementing sustainability, particularly by involving the public in the decision-making process are described. Initiatives to infuse environmental values at the governmental level and in the civil service, and the potential impacts of globalization and Canada’s international trade and environmental commitments are then discussed. The authors determine that the Canadian legal system is not neutral in terms of supporting sustainability, but in fact, presents significant barriers. The transformation towards sustainability will require that, over time, these barriers be removed or addressed. The potential role of law reform in reshaping domestic laws in Canada to reflect the key characteristics of sustainability and its promotion are then discussed, and future directions identified. The authors conclude that while some change is apparent, the pace of reform is too slow and may not be sufficient to respond effectively to the environmental challenges of the twenty-first century.
Sustainability Constitutionalism
University of Missouri-Kansas City Law Review, Vol. 86, 2018, 2018
While sustainability in international and domestic legal orders has been well chronicled, this paper aims to do something original, which is to survey and contextualize the extent to which nations recognize sustainability in their constitutions, and the difference it has made in courts around the globe, called ‘sustainability constitutionalism.’ It concludes that while the constitutions of many nations incorporate sustainability, jurists and advocates have been slow to promote it as a proper legal outcome instead of merely a silent guiding principle. This article has three parts. Part I provides a brief synopsis of sustainability as a legal concept. Part II then surveys how and the extent to which national constitutions incorporate sustainability, including those that advance public trust, and the interests of future generations. Part III regards judicial receptivity to sustainability constitutionalism, noting that it has yet to make much headway in courts. The article concludes that sustainability constitutionalism is under-valued and under-evaluated, and holds potential for further study and significance. …
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: on the Politics of Sustainability in the U.S
Journal of Landscape Ecology, 2012
With the UN Conference on Sustainable Development occurring in 2012, this essay asks whether or not changes towards sustainability can be documented over the past twenty years and, if not, to ask why not, and what might be necessary to better ensure that movement towards sustainability characterizes the next twenty years. Looking at the performance of the United States, it finds that measures of all major dimensions of sustainability-environment, social equity, and economic viability-reveal little progress towards sustainability. In trying to explain this lack of progress, our claim is that the "problem" of sustainability is not primarily technical or scientific, but rather it is political, and the real problem is that of power. In the US in recent years, anti-sustainability movements have captured national politics by removing sustainability from the national dialogue and from the agenda of public decision-making, and through the process of decentralization of decision-making to more local contexts where they may more easily control direct conflicts in decision. Why are Americans sanguine about issues of sustainability? The essay examines three core beliefs that dominate American perceptions: (1) problems associated with lack of sustainability can and will be managed by simple economic growth, (2) whatever scarcities and problems we face down the road will be cured by advances in science and technology, and (3) fairness is more important than equality. The concluding section calls for adoption of a "deep sustainability" paradigm versus the kind of "shallow sustainability" that characterizes the majority of policy and programs today labeled as sustainable. Borrowing the ecosophic concept of "deep ecology" from Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess, the guiding principle of a deep sustainability is one of equality, equality first of all among environmental, economic, and social objectives, and then social equity within each of these dimensions. Sustainability cannot be achieved under systems that have as their basic assumption the roles of winners and losers, rich and poor, haves and have-nots. If Rio+20 offers only solutions within the existing powerful paradigm of market-driven solutions, then the "green economy" will mean more commodification of food and water, land and biodiversity. It will mean that we have fallen further behind in our quest for sustainability.
Environmental Policy & Governance, 2022
The achievement of global sustainability and climate objectives rests on their incorporation into policy-making at the level of nation-states. Against this background, governments around the world have created various specialized sustainability institutions—councils, committees, ombudspersons, among others—in order to promote these agendas and their implementation. However, sustainability institutions have remained undertheorized and their impact on policy-making is empirically unclear. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework for sustainability institutions and systematically explore their potential impact on more sustainable policy-making. We define sustainability institutions as public, trans-departmental and permanent national bodies with an integrated understanding of sustainability that considers socio-ecological well-being, global contexts and a future-orientation. Drawing on literature on sustainability and long-term governance as well as on illustrative case examples, we propose conducive conditions and pathways through which sustainability institutions may influence policy-making. As conducive, we assume sustainability institutions' embodiment of sustainability governance principles as well as their authority, a strong legal basis, resources, and autonomy. Further, we outline how sustainability institutions can influence policy-making based on their roles in the public policy process. We conclude that the increasing prevalence of national sustainability institutions indicates an ongoing shift from the environmental state toward a more comprehensive sustainability state. However, sustainability institutions can only be one building block of the sustainability state out of many, and their potential to reorient political decision-making effectively toward the socio-ecological transformation hinges upon individual design features such as their mandate, resources and authority, as well as on the specific governance context.