Digital Commons Network^™

Human As Animals - Pluralizing Humans, Karen Bradshaw

Utah Law Review

Species-based inequality is embedded in our institutions of law, government, and property. Legal distinctions between people and animals drive biodiversity loss. Recent environmental movements—including the rights of nature, animal rights, and wildlife property ownership—seek to lessen the gap in law’s unequal treatment of humans and other living things. Despite growing popular support for such reforms, legal scholars have yet to directly grapple with the mindset underlying the legal status quo.

This Article identifies and challenges institutionalized speciesism in law. It critically examines the legal treatment of non-human animals. It also presents an alternative legal worldview—one informed by scientific, cultural, and …

The Necessity Of Economics: The Preferential Option For The Poor, Markets, And Environmental Law, Andrew P. Morriss

Andrew P. Morriss

No abstract provided.

Environmental Justice And Eschatology In Revelation, Jonathan C. Augustine

Jonathan C. Augustine

The concept of environmental justice is not new. While some scholars and activists trace its origins as part of the ongoing American Civil Rights Movement—a movement which emerged within the interdisciplinary connection of law and religion—this Essay argues that the concept of environmental justice has deep origins in the Holy Bible. With a foundation in the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, this Essay combines the disciplines of law and religion by arguing that the Book of Revelation should be read ecologically, as a clarion call to protect the environment in anticipation of the time the triune God will return to live …

"Clean New World": Toward An Intellectual History Of American Environmental Law, 1961-1990, Robert F. Blomquist

Valparaiso University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Necessity Of Economics: The Preferential Option For The Poor, Markets, And Environmental Law, Andrew P. Morriss

Faculty Scholarship

Markets and economic theory are often cast as the enemies of both the poor and environmental quality. This paper, part of the Peace with Creation symposium held at the St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, argues that economics provides a necessary, but not sufficient, tool to address the problems of the poor and of improving environmental quality. The paper discusses ten propositions of economic theory and explains how each applying them results in both improvements in environmental quality and in the lot of the poor. The paper then briefly examines three examples of how applying the lessons of economics …

Environmentalism: Postmodern Evangelism Or Unitarianism, Dan Tarlock

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Ethics From The Perspectives Of Nepa And Catholic Social Teaching: Ecological Guidance For The 21st Century, Lucia A. Silecchia

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Religion: A Theological Critique, Robert H. Nelson

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Ethics From The Perspective Of Nepa And Catholic Social Teaching: Ecological Guidance For The 21st Century, Lucia A. Silecchia

Scholarly Articles

Over the years, a substantial body of Catholic social teaching has arisen to offer guidance as to the obligations that humanity has as stewards of creation. With ancient roots in Biblical text, and modern exploration in more recent texts, the connection between religious obligation and ecological responsibility has garnered much attention among Catholic thinkers - as well as among religious leaders of other faiths. This article explores the principles of Catholic social thought with respect to the environment and traces the development of those principles from their Biblical origins through the papacy of Pope John Paul II. In tandem with …