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Environmental Law

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University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

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Environment

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Human Survival, Risk, And Law: Considering Risk Filters To Replace Cost-Benefit Analysis, John William Draper Apr 2016

Human Survival, Risk, And Law: Considering Risk Filters To Replace Cost-Benefit Analysis, John William Draper

Librarian Scholarship at Penn Law

Selfish utilitarianism, neo-classical economics, the directive of short-term income maximization, and the decision tool of cost-benefit analysis fail to protect our species from the significant risks of too much consumption, pollution, or population. For a longer-term survival, humanity needs to employ more than cost-justified precaution.

This article argues that, at the global level, and by extension at all levels of government, we need to replace neo-classical economics with filters for safety and feasibility to regulate against significant risk. For significant risks, especially those that are irreversible, we need decision tools that will protect humanity at all scales. This article describes …


Debate: Collaborative Environmental Law: Pro And Con, Eric W. Orts, Cary Coglianese Dec 2007

Debate: Collaborative Environmental Law: Pro And Con, Eric W. Orts, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

In this thoughtful and intricate cross-disciplinary debate, Professors Eric W. Orts, of Penn’s Wharton School, and Cary Coglianese, of Penn’s Law School, discuss the benefits and disadvantages of collaborative public policy decision making in the environmental context. It is no exaggeration to say that each year the world grows ever more aware of the nature of the environmental problems we face, and yet critical policy solutions continue to remain beyond the grasp of even the most interested parties. Professor Orts argues that it is time to embrace a different policymaking approach—that of collaborative environmental lawmaking. He argues that "the view …