Law Commons^™

Consorting With The Forests: Rethinking Our Relationships To Natural Resources And How We Should Value Their Loss, Katharine K. Baker

Katharine K. Baker

Section I of this article defines the contours of the natural resource damage cause of action by explaining who sues, on whose behalf they sue, and for what they sue. It is in this section that I take issue with the environmentalists' claim that trees should have standing and the economists' claim that the right at stake is a property right. Section II explores the nature of the human connection to the environment, how that connection is affected by natural resource damage loss, and why it is legitimate to compensate for the loss of that connection. Analysis of the subjective …