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Full-Text Articles in Environmental Law
Improving Laws, Declining World: The Tort Of Contamination, William H. Rodgers, Jr.
Improving Laws, Declining World: The Tort Of Contamination, William H. Rodgers, Jr.
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This article considers nature's "baseline" through the lens of modern environmental laws. We measure this "baseline" like never before and are proud of our databases on fish advisories, beach closures, and impaired water bodies, to mention a few. The ubiquitous legal response to these measures of environmental decline is the public warning "Don't Eat the Fish" and "Don't Drink the Water."
This article assesses the function, utility, and purpose of these public warnings and finds them wanting. Their principal value is that they serve as measures of lost natural capital and harbingers of shifting baselines.
Our descriptive journey leaves us …