International Trade Law Commons^™

The Hidden Costs Behind Cheap Clothing: Addressing Fast Fashion’S Environmental And Humanitarian Impact, Alexandra L. Bernard

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The increasing speed at which social media trends come and go has caused fashion trends to accelerate in response to consumers’ ever-changing demands. To keep up with the latest fads, fast fashion companies design their clothing only to withstand a couple of uses before the item is no longer in good condition. The manufacture and discard of cheaply made clothing creates a variety of environmental issues. Brands conceal the treatment and compensation of their workers throughout the supply chain; the available information suggests that garment workers are mistreated. Finally, the disposal of these clothing items creates tension between the United …

Using Federal Public Lands To Model A New Energy Future: Why The Biden Administration Should Prioritize Renewable Energy Development On Public Lands, Meghen Sullivan

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Oil and gas extraction on public lands and waters is responsible for twenty percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. If American public lands were their own country, they would be the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. As of 2020, only twenty percent of total U.S. electricity generation came from renewable energy sources. While renewable energy development on public lands has increased, most renewable energy comes from private lands. However, public lands contain immense renewable energy potential; for example, it is estimated that half of this country’s geothermal resources are found on public lands. Despite underutilized renewable energy potential …

About Sdlp, Sdlp

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

The Sustainable Development Law & Policy Brief (ISSN 1552-3721) is a student-run initiative at American University Washington College of Law that is published twice each academic year. The Brief embraces an interdisciplinary focus to provide a broad view of current legal, political, and social developments. It was founded to provide a forum for those interested in promoting sustainable economic development, conservation, environmental justice, and biodiversity throughout the world.

The Overfished Pacific Bluefin Tuna: The Tragedy Of A Highly Migratory Fish Species, Theresa Geib

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Introduction

The ocean is an abundant resource; however, overutilization is becoming an increasing threat to biodiversity. Approximately 90% of the ocean’s fisheries are overexploited, fully exploited, or have collapsed entirely. The issue of overfishing arose in the mid-1900s after the industrialization of the fishing industry. Once dominated by local fishermen, the industry now features commercial fleets with the technology to locate, extract, and process large numbers of specific fish species. An early 2000s study reported that only 10% of large ocean fish remained after years of industrial fishing, including the highly migratory Pacific Bluefin Tuna (“PBT”).

In 2016, the PBT …

About Page, Sustainable Development Law And Policy Brief

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

The Sustainable Development Law & Policy Brief (ISSN 1552-3721) is a student-run initiative at American University Washington College of Law that is published twice each academic year. The Brief embraces an interdisciplinary focus to provide a broad view of current legal, political, and social developments. It was founded to provide a forum for those interested in promoting sustainable economic development, conservation, environmental justice, and biodiversity throughout the world.

Because our publication focuses on reconciling the tensions found within our ecosystem, it spans a broad range of environmental issues such as sustainable development; trade; renewable energy; environmental justice; air, water, and …

Editor's Note, Brianna Delduca, Hannah Gardenswartz

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Dear Readers,

This issue is a celebration of Sustainable Development Law & Policy Brief’s (SDLP’s) twentieth anniversary. It has been a privilege to oversee SDLP during this tumultuous time. Now more than ever, we need to focus on global ramifications of the human environment. Over the past twenty years, SDLP has discussed developing theories in international environmental law. While we are living in strange times, SDLP continues to be a place to discuss how humans interact with the environment.

For this issue, we are celebrating twenty years by publishing articles and features that look at where the law of sustainable …

Underserved Communities Trashed By Plastic: Slowing The Proliferation Of Petroleum Based Products Through Stewardship Laws And Enhanced Back-End Regulatory Solutions, Joan F. Chu

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Introduction

Plastic pollution has attracted a tremendous amount of attention and press coverage in early 2021 as evidenced in news stories; an episode of John Oliver’s show, “Last Week Tonight”; and a viral tweet from Greta Thunberg highlighting a study linking plastic pollution to human penises shrinking. These eye-catching pieces stemmed from Dr. Shanna H. Swan’s work that culminated in her book, Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race. Other articles have highlighted plastic pollution’s impact on polar bears, which causes their penis …

Paving A Path To Independent Tiny Living: An Introduction To Roadblocks, Jaclyn Troutner

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

“Tiny living” is a growing trend in which small-scale, ecoconscious housing is used as an alternative means for homeownership. Tiny homes are smaller than the average detached home with the appearance and character of a traditional freestanding residential home. They are one-story, single-occupant dwellings and usually constructed on a trailer base for towing. State-of-the-art building techniques provide a lower environmental burden and utility cost per square foot. Due to their smaller size, tiny homes are cheaper with an average price of $52,000, opening a wider door to home ownership. The typical design is to include all the standard amenities and …

Rulemaking Doubletake: An Opportunity To Repair And Strengthen The National Environmental Policy Act, Rachel Keylon

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Introduction

In the middle of the twentieth century, there was a turning point in the United States and around the world in the understanding of the human relationship with the natural environment and natural resources. It was a shift from a perspective of natural resources endlessly available for exploitation to a perspective that natural resources are finite, and conservation and preservation are necessary to ensure that these resources are available for future generations. The accumulation of chronic environmental degradation, such as the unchecked proliferation of pesticides and other toxic chemicals, pollution to the nation’s waters, loss of land to erosion, …

Symposium On Sustainable Development Goals, Trade, Investment, And Inequality, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This Symposium, co-hosted by Afronomicslaw and the Dalhousie Law Journal Blog is an outcome of one of the streams at the 2019 Annual Purdy Crawford Workshop at the Schulich School of Law. The theme of the Workshop which took place from Sept. 26–28 was “The Role of Business Regulation in Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.” Co-organized by three Schulich School of Law Professors, the Workshop featured three inter-disciplinary and simultaneous streams as well as cross-over plenaries that focused on: “SDGs and Revenue Mobilization” – convened by Kim Brooks, the Purdy Crawford Chair in Business Law; “SDGs, Trade, Investment, …

Sustainable Cybersecurity: Applying Lessons From The Green Movement To Managing Cyber Attacks, Scott J. Shackelford, Tim Fort

Scott Shackelford

According to Frank Montoya, the U.S. National Counterintelligence Chief, “We’re an information-based society now. Information is everything. That makes . . . company executives, the front line – not the support mechanism, the front line – in [determining] what comes.”[1] Chief Montoya’s remarks underscore the central role played by the private sector in ongoing efforts aimed at enhancing cybersecurity, much like the increasingly vital role firms are playing in fostering sustainability. For example, according to Accenture surveys, the number of managers who consider sustainability to be critical to the future success of their organizations jumped from fifty to more …

Ch 21. 'Future Perspectives On Solar Fuels', Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

This chapter opens by examining whether the research and development of molecular solar fuels will be characterized in future by its promotion of fundamental societal virtues such as equality and environmental sustainability. As a thought experiment, it presents a vision of some important elements of such a future world—one where energy is primarily not only a matter of global artificial photosynthesis (GAP), but of such virtues. Central to the future perspective presented here is nanotechnological construction with enhanced efficiency of each aspect of the natural photosynthetic process into units capable of inexpensive mass production for domestic use. This involves a …

Governing Planetary Nanomedicine: Environmental Sustainability And A Unesco Universal Declaration On The Bioethics And Human Rights Of Natural And Artificial Photosynthesis (Global Solar Fuels And Foods)., Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Environmental and public health-focused sciences are increasingly characterised as constituting an emerging discipline—planetary medicine. From a governance perspective, the ethical components of that discipline may usefully be viewed as bestowing upon our ailing natural environment the symbolic moral status of a patient. Such components emphasise, for example, the origins and content of professional and social virtues and related ethical principles needed to promote global governance systems and policies that reduce ecological stresses and pathologies derived from human overpopulation, selfishness and greed— such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as provide necessary energy, water and …

Conserving Marine Wildlife Through World Trade Law, Eric A. Bilsky

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this Essay marshals the evidence that fisheries around the world are in peril from destructive fishing practices. Part II argues that most fisheries management regimes are ineffective at counteracting the political pressures and economic incentives that lead to unsustainable fishing. Part III makes the case that government subsidies are major enablers of overfishing. The fourth and final Part discusses the continuing efforts to use international trade regulation to eliminate overfishing subsidies and halt the collapse of the world's marine fish populations.

Toward A Sustainable Maine : The Politics, Economics, And Ethics Of Sustainability, Richard Barringer (Ed.)

Maine Collection

Toward A Sustainable Maine : The Politics, Economics, and Ethics of Sustainability

Richard Barringer, editor, Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern Maine

Edmund S. Muskie Institute of Public Affairs, University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine, 1993.

The proceedings of a conference presented at Bowdoin College on March 19 and 20, 1993, by the Edmund S. Muskie Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Southern Maine, and by the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Ellen Baum, conference organizer.

Contents; Foreword by Richard Barringer / Welcome by Everett Carson / Global, Canadian, and Maine Perspectives / Sustaining Our Natural and …