The Tyranny of Baselines

March 2024

Citation:

ELR 10219

Issue

Author

Jessica Owley, Karen Bradshaw, Keith Hirokawa, and Robin Kundis Craig

Many environmental law paradigms focus on fixed points. Sometimes, the fixed points are in the past, and environmental laws call upon us to look at a baseline or previous state of nature and compare our actions against it. Other approaches call for us to consider an ideal state and develop strategies regarding how to reach it. In a 4° Celsius world, both strategies fail. Adhering to baselines is meaningless and striving for goals that are unachievable may lead to paralysis. This Article, excerpted from Adapting to High-Level Warming: Equity, Governance, and Law (ELI Press forthcoming 2024), explores an alternative mode for moving forward with an approach that minimizes suffering.

Jessica Owley is Professor of Law and Faculty Director for the Environmental Law Program at the University of Miami. Karen Bradshaw is Professor of Law and Mary Sigler Research Fellow at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, and a Senior Sustainability Scientist for the Global Institute for Sustainability, also at Arizona State University. Keith Hirokawa is Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law School. Robin Kundis Craig is the Robert C. Packard Trustee Chair in Law, University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

The Tyranny of Baselines

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The Tyranny of Baselines