Abstract
The majority of country constitutions have provisions that protect the environment and/or protect peoples’ environmental rights. Yes, it is true that the United States has laws crafted along these lines, including the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, but laws that are not incorporated into the U.S. Constitution can be repealed by Congress or declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
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Notes
- 1.
George Musser, “Can You Really Get Solar Panels Installed for Free?” Scientific American, August 22, 2011: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/solar-at-home/can-you-really-get-solar-panels-installed-for-free/
- 2.
Graham Readfearn, “Maybe Charles Koch Isn’t Worried about Climate Change because He doesn’t Get the Science,” The Guardian, August 7, 2015: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2015/aug/07/maybe-koch-isnt-worried-about-climate-change-because-he-doesnt-get-the-science
- 3.
United Nations. International Environmental Agreements (IEA) Database: http://ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=321:abelos-news-three&catid=42&Itemid=100031
- 4.
United Nations. UN Library. Documentation: Environment: http://research.un.org/en/docs/environment/treaties
- 5.
See, for example, United Nations. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. “Who We Are”: http://www.iwgia.org/iwgia/who-we-are-/mission-statement
- 6.
Constituteproject: https://www.constituteproject.org/search?lang=en&q=Mother%20earth
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
Constituteproject: https://www.constituteproject.org/search?lang=en&q=Environment
- 9.
See United Nations: Harmony with Nature. Environmental Protection Law of Mongolia: http://www.harmonywithnatureun.org/index.php?page=view&type=1014&nr=111&menu=196
- 10.
European Union. Environment: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/index_en.htm
- 11.
ASEAN Cooperation on the Environment: http://environment.asean.org/about-us-2/
- 12.
African Union. Treaties, Conventions, Protocols, and Charters: http://www.au.int/en/treaties
- 13.
Summit of the Americas. Follow-up and Implementation Mandates: http://www.summit-americas.org/sisca/env.html
- 14.
Sixth Islamic Conference of Environment Ministers. Draft Islamic Declaration on Environment Protection and Sustainable Development: http://www.isesco.org.ma/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/3-4-VE-env6.pdf
- 15.
Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, “Protocol of San Salvador”: http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/sigs/a-52.html; see Jorge Daniel Taillant, “Environmental Advocacy and the Inter-American Human Rights System,” pp. 118–161 in Romina Picolotti and Daniel Taillant (eds.), Linking Human Rights and the Environment. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2010.
- 16.
Organization of Human Rights. American Convention Human Rights: http://www.oas.org/dil/treaties_B-32_American_Convention_on_Human_Rights.htm
- 17.
American Convention on Human Rights. Ratifications: http://www.oas.org/dil/treaties_B-32_American_Convention_on_Human_Rights_sign.htm; Protocol of San Salvador: http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/sigs/a-52.html
- 18.
EurActiv. EU Renewable Energy Policy: http://www.euractiv.com/section/science-policymaking/linksdossier/eu-renewable-energy-policy/
- 19.
Nicholas Lutsey and Daniel Sperling, “America’s Bottom-Up Climate Change Mitigation Policy.” Energy Policy, 2007: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8jj755d4
- 20.
The Varsity: Op-ed: An Open Letter to the University on Fossil Fuel Divestment: http://thevarsity.ca/2016/04/04/op-ed-an-open-letter-to-the-university-of-toronto-on-fossil-fuel-divestment/
Divestment and the Toronto Principle: https://www.sindark.com/2016/02/29/divestment-and-the-toronto-principle/ “On Divestment: Adopt the Toronto Principle,” The Crimson: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/2/8/franta-divestment-toronto-principle/
- 21.
[a list of some of the campuses, municipalities, and organizations that have divested from fossil fuel in some form] http://www.uwosh.edu/es/climate-change/divestment/the-divested
- 22.
Chris Megerian and Liam Dillon, “Gov Brown Signs Sweeping Legislation to Combat Climate Change,” LA Times, September 8, 2016: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-jerry-brown-signs-climate-laws-20160908-snap-story.html
- 23.
Garrett Hardin, “Tragedy of the Commons.” Science, December 13, 1968: Vol. 162, Issue (3859), pp. 1243–1248. DOI: 10.1126/science.162.3859.1243
- 24.
Elinor Ostrom, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
- 25.
A. Reis Monteiro, Ethics of Human Rights. New York: Springer, 2014; Richard Falk, Achieving Human Rights. New York: Routledge, 2009.
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Blau, J. (2017). Environmental Rights. In: The Paris Agreement. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53541-8_7
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