In an era where the world is plagued with environmental problems ranging from climate change to heavy metal pollution, new pathways towards environmental protection need to be implemented. Around the globe, countries have been constitutionalizing environmental rights in order to better use the law as a tool in these efforts. However, in the United States, environmental law remains in its traditional positioning, issued as part of government legislation, regulations from government agencies, state laws, and as precedents and rules within common law. This essay will argue that it is crucial and timely for the United States to include an environmental provision in its Constitution in order to increase the effectiveness and leverage of environmental law. Furthermore, the provision should be framed as a human right, both to increase its political viability and its potential in future legal disputes. The essay will begin by exploring the various currently existing environmental law practices in the United States before concluding that environmental constitutionalism is a necessary pathway. Then, it will explore the potential ramifications and considerations to evaluate when proceeding in such a pathway. Throughout the text, case studies will be drawn from US environmental legal history, and from examples throughout the world where environmental constitutionalism has led towards success in both ecological and human protection.

Last modified

• 05/13/2021

Creator

• Godron. Alexia

DOI

• https://doi.org/10.21985/n2-yb2g-1b86

Publisher

• Northwestern Undergraduate Law Journal

Keyword

• northwestern undergraduate law journal

Date created

• 2021

Resource type

• Article

Rights statement

• In Copyright

License

• Creative Commons BY-NC-ND Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International