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A Systems-based Tool for Transitioning to Law for a Mutually Enhancing Human-Earth Relationship

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  • Garver, Geoffrey

Abstract

This article presents a tool for developing novel law and governance systems that support a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship. Contemporary legal systems support perpetual economic growth, which underlies critical challenges in the human-Earth relationship. Fostering a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship in a limits-insistent systems framework is a more desirable overarching goal. Because law is a complex adaptive system that evolves with other systems, a systems-based assessment methodology can reveal the extent to which barriers to a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship in law and governance and related systems are locked in and enduring elements of such a relationship are locked out. Assessments of the degree of lock-in/lock-out can support development of strategies and priorities for shifting law and governance toward a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship. This approach integrates leverage points for changing systems behavior and acknowledges path dependence that limits future possibilities. Relevant metrics and indicators are grounded in how human manipulation of material and energy affects Earth's life support systems. Adaptiveness, rigorous monitoring and caution against crossing systems thresholds are central elements in this assessment framework. Additional policy-oriented research using this framework would help show how to progress toward a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship.

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  • Garver, Geoffrey, 2019. "A Systems-based Tool for Transitioning to Law for a Mutually Enhancing Human-Earth Relationship," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 165-174.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:157:y:2019:i:c:p:165-174
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.09.022
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    1. Johan Rockström & Will Steffen & Kevin Noone & Åsa Persson & F. Stuart Chapin & Eric F. Lambin & Timothy M. Lenton & Marten Scheffer & Carl Folke & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber & Björn Nykvist & Cynthia , 2009. "A safe operating space for humanity," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7263), pages 472-475, September.
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    4. Martínez-Alier, Joan & Pascual, Unai & Vivien, Franck-Dominique & Zaccai, Edwin, 2010. "Sustainable de-growth: Mapping the context, criticisms and future prospects of an emergent paradigm," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 1741-1747, July.
    5. Geoffrey Garver, 2013. "The Rule of Ecological Law: The Legal Complement to Degrowth Economics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-22, January.
    6. Kallis, Giorgos, 2011. "In defence of degrowth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 873-880, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andreas Schönborn & Ranka Junge, 2021. "Redefining Ecological Engineering in the Context of Circular Economy and Sustainable Development," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    2. Philip Haynes & David Alemna, 2022. "A Systematic Literature Review of the Impact of Complexity Theory on Applied Economics," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-23, August.
    3. Sievers-Glotzbach, Stefanie & Tschersich, Julia, 2019. "Overcoming the process-structure divide in conceptions of Social-Ecological Transformation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.

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