The Constitution of the Environmental Emergency

This book argues for a reframing of environmental law. It starts from the premise that all environmental issues constitute a state of emergency.

Taking that position ensures that the question of how the environment can be governed through law is confronted. States of emergency pose fundamental challenges to law as they are unforeseeable, as are the responses to them, which undermines traditional models of governance.

This book argues that to counter this, public justification must become a central tenet of environmental law. This reframes the debates in environmental law around the question of why law is being used in the environmental context.

Controversial, compelling and above all timely, this book presents an important new perspective on environmental law.