This course explores how nature and human life is treated and valued in our current legal system and looks to environmental rights as a legal tool to advance justice. The course first looks at how nature – from animals and rivers to forests and the atmosphere – has been treated as commons and property in our legal system. The resulting legal doctrines have repeatedly caused environmental destruction and injustice. Similarly, we will explore how human lives and communities are subjected to and protected from pollution. We will use a detailed case study of the failure of law and government in Flint, Michigan , and the resulting drinking water crisis and poisoning of the city. We will conclude by looking at the hope of Constitutional human and environmental rights to advance justice, along with alternative legal approaches for nature, including public trust and legal personhood.

While the course does not provide a detailed survey of U.S. environmental law, it presents the fundamental concepts to examine the status quo and need for change. Students will gain a deep and conceptual understanding of modern environmental law — the values and assumptions it is based upon, how it works (or doesn’t work) in various settings, and what must be changed for the law to play its needed role in making a more just and sustainable society.

Class Format:

Learning Mode: All class meetings will be taught synchronously and In-Person for the Fall 2021 term.

Instruction Mode: The class meets synchronously, once a week in person.