LS 404
St Jerome’s University at the University of Waterloo
This seminar explores the law of the environment. This includes studying what is conventionally known as environmental law, but more interestingly, we will interrogate law – where it comes from? Who is it for? Who decides? – to question where the line is drawn between ‘environment’, ‘ecology’, ‘climate’ and politics, economics, society and culture. Students will debate and assess selected topics in Canadian and international environmental law from perspectives drawn from diverse economic, political, scientific, philosophical, historical, anthropological approaches.
This seminar asks not only what is a law of the environment, but what does this question mean for us, in our world-in-crisis today?
All Rights Reserved. A. Tataryn 2020.
SCHEDULE (subject to change)
Seminar Theme and Topic
WEEK 1: Law of the Environment: Welcome to the Lawspace
Carrington, Darrian. 2020, ‘Pandemic results from destruction of nature, say UN and WHO’ The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/17/pandemics-destruction-nature-un-who-legislation-trade-green-recovery
Harari, Shafak, Mayo et al. 2020, ‘How Covid Will Change Us’ (June 2020) Noema https://www.noemamag.com/yuval-harari-elif-shafak-dambisa-moyo-eric-schmidt-how-covid-will-change-us/
Mayer, Andre. 2020. ‘Seeing nature through Indigenous ‘lens’ might improve environmental decision-making’ CBC Radio https://www.cbc.ca/radio/seeing-nature-through-indigenous-lens-might-improve-environmental-decision-making-1.5645215
WEEK 2: Environmental Law: What do we think we know?
Wood, Stepan. 2019, ‘Canada’ The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Law edited by Emma Lees and Jorge E. Viñuales. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. 2014, Braiding Sweetgrass, Milkweed Editions. pp 22-38; 105-117.
Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights 1993 https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/93e28/v16
WEEK 3: Logging, Lumber and Deforestation
Nikolakis, William and Ngaio Hotte. 2020, ‘How Law Shapes Collaborative Forest Governance: A Focus on Indigenous Peoples in Canada and India’, Society & Natural Resources, 33:1, 46-64, DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2019.1605433
Schmitz, Manuel et al. 2016, ‘Strengthening the rule of law in Indonesia: the EU and the combat against illegal logging’ Asia Europe journal 14:1.
WEEK 4: Agricultural Demand, Access to Water and Justice
Curran, Deborah. 2019, ‘The adaptation potential of water law in Canada: changing existing water use entitlements’ Water International, 44:3, 278-291, DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2019.1570053
Jackson, Sue. 2018, ‘Indigenous Peoples and Water Justice in a Globalising World’ The Oxford Handbook of Water Politics and Policy. Edited by Ken Conca and Erika Weinthal. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
WEEK 5: Mining: Sovereignty and Consent
Williams, John P. 2012, ‘Global Trends and Tribulations in Mining Regulation’ Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, 30:4, 391-422. DOI: 10.1080/02646811.2012.11435304
Scott, Dayna. 2020, ‘Extraction Contracting: The struggle for control over indigenous lands’ South Atlantic Quarterly 119:2, 269-299.
WEEK 6: Toxic Colonialism: Waste and Capital
Barsalou, Oliver and Michael Hennessey Picard. 2018, ‘International Environmental Law in an Era of Globalised Waste’ Chinese Journal of International Law 17, 887-906.
Gordon, Todd & Jeffery Roger Webber. 2019, ‘Canadian capital and secondary imperialism in Latin America’ Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 25:1, 72-89. DOI: 10.1080/11926422.2018.1457966
WEEK 7: Environmental Racism
Whyte, Kyle. 2018, ‘Settler Colonialism, Ecology, and Environmental Injustice’ Environment and Society: Advances in Research 9,125–144.
Pulido, Laura. 2015, ‘Geographies of race and ethnicity 1: White supremacy vs white privilege in environmental racism research’ Progress in Human Geography 39: 6, 809-817 https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132514563008
WEEK 8: Environment as Jurisdiction, Economies and Resistance
Bosselmann, Klaus. 2020. ‘Environmental trusteeship and state sovereignty: can they be reconciled?’ Transnational Legal Theory, 11:1-2, 47-61. DOI: 10.1080/20414005.2020.1757862
Savarea, Annalisa. 2018, ‘Traditional Knowledge and climate change: a new legal frontier?’ Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 9:1, 32-50.
WEEK 9: Savage Ecology
Essay Plan and Annotated Bibliography Due
What is Environmental Law? Or is it, Law of the Environment?
WEEK 10: Cosmologies, Ecologies, Generations of Law
One-to-One Meetings Scheduled
Anker, Kirsten. 2017, ‘Law As…Forest: Eco-logic, Stories and Spirits in Indigenous Jurisprudence’, Law Text Culture, 21, 191-213.
Baxi, Upendra. 2019, ‘Intergenerational justice, water rights, and climate change’ Research Handbook on Law, Environment and the Global South. Edited by Phillip Cullet and Sujith Koonan. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
WEEK 11: Law of the Environment: What is it and what does it hold for the future?
Wall Kimmerer, Robin. 2014, ‘Wiindigo’ in Braiding Sweetgrass Milkweed Editions. pp. 302-309; 374-384.
Webster, Emily and Laura Mai. 2020, ‘Transnational environmental law in the Anthropocene’, Transnational Legal Theory, 11:1-2, 1-15, DOI: 10.1080/20414005.2020.1778888
WEEK 12: Course Review, no readings
WEEK 13: Final Essay Due
“Your personality and friendliness towards all students was extremely welcoming and it made it enjoyable to attend class and to participate.
When you would add clarity or information throughout students’ presentation was very valuable and helpful. Your level of knowledge is incredible!!”
— 4th yr LS student, April 2020, University of Waterloo