This is an introduction to the special issue on environmental laws and sustainability of the on-line peer review journal, Sustainability. In this introduction, we attempt to synthesize key lessons from the issue’s ten substantive articles. These lessons involve the use of law to achieve...

At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, the nations of the world committed themselves to an ambitious plan for achieving sustainable development (Agenda 21) and a set of principles to guide that effort (Rio Declaration). This Article addresses the meaning of...

Sustainable development is a framework for furthering development (particularly economic and social development) and environmental protection or restoration at the same time. It is a response to the problems of furthering development without sufficient attention to the environmental...

One of the most longstanding narratives in environmental law and politics is the alleged necessity of choosing between development and environment. The narrative, based on conventional development, has a built-in zero-sum game — development or environment. A competing narrative, which has been...

Sustainable development has become increasingly important to lawyers and their clients. This article surveys the American Bar Association’s many sustainable development activities. These include House of Delegates resolutions dating back to 1991, activities of ABA’s Section of International...

In this Article, we argue that sustainable development is historically a much broader and more societally beneficial concept than it is often understood to be, and that it is often limited, particularly in the United States, by the supposition that it is just about the environment, or about...