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2015 Lloyd K Garrison Lecture on Environmental Law
Learning to Live with the
Trickster: Narrating Climate
Change and the Value of
Resilience Thinking
Robin Kundis Craig
William H. Leary Professor of Law
University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
Introduction
The Trickster
by Kinpouju
“Humans As Controlling
Engineers”: WWII & After
Private Land
Transformation: Farms
Photograph courtesy of
American Prairie Reserve
Private Land
Transformation: Cities
Hollywood, Late 20th Century
Photograph by Eric Norris
Hollywood c. 1900
Photograph courtesy of Title Insurance & Trust
Hollywoodland, 1928
Public Lands
Transformations
Clearcutting, Olympic National Forest WA, 1957
Oil Drilling on BLM Lands in California
Ahwahnee Hotel,Photograph
Yosemite Village,
Yosemite
National Park
courtesy
of the BLM
Transforming Aquatic
Ecosystems
Dams in the
United States
Map courtesy of the USDA
Map from U.S.
Army Corps of
Engineers data
Missouri River
Flood Control
Map courtesy of
Oil-Electric
Hydropower Dams in the Lower 48
Map courtesy of VOX
Humans as Controlling Engineers
in Environmental Law
Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility
Photograph courtesy of the City of New York
Orange County, CA Wastewater Treatment &
Reclamation Facility
Technological Regulation of
Power Plants
Engineering in Restoration
Surface Mining Restoration under SMCRA
Portage Creek & Kalamazoo River CERCLA Restoration, MI
Pulp & Paper Plant Contamination
The Paradigm of Nature that
Supports the Humans as
Controlling Engineers Narrative
How Nature Really Works
Panarchy & Climate Change
NARRATIVE #1: Climate
Change Isn’t Happening
NARRATIVE #2: It isn’t us.
NARRATIVE #3: Technology
Will Save Us
NARRATIVE #4: It’s the End
of the World as We Know It
Blending Narrative #4 with
Apocalypse Narratives
#4 Variation: Carpe Diem/
Party Like It’s 1999
Image courtesy of NASA
Why the Trickster Can Help:
Change but not Despair
Climate Change as the
Trickster: One Example
A Better Framework for
Changing Times
Resilience
Thinking
Acknowledging Different
Outcomes from Changes
Acknowledging that
Transformations are Possible
Consequences for Environmental
& Natural Resources Law
• Laws that reduce existing stressors on
ecosystems are even more important.
• We need a strong precautionary
principle.
• We need to increase protections for
ecosytems and habitats and open more
corridors.
• Population and consumption have to be
part of the discussion.
Reduce Existing Stressors
Graphic courtesy of the USGS
EX: Pollution
Control
Active &
Pending Superfund Sites
Map courtesy of the Nicholas School,
Duke University
Graphic courtesy of the EPA.
Employ a Strong Precautionary
Principle: EX: Oceans & Fisheries
Graphic courtesy
of NOAA
Protect Ecosystems &
Habitats and Create Corridors
Include Population &
Consumption Issues in Policy
The Empowerment
• Resilience thinking warns us that
undesirable transformations are
possible, and in some cases,
maybe, inevitable.
• HOWEVER, resilience thinking
also teaches us that we can work
to avoid the socio-ecological
transformations we REALLY don’t
want.
And One Last Point . . .
Resilience thinking
also counsels us that
if we don’t get serious
about mitigation, the
climate change
trickster will play a
bigger and bigger role
in our lives, in ways
that make us
increasingly
uncomfortable.
Trickster Print by Bill Lewis