Sustainability Law

Oregon has codified the buzzword ‘sustainability.’ ORS 184.421 defines ‘sustainability’ for the state’s goals regarding sustainability and for the state’s sustainability board. The definition lacks concrete and tangible measures. Likewise, the state’s goals and objectives, described in ORS 184.423, lack any discernible standards. Without measurable and ascertainable criterion, Oregon’s definition and goals for sustainability are pointless. ORS 184.421 and 423 serve little to meet the current needs, but much to gain popular attention. Despite its legitimate status, sustainability is simply a buzzword and needs revision. Read More…

The Oregon legislature passed the Oregon Sustainability Act in 2001, formalizing the state’s commitment to sustainable principles. However, nutrition assistance programs that operate in the state, like WIC (Women, Infants and Children), need a sustainability overhaul to better align themselves with the Act’s core principles. This blog post will highlight some of the most problematic discrepancies between Oregon’s sustainability mandates and WIC. The post will also discuss potential ways in which Oregon’s WIC guidelines could be modified to not only ensure that women, infants and children have access to more sustainable nourishment, but to also bring the WIC guidelines into better harmony with Oregon’s commitment to sustainability—at least to the extent practicable by federal law.

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The hazelnut is a classic Oregon icon—the state produces ninety-nine percent of the U.S. crop, valued at $63.4 million, and also exports hazelnuts abroad, most notably to Asian countries.¹ Nut aficionados around the world herald Oregon’s hazelnuts as being high quality. The vast majority of hazelnuts are conventional, but a growing number of organic farmers are finding a foot hold in the market and are experiencing high demand for their nuts. Forecasts indicate that U.S. exports of conventional and organic nuts will increase at least seven percent in coming years.² One of the reasons that Oregon is a leader in hazelnut production is that the state’s farmers and agriculture research centers have painstakingly breed blight-resistant varieties through trial and error for many decades. This diligent work yielded several hearty varietals that are now highly sought after both domestically and internationally.³ The Oregon hazelnut industry has eschewed transgenic modifications throughout this process, relying on traditional methods of plant breeding. Many view this as a prudent long-term tactic for the hazelnut industry, as many countries around the world will not accept imports of “GMO” or genetically modified products.⁴

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Anyone who has taken a stroll down the beer aisle in a local grocery store can attest to the vast array of options available to a consumer. This variety is largely thanks to the recent surge in popularity of so-called “craft beer.” Produced by small, independent brewers, these beers continue to grow in market share—up to almost 8% in 2013¹ —and represent the only segment of the American beer market that increased sales in 2013.² Craft beer, however, generally lacks the ubiquitous “organic”, “sustainably harvested”, “locally produced”, “green certified” monikers that pervade the meat, produce, and dairy aisles—despite the considerable environmental impacts of brewing. As a recent press release about sustainability in the brewing industry summed up, “[t]he four basic ingredients in beer (water, yeast, malt, hops) directly tie breweries to the environment.” Industry leaders are spearheading a movement toward sustainable brewing by creating innovative legal and design solutions—and widespread “eco-labeling” of beer will likely follow. By creating a brewery-specific sustainability certification and corresponding label, the craft beer industry can help ensure consumers are provided with an accurate and reliable way of choosing sustainably crafted beer. Read More…

Increased urbanization, technological advancement, and industrialization have come with countless benefits. In a world increasingly concerned with the pressures of a rapidly expanding population, the focus has largely shifted from the positive to the negative impacts of development. With this change in emphasis, many people have begun to view pre-industrial times through a rosy lens. Romantic notions of the relationships between small-scale societies and the ecosystems they inhabit are widespread. The stereotype of American Indians as idyllic, green, nature-loving people living symbiotically with their environment is a clear ‘green-washing’ of small-scale society land use.¹ Recent concepts like ‘buy local’ can function as ways of dividing the interconnected global economy into small-scale, relatively independent subsets. This piece analyzes the sustainability of two ‘buy local’ campaigns through a social science lens—applying a series of factors social scientists use as predictors of sustainability in small-scale land use² —and identifies key advantages and flaws in the underlying legal agreements. Read More…

When talking about international sustainability, it is easier to think about the measurable. How many tons of carbon dioxide do Chinese factories emit? How many acres of Brazilian rainforest were destroyed today? How many living-wage jobs will Nike’s factory create? These are all important things to track, but it is also important to look at the legal framework that has shaped today’s international business norms. Understanding the forces and ideologies shaping international investment law can inform future international sustainability efforts. This post shed’s light on one major influence in modern international business: The Bilateral Investment Treaty. Read More…

Sustainable development needed a jump start

Not that long ago sustainability was little more than a buzz word on college campuses. Only the most environmentally focused among us saw sustainability as a real goal. Sustainability concepts like green building were met with strong skepticism.¹ Before getting off the ground, the sustainability movement needed to teach big business the facts about global resource scarcity and environmental degradation. Today, things are different. There is an immense amount of work to do before the planet reaches a sustainable equilibrium, but it feels like the greenies won the ideological battle. Now, we must ask ourselves whether the policies established to incentivize sustainability are still necessary. Read More…

Ikaria is an island in the eastern Aegean Sea. One of its key distinguishing features is its lack of significant human development relative to other Greek islands. Ikarians’ lifestyle is not too different than the way people have lived for thousands of years; perhaps as a result, this island is recognized as a so-called “blue zone” where it is common for people to live 100 years or more. [Side note: Most people on Ikaria eat a lot of organic produce that they grow themselves. They live a long time. Perhaps a connection there?] While tourists in the summer more than double the island’s 7,500 residents, relative to other Greek islands there is much less tourism and associated infrastructure, which has helped protect Ikaria’s excellent habitat for other species as well as people. Much of the island is protected under the European Union’s Natura 2000 program. The island is also designated as an Important Bird Area in Greece. It provides excellent habitat for several species of raptors and is an important migratory corridor for many birds.

Due to their isolation, energy is always a significant issue for islands’ human communities, and Ikaria is no exception. While there are two large solar photovoltaic arrays on the island, Ikaria’s residents currently get most of their electric power from a smoky diesel generator near the main town. However, construction is underway on a renewable energy project that would – if completed as originally envisioned – meet all of the island’s electricity demand for most of the year and nearly three quarters of the load during the busier summer months. But most Ikarians, as well as many environmentalists, oppose the project, setting up a clash similar to controversies that have increasingly arisen over proposed renewable energy projects in the United States as well.

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We’ve seen many examples of environmental degradation on our travels in Sierra Leone. Hills denuded of forest cover. Land itself stripped away near major rivers by diamond mining, leaving pits filled with muddy water and hills of dirt and sifted gravel supporting nothing but stands of invasive bamboo. Burgeoning – and highly polluted – cities.

But there are few good things, too.  We visited the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, where 98 chimps rescued from poachers, illegal traders, and even the bushmeat market receive medical care and live in comfort in large, forested enclosures.

When my wife was a Peace Corps volunteer in 1885, perhaps 20,000 chimpanzees lived in Sierra Leone. Today three quarters of that population is gone as a result of habitat destruction and direct human exploitation; perhaps 5,000 individuals still exist in isolated forest fragments and at the edges of farms and villages. A few of the fortunate refugees from this precipitous decline end up at Tacugama, where they can enjoy a semblance of their life in the wild.

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Even more so than in Cambodia, sustainability seems like a very abstract concept in Sierra Leone, West Africa. I say this because I am the village of Sembehun, far upcountry and about a dozen miles from the one highway in the country. Relative to almost everyone in the village, I live well because I am an honored visitor. Moreover, I study and teach about sustainability. Nonetheless, even I have a hard time thinking beyond my own needs and comforts here in Sembehun; it is not hard to understand how people who live such places see as an almost frivolous luxury anything more than doing what will insure basic survival.

Unlike our trip to Cambodia, I’ve not come to Sierra Leone to see any famous sites. Aside from a scenic but essentially undeveloped Atlantic coastline, there is little for a tourist to see here. A wildlife safari is also pretty much out of the question; the elephants, primates, and other animals are now virtually gone, their populations long since hunted out and their habitat mostly destroyed. Most of the lush tropical forest that formerly blanketed the land has been logged by multinational targeting valuable species such as mahogany, then finished off by local people seeking wood for building or simply for fuel.

Instead of tourism, we’re here to see long-time family friends. My wife Lori was a Peace Corps volunteer in the remote town of Buedu from 1985-87, and we’ve come to see the man – and his large extended family – who took her under his wing and was almost a father to her during those years. Sembehun is his native village where he spends part of his time after retiring from years as a teacher and school administrator.

Here is what is outside the cement house where I am typing (using solely battery power): The tortuous red dirt road from the highway to the village varies between difficult and nearly impassable – and the rainy season has only just begun. But most of the 300-400 people who live in here rarely travel. Perhaps 60-70% of the population are under 25 years old. It is unusual to see a man between the ages of 30-40; many of them were killed during Sierra Leone’s violent and senseless war that started in the mid-1990s and lasted into the 21^st century. Lori’s friend and his family survived only by fleeing Buedu to nearby Guinea, where they lived in huge refugee camps for nearly eight years. Children, however, are everywhere; women commonly have their first child when they are 15 or 16 years old and have four or five after that. Almost as soon as a child can walk, he or she has the run of the village with virtually no adult supervision. My impromptu juggling lessons routinely attract a crowd of 40 or more kids, jostling each other for a closer look at the tall white stranger tossing rocks into the air. From my efforts at teaching them the trick, my nickname among the village throng is “Throw Throw Catch Catch.”

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