A Framework for Application: Three Concrete, Scalable Strategies to Accelerate Sustainability
Author | Jonathan Rosenbloom |
Pages | 63-81 |
63
Chapter 5:
A Framework for Application:
Three Concrete,
Scalable Strategies to
Accelerate Sustainability
Jonathan Rosenbloom
I. Introduction
A common position among legal and science scholars is that climate change
makes our continued sur vival and development as a society dependent on
the inltration and incorporation of sustainability into all aspects of human
life.1 Notwithstanding its critical importance, dening sustainability may
prove to be an exceedingly d icult and potentially distracting task. When
consensus is reached on a denition for “sustainability,” that denition is
often highly generalized, such as meeting the “triple bottom l ine” or incor-
porating the “three pillars” of susta inability (environmental, social, and eco-
nomic concerns).2 ese and other generalized denitions are suciently
broad to capture the many contextual variations in which sustainability can
be applied, ranging from sustainable business practices to zoning ordina nces
to stormwater ma nagement. In doing so, however, the term loses specica-
1. I rst engaged in this discussion in a brief essay. Jonathan Rosenbloom, Sustainability: Dening It
Provides Little Value, But Its Meaning Is Essential, in Rethinking Sustaina bility to Meet the Climate
Change Challenge, 43 ELR 10342, 10344 (Apr. 2013). is book chapter further develops the thesis
of that essay.
2. J E, T Z: B S B 55 (Routledge 2012).
ank you to the attendees at the Environmental Law Collaborative (2012), and a
special thank you to Keith Hirokawa and Jessie Owley for organizing and compiling
the written documents for this book. Being a part of the Collaborative has been an
educational experience that has helped me to better understand sustainability in an age of
climate change. ank you also to Drake University Law School Professor Jerry Anderson
and LSU Law Center and LSU School of the Coast and Environment Associate Professor
Blake Hudson for their thoughtful comments, edits, and suggestions, and Drake University
Law School student Jacob Lantry for his thorough and excellent research assistance.
64 Rethinking Sustainability
tion. It is so broadly worded that the denition provides little guidance on
how to actually achieve goals a ssociated with sustainability in a specic con-
text.3 us, sustainability presents a theoretical and practical dilemma: while
incorporating it into all facets of society is essential, the attempt to dene
it (and anchor it for purposes of consistency and mutual understanding) is
a dicult task that may provide limited real world value and may divert
resources from accomplishing the goals associated with susta inability.
is is not to say that “sustainability” is undenable. ere are numerous
denitions, some broadly worded a nd others quite specic. e challenge
in dening it, however, is that the broadly worded denitions provide little
practical guidance, while content-specic denitions have little applicability
to other contexts. is chapter explores themes that exist in both broadly
worded and content-specic denitions. e themes bridge the gap between
the generalized and specic denitions. is chapter accepts generalized def-
initions as currently drafted and then distills them to nd common t hemes
that help provide action-oriented advice regardless of context. is chapter
is not attempting to add to the scholarship on how to dene the term sus-
tainability. Rather, this chapter accepts existing genera lized denitions and
looks across them to extract concrete and scalable strategies that can provide
practical advice to help apply sustainable practices in numerous situations.
Extracting the themes from existing denitions is an attempt to rely on
widely-accepted understandings of su stainability and what others have pre-
viously identied as being necessary to achieve the goals associated with
sustainability. Unearthing the themes is intended to identify elements of sus-
tainability that are embedded in generalized denitions and that must be
included for practical eect so that we can begin to move beyond denition
to application. e three t hemes are: (1) integration of an ecosystem manage-
ment approach to more accurately reect costs of a given action, (2)imple-
mentation and identication of context-specic baselines and metrics that
oer practical and pragmatic advice to decisionmakers, and (3) collaboration
as a means of overcoming institutional obstacles.
e three themes may not be explicitly set forth in existing denitions, but
they are necessary to achieve susta inability under any denition. e themes
are designed to provide concrete, scalable, and understandable guidance that
3. Rosenbloom, supra note 1; see generally Melissa Powers, Making Sustainability Count, in Rethinking
Sustainability to Meet the Climate Change Challenge, 43 ELR 10342, 10345 (Apr. 2013). (noting
denitions of sustainability can be “ubiquitous and amorphous”). is chapter is primarily concerned
with the term “sustainability,” as opposed to “sustainable development.” For a discussion of the inter-
national community’s movement from sustainability to sustainable development, see Paolo Galizzi,
From Stockholm to New York Via Rio and Johannesburg: Has the Environment Lost Its Way on the Global
Agenda?, 29 F I’ L.J. 952 (2006).
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