Ecological degradation and population demands: wicked problems and the rule of rules in Canada/America
Date
2013-09-04
Authors
Large, Michael
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Abstract
Rooted in legal theory and environmental studies, this thesis aims to (re)define the
‘population problem’ and related regulatory resolutions in constructive and clear terms,
within a broad concept of 'law’. Green legal theory, wicked problem theory, and legal
pluralism viewed from a wide-angle, first-person perspective, are applied together. To
control birth rates and consumption demands in Canada/America, state-made laws are not
central. We are ruled by rules: Certain law-like non-state rules aim to prod procreation
and consumption ever-upward. Materially speaking, Can-American population numbers
and consumption/waste form one inseparable factor relevant to global ecological
degradation, and ‘legally’ speaking, specific religious doctrine amounts to 'population-UP
control' and specific economic dogma 'consumption-UP control'. Together, these
material and ‘legal’ factors form a wicked problem called ‘population demands.’ This
problem formulation points away from state-made resolutions. Instead, the author
recommends deconstructing degrading rules from the bottom-up and, in relation to
consumption-UP control, reforming social norms.
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Keywords
population problem, green legal theory, wicked problem theory, legal pluralism, Canada, America, ecological degradation