Chapter 7. The Mythology Of Environmental Markets

Abstract

This chapter discusses how the 'web of interests' concept might facilitate a more ecologically and socially sustainable definition of property interests amid the realities of the interconnected environments in which property issues arise. While the concept can be applied to intellectual property, property interests in business organizations and financial investments, and other forms of property. The chapter focuses on property in land and water. Courts frequently and persistently use the terms 'bundle or rights' or 'bundle of sticks' to refer to property, as do casebooks on property law and property-related subjects and scholarly analyses of property issues. In contrast, the current bundles-of-rights concept facilitates unsustainable land and water uses, and forms obstacles to more sustainable management and conservation of land and water. Perhaps the strongest case for thinking about property as a web of interests is water. Keywords:interconnected environment; water rights; web of interests