Earth system law for the Anthropocene: rethinking environmental law alongside the Earth system metaphor

Abstract

Despite its noble intentions and some victories, environmental law has been and continues to be complicit in driving the processes and paradigms that give rise to the Anthropocene. Environmental law is also unable to respond to the regulatory challenges that arise from the Anthropocene's complex Earth system. We need a new legal paradigm that is better fit for purpose in the Anthropocene called Earth system law. A key reason for environmental law's failures and an obstacle preventing its transformation, is its reluctance to embrace and respond to the notion of the Earth system. My hypothesis is that the Earth system metaphor should be key in rethinking environmental law with the ultimate view to constructing Earth system law for the Anthropocene. The primary purpose of this paper is to explore what the Earth system metaphor entails and what it might imply for environmental law's transformation to Earth system law.