Incorporating Emergy Synthesis into Environmental Law: An Integration of Ecology, Economics and Law

24 Pages Posted: 15 Jan 2010

See all articles by Mark T. Brown

Mark T. Brown

University of Florida

Mary Jane Angelo

University of Florida Levin College of Law

Date Written: 2007

Abstract

Emergy synthesis, first developed by Dr. Howard T. Odum in the 1970s, and further expanded and refined by other scholars over the past thirty years, has the potential to transform environmental decision making by providing a methodology that integrates ecology, economics, and law. Virtually all areas of environmental law are concerned in some way with both the ecological and the economic impacts of environmental decision making. Unfortunately, existing environmental law statutes tend to incorporate ecological and economic considerations in a simplistic, piecemeal, and awkward fashion. Emergy synthesis incorporates both ecological and economic considerations through a sophisticated scientific methodology.

Emergy synthesis relies on the “intrinsic” value of a resource or service rather than relying on consumer preferences. Accordingly, emergy synthesis is referred to as a "donor" value system as it is based on the principle that the energy embodied in a resource or service determines its value. In recent years, emergy synthesis has reached a high level of sophistication with increasing acceptance by the scientific community and scholars worldwide. However, to date, this approach has not been embraced, or even seriously considered, by the legal community.

This interdisciplinary Article explores the viability of incorporating the methods of emergy synthesis into environmental law and policy decision-making. Specifically, this Article examines the viability of emergy synthesis in decision making by analyzing the advantages it offers and the mechanics of how to employ it in a variety of different contexts, using a number of existing statutory frameworks as illustrations, including the cost-benefit standard of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the pure science standard of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This Article demonstrates that emergy synthesis has the potential, not only to inform the law, but also to revolutionize environmental decision making by providing a well-developed scientific methodology that addresses both ecological and economic considerations in a comprehensive manner.

Suggested Citation

Brown, Mark T. and Angelo, Mary Jane, Incorporating Emergy Synthesis into Environmental Law: An Integration of Ecology, Economics and Law (2007). Environmental Law, Vol. 37, pp. 963-986, 2007, University of Florida Levin College of Law Research, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1537248

Mark T. Brown

University of Florida ( email )

PO Box 117165, 201 Stuzin Hall
Gainesville, FL 32610-0496
United States

Mary Jane Angelo (Contact Author)

University of Florida Levin College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 117625
Gainesville, FL 32611-7625
United States
352-273-0944 (Phone)
352-392-3005 (Fax)

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