Unnatural Law ─ Rethinking Canadian Environmental Law and Policy

While governments assert that Canada is a world leader in sustainability, Unnatural Law provides extensive evidence to refute this claim. A comprehensive assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Canadian environmental law, the book provides a balanced, critical examination of Canada’s record, focusing on laws and policies intended to protect water, air, land, and biodiversity.

Three decades of environmental laws have produced progress in a number of important areas, such as ozone depletion, protected areas, and some kinds of air and water pollution. However, Canada’s overall record remains poor. In this vital and timely study, David Boyd explores the reasons why some laws and policies foster progress while others fail. He ultimately concludes that the root cause of environmental degradation in industrialized nations is excessive consumption of resources. Unnatural Law outlines the innovative changes in laws and policies that Canada must implement in order to respond to the ecological imperative of living within the Earth’s limits.

The struggle for a sustainable future is one of the most daunting challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century. Everyone – academics, lawyers, students, policy-makers, and concerned citizens – interested in the health of the Canadian and global environments will find Unnatural Law an invaluable source of information and insight.