Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2020

Publication Title

Environmental Law

Publication Title (Abbreviation)

Envt'l L.

Volume

50

First Page

97

Abstract

Global climate change poses an existential threat to human civilization because it disrupts the supply of natural resources that provide basic life staples-water, food, and energy. If humankind is unable to adapt to a less abundant and less predictable supply of resources, then the effective scarcity will, as it often has in human history, lead to conflict. There is a chance, if greenhouse gas emissions can be sufficiently reduced to avoid the most serious consequences of climate change, that efficiency and sharing measures can make up for climate-induced shortfalls. Natural resources are not generally managed or consumed very efficiently, so large savings in production and consumption are possible. And humankind has demonstrated a surprising capacity to organize and cooperate to efficiently share resources, even in times of scarcity.

However, a formidable obstacle stands in the way of such arrangements: economic inequality. Organic cooperation requires, if not homogeneity, a certain capacity to recognize and coalesce around a group interest. Sharp economic divisions are an anathema to such group coherence. This Article proposes a form of climate triage, a prospective equalizing measure to address natural resource shortages before economic inequality can sabotage cooperation: the creation of a resources trust to act as a supplier of last resort in case of climate-induced scarcity. A resources trust could be chartered at the federal, state, or regional level, and would acquire rights, options, and other assets required to step in and supply basic life staples to ensure reasonable access for the vast majority of individuals in a chartering jurisdiction. Without such an assurance, the pressure to take resources by force and to hoard them could be overwhelming. Hoarding would be the worst possible outcome, as it is grossly inefficient, unjust, and worst of all, self-reinforcing. The nature of hoarding is such that it exacerbates itself, creating ever stronger incentives to hoard, so that once started, it becomes extremely difficult to stop. Hoarding in a climate-changed future would introduce a new, and potentially dystopic form of inequality, one with the potential for creating unrest.

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