Negative (Postmodern) Paradigm of SD and the United States
Replaces Enlightenment-era National (U.S.) Constitutionalism With Universal
International Constitutionalism
a. Entails a Constitutional Right to Environmental Quality & Revision of Science & the Scientific Method
b. Engenders a Radical Transformation of Individualism & the Loss of Exclusive
2. Manifests Itself in Critical Legal Studies: Theory, Jurisprudence, Movements &
Activism
3. Calls for Private Property Rights-Transforming (Land Preservation) Initiatives
Likely to Trigger Public Opposition:
a. The United Nations ("UN") Biosphere Reserves is Opposed by the New Jersey Commission of Safety
b. The Women's Group Critically Reviews the Habitat II's SD Terminology
c. Multiple Efforts Made to Enact the American Land Sovereignty Protection Act
(H.R. 883 105th); (S. 2575); (H.R. 901 105th; 106th), in response to:
i. The Conference on Human Settlements & National Biosphere Reserves
(United Nations Education Scientific & Cultural Organization ("UNESCO"),
following UN General Assembly Resolution (GA/47/180) & the UN
Vancouver Declaration & Plan of Action
d. U.S. Ratification of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity is Prevented Due
to Congressional & Public Opposition
4. As Expressed Through Presidential SD Efforts:
a. President's Council on SD and National Security Strategy
i. Task Forces
ii. Publications
iii. SD Education Panel First Annual Report (1998)
A. (Federal SD Curriculum Framework Implemented at State Level)
b. U.S.-Canada International Joint Commission Report
i. Recommends Precautionary Principle-Based 'Weight-of-Evidence' Approach
Rather than 'Strength-of-Evidence' Approach of Evaluating Data by Federal
Regulatory Agencies Where There is Scientific Uncertainty (pp. 20-31)
c. President's SD Policy Directive ("PPD") & Inter-Agency Task Force
d. President's National Security Strategy to Accelerate SD (pp. 33-34)
e. Encouraging National, State & Local Implementation of UN Agenda 21 and its
incorporation into national environmental law, city by city, if necessary, via
local government action
i. Which Reconceptualizes Private Property Rights in Conflict With SD
ii. Which restricts exercise of exclusive private property rights & commerce
iii. Which enables government private property 'takings' without compensation
iv. Which Has Generated State & Local Opposition Challenging Agenda 21 Laws
v. Which Has Triggered the Concern of Negative SD Advocates in the Academy
and the progressive media (here) and (here)
f. As an Expression of a New anti-New Deal Post-Modern Federalism
5. Reflects Use of the Precautionary Principle in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments &
in Clean Air Act Section 202(a) of the 1977 CAA Amendments, via employment of
'linear non-threshold' (LNT) dose-response curves, which method was recently
documented as having not been subtantiated by scientific method (here) & (here)
6. Encourages the First Circuit Court of Appeals to Adopt the Precautionary Principle-
Based 'Weight-of-Evidence' Approach of Evaluating Data When There is Scientific
Uncertainty, Failing to Meet the Standards Articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court
in Daubert v. Merrell Pharmaceuticals, Inc..
a. Milward v. Acuity Specialty Products Group, Inc., 639 F. 3d 11 (1st Cir. 2011)
(excerpts)
i. Milward is Criticized as Compromising the U.S. Supreme Court's Standards
in Daubert, Joiner, & Kumho which require trial courts to serve the critical
role of 'gatekeeper' to ensure the quality of admissible scientific & technical evidence (here, here, & here)
ii. Petitions for Certiorari - (Denied Jan. 9, 2012)
b. Following the Milward Decision, the Federal Judicial Center, in Cooperation With
the National Research Council of the National Academies, Changed its Position
Concerning the 'Weight-of-Evidence' Approach, Even Though Governmental
Risk Assessment Assumptions Are Not Automatically Relevant For Proving
i. Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence(Third Edition) (excerpts)
ii. Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence (Second Edition) (excerpts)
7. Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations Provided the Administration With a
Detailed SD "Greenprint" Containing Recommendations For Transforming U.S. Legal
& Scientific Standards
a. This "Greenprint" is Not Inconsistent With the UN Conference on Sustainable
Development's ("CSD's") "Transition to Green" Report
Issues - Negative (Postmodern) SD and the United States
"Providing an informed, reasoned and dispassionate
voice to the global public debate..."