Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
APPALACHIA RECONSTRUCTED: LAW, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND SYSTEMIC REGIONAL REFORM
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Appalachia Reconstructed will, first, explore how the liberal environmental law paradigm has failed Appalachia ecologically, economically, and socially. Such devastation has primarily been wrought by the coal extraction industry’s century-long hegemony in Appalachia; modern environment law (e.g., the Clean Water Act, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, etc.) has proved an overwhelmingly ineffective bulwark against such Appalachian destruction—and indeed against ecological catastrophe worldwide. Second, Appalachia Reconstructed will posit that radical socio-legal change is required to achieve an Appalachian future that is both ecologically viable and critically just. To achieve such change, we must transcend the existing environmental law paradigm—i.e., as undergirded by liberal economics and liberal political theory—and instead cultivate critically informed modes of “systemic re-formations.” In Appalachia Reconstructed, such modes of systemic reform will largely be explored vis-à-vis the school of ecofeminism, which focuses on the following: radical de-growth; local economic systems; strong ecological sustainability, and; critical intersectionality along lines of the environment, class, race, gender, etc. Ultimately, Appalachia Reconstructed will be imbued with a cautious and pragmatic sense of hope: that is, that through a collective re-envisioning of foundational “cultural laws” in Appalachia—i.e., of what we owe our fellow citizens and the environment—the Appalachian region can emerge as more just and as better-positioned to face the profound perils of our new ecological age.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Nicholas F. Stump is a Library Faculty Member at West Virginia University College of Law, where he teaches in the legal research curriculum with subject expertise in energy and environmental legal research. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of environmental law, critical legal theory, and Appalachian Studies.
Conference Subthemes
Environmental Sustainability
APPALACHIA RECONSTRUCTED: LAW, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND SYSTEMIC REGIONAL REFORM
Appalachia Reconstructed will, first, explore how the liberal environmental law paradigm has failed Appalachia ecologically, economically, and socially. Such devastation has primarily been wrought by the coal extraction industry’s century-long hegemony in Appalachia; modern environment law (e.g., the Clean Water Act, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, etc.) has proved an overwhelmingly ineffective bulwark against such Appalachian destruction—and indeed against ecological catastrophe worldwide. Second, Appalachia Reconstructed will posit that radical socio-legal change is required to achieve an Appalachian future that is both ecologically viable and critically just. To achieve such change, we must transcend the existing environmental law paradigm—i.e., as undergirded by liberal economics and liberal political theory—and instead cultivate critically informed modes of “systemic re-formations.” In Appalachia Reconstructed, such modes of systemic reform will largely be explored vis-à-vis the school of ecofeminism, which focuses on the following: radical de-growth; local economic systems; strong ecological sustainability, and; critical intersectionality along lines of the environment, class, race, gender, etc. Ultimately, Appalachia Reconstructed will be imbued with a cautious and pragmatic sense of hope: that is, that through a collective re-envisioning of foundational “cultural laws” in Appalachia—i.e., of what we owe our fellow citizens and the environment—the Appalachian region can emerge as more just and as better-positioned to face the profound perils of our new ecological age.
