Chumming on the Chesapeake Bay and Complexity Theory: Why the Precautionary Principle, Not Cost-Benefit Analysis, Makes More Sense as a Regulatory Approach

Authors

Hope M. Babcock

Abstract

"[H]istory reveals not merely that change is real but also that change is various. All change is not the same, nor are all changes equal. Some changes are cyclical, some are not. Some changes are linear, others are not. Some changes take an afternoon to accomplish, some a millennium. We can no more take any particular kind of change as absolutely normative than we can take any particular state of equilibrium as normative .... The challenge is to determine which changes are in our enlightened self-interest and are consistent with our most rigorous ethical reasoning, always remembering our inescapable dependency on other forms of life."

First Page

505

Recommended Citation

Hope M. Babcock, Essay, Chumming on the Chesapeake Bay and Complexity Theory: Why the Precautionary Principle, Not Cost-Benefit Analysis, Makes More Sense as a Regulatory Approach, 82 Wash. L. Rev. 505 (2007).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol82/iss3/6