Conclusion

• Author: Jamie Benidickson
• Pages: 418-421

418

CONCLUSION

Not long ago, the agility of pre-robotic, pre-mutant, and pre-digital car-

toon characters such as rabbits and road runners was const antly being

tested at the brink of di saster, notably in proximity to terr ifying cliffs. As

they approached the edge of a daunting precipice, some of these colourful

creatures would attempt — with mixed and lim ited success — to screech

to a halt; others seemed capable of launching t hemselves into the air

and then, with an incredible reversal of spinning feet, defy ing gravity to

return to the safety of the ledge. An a ssessment of the adequacy and pros-

pects for the contemporary environment al protection regime is likely to

be inf‌luenced by metaphor: do we still have a little traction to work with

on the ledge, or have we already gone over the brink? Those readers

whose imaginations require the stimulus of furt her drama and suspense,

may factor in the destabili zing effects of clim ate change: anyone hoping

to screech to a halt or return to the s afety of the ledge after overshooting

the mark must now remember that the ledge itsel f is crumbling.

To present the situation less abstractly, it is helpful to note conclu-

sions from the OECD’s 2012 report Environmental Outlook to 2050: The

Consequences of Inaction. This study, in projecting signif‌icant popula-

tion and economic growth to the mid–twenty-f‌irst century highlights

severe environmental threats in terms of water avai lability, adverse

public health impacts, disr uptive climate change, and biodiversity loss.

In the OECD’s assessment, “progress on an incremental, piecemeal,

business-as-usual basis in the coming decades wil l not be enough.”1

1 OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Conse quences of Inaction (OE CD Pu b-