Sustainability in Law: The Tragedy of the Commons & Red Threads in Business Communication

Abstract

This article discusses the concept of sustainability of the environment from the perspective of the traditional language of the law. I discuss recent critiques of related law from existing legal and economic scholarship. The concerns presented illustrate both weaknesses in the law and challenges to business communications on sustainability. My approach is based on a review of recent legal scholarship, viewed as cultural studies research, wherein “existing research is seen in relation to sources or traces that remain from past processes,” and a critical interpretation of these sources is then conducted (Johnson et al. 2004: 73). The challenges facing business communication regarding sustainability are thus seen within international law, property law, environmental law and human rights law. ‘Red threads,’ representing both core normative/legal values and linguistic structures, are identified within the literature. Elements of economic theory also appear as a consequence of their intrinsic relationship to sustainability concerns. These threads appear as either necessary or desirable preconditions to sustainability and as values of concern to business communication, and complement the ‘four pillars of sustainability’ – environmental health, cultural vitality, economic health and social equity.