Anarchy, State, and the Environment

Humanity faces some severe problems when dealing with the environment: rising temperatures, sea levels and concentrations of pollutants in the air. State intervention seems almost unavoidable when dealing with these kinds of problems. Robert Nozick was extremely careful when it came to delegating power to the state. The question that is asked and answered in this paper is what limitations of Nozick’s theory are exposed by environmental problems and how this theory can be adjusted to deal with these problems. Nozick’s theory turns out to be surprisingly flexible. The Lockean proviso can be used to deal with co2 emissions, the principle of fairness to implement preventive measures.