ABSTRACT
Development of nanostructured materials that facilitate the globalization of artificial photosynthesis (particularly the “food” part of that process, involving atmospheric nitrogen fixation and carbon dioxide reduction) offers unique opportunities to address some of humanity’s most significant food security and climate change problems. Here we explore whether it also may have a profound impact on how our laws protect the interests of other sentient beings (such as the animals we slaughter for food) and their ecosystems. This chapter explores this concept by focusing
on the role of competition and consumer law in fostering the governance framework for commercial nanotechnology products as is required to foster their marketplace transition not just towards anthropocentric energy sustainability and climate change mitigation, but environmental sustainability. To do this requires, we argue, a policy values choice-a technology-led transition away from global governance systems dominated by archived photosynthesis fuel and mass-production agribusiness corporations. Our hypothesis is that if commercial applications of nanotechnology are refocused (for example, by more effective safety and corporate regulation, as well as better options for decentralised, ethical citizen/consumer marketplace sovereignty) on artificial photosynthesis and if that does start producing distributed-source fertilizers and food on a global scale, it might take the pressure off our exploitation of nature both for large-scale commercial agriculture and “food animals” (the millions of animals, such as chickens, cows, and pigs, processed and slaughtered each day for human consumption). We examine whether this could pave the way for a long-term policy period known as the Sustainocene, where animals and ecosystems are recognized as legal “persons” capable of suing in courts (through their guardians) to protect their interests. 12.1 Governing Nanotechnology Toward
nanotechnology. In the United States, for instance, the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies Consumer Products Inventory (Wilson Institute, 2011) listed 1317 products made using nanotechnology to be sold across 30 countries to people referred to as “consumers.” The largest main category was health and fitness (i.e., cosmetics and sunscreens), totaling 738 products. The most common materials mentioned were silver (313 products); carbon, including fullerenes (91 products); titanium, including titanium dioxide (59 products); silica (43 products); zinc, including zinc oxide (31 products); and gold (28 products) (Wilson Institute, 2011).
