AGGREGATION: AN ESSENTIAL TOOL IN ACHIEVING IMPERATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT, PROTECTION, AND JUSTICE

Climate change is no longer a distant threat. The effects from environmental degradation, exorbitant greenhouse gas emissions, and the exploitation of our natural resources are inducing catastrophic tragedies that were once preventable. For the last four decades, between 1980–2021, the United States averaged seven weather disasters per year. In 2021, there were 20 weather disasters in the United States alone. 724 lives were lost, and the cost of the damage was in the billions. We must face the reality that we have financially incentivized industry to pollute and violate environmental regulations. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA devastated the effectiveness of EPA’s regulatory development and enforcement powers. It is now inadequate to rest our societal well being on the hope that environmental regulations are properly developed and enforced, or on the naïve belief that technological advancements are adequately and equitably implemented. Despite the dire situation we face, entrenched with unavoidable harms due to our inaction, there remains time for us to take effective action and evade mounting loss of livelihoods, cultures, biodiversity, infrastructure, and life. To secure a livable future for all, especially the most vulnerable, we must implement ambitious, innovative, and intersectional solutions. One such solution is aggregate litigation, which has the power to influence industry practices, enforce environmental regulations, achieve justice for disenfranchised communities, provide remedy for injured parties, and protect our environment. In light of the “Clean Diesel” litigation, industry is now aware that it can be more expensive to pollute than to internalize pollutionreduction costs. Unconventional aggregate litigation achieves our conventional environmental goals. Consumer class actions can hold industry accountable for greenwashing and reward the environmentally conscious consumer. Mass torts in response to environmental disasters can take significant strides towards achieving the greatest remedy possible for those injured and facilitate the restoration of the damaged environment. Nuisance class actions against polluting facilities can achieve justice for communities that were otherwise left without viable recourse. Antitrust class actions can hold the oil industry accountable for responding transparently and accurately to our societal shift away from fossil fuels. Other solutions must advance in tandem, but if we con