Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy Volume 23 Article 2 Issue 2 Symposium on the Environment 1-1-2012 The rC ane, the Swamp, and the Melancholy: Nature and Nihilism in Soviet Environmental Literature and Law Douglas Lind Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp Recommended Citation Douglas Lind, The Crane, the Swamp, and the Melancholy: Nature and Nihilism in Soviet Environmental Literature and Law, 23 Notre Dame J.L. Ethics & Pub. Pol'y 381 (2009). Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndjlepp/vol23/iss2/2 This Speech is brought to you for free and open access by the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. PANEL THE CRANE, THE SWAMP, AND THE MELANCHOLY: NATURE AND NIHILISM IN SOVIET ENVIRONMENTAL LITERATURE AND LAWt DOUGLAS LIND I. INTRODUCTION Here in the West, the entire seventy-year history of the Soviet Union carries an assortment of negative images. As to the environment, the Soviet image is one of ecological degradation-of large-scale natural resource depletion and rampant environmental despoliation. Justifica- tion for this view abounds, for the environmental record of the U.S.S.R. is indeed a sorry one.1 t On March 25, 2009, the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy hosted a panel discussion entitled "God and Godlessness in the Environment." A version of this paper was presented at that event.