O consumo sustentável no Antropoceno : os aspectos jurídicos dos limites planetários no estado de direito ecológico

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand the extent to which it is possible to solidify sustainable consumption in the Anthropocene era by determining a place for nature in this process, considering the importance of addressing the environmental damage caused by the consumer society, with Special emphasis on the Industrial Revolution and the Great Acceleration as defining milestones of humanity as the main factor in modifying the conditions of the Earth System. By starting from a conception of modernity as a set of ideals that shape societies from the 17th century onwards by promoting a fictitious separation between man and nature, aspects such as economy, politics and law are embodied in fundamental institutions for understanding of the current state of affairs with regard to an established police. Thus, a new paradigm capable of founding these institutions from an approach that enables humanity to effectively face the problems affecting the Anthropocene is necessary. For the purposes of this work, ecological sustainability was chosen as a new paradigm, capable of appearing as the structuring principle of an Ecological Rule of Law that anchors protection for life, considered in a broad spectrum, beyond human life alone. In this scenario, it is possible to combat commonplace issues such as greenwashing and programmed obsolescence, both directly related to consumption and which contribute to humanity's increasingly entering the uncertain field of the Anthropocene. The Ecological Rule of Law and the principle of ecological sustainability make possible an interpretation of freedoms and the ecological minimum existential in order to necessarily include consideration about the protection of nature for its true realization, which implies an extensive interpretation of the economic order and social justice as values interconnected necessarily to the protection of the environment and, consequently, in the extensive interpretation of Consumer Law, transforming it into a sustainable consumption law when considering reformulations in relation to the following points: i) the expansion of the concept of consumer, ii) the inclusion of an environmental perspective in the National Policy on Consumer Relations (PNRC), iii) a re-reading of the quality and safety system for products and services available on the market and iv) protection differentiated contract, in view of the adequacy of the limits of freedom. To illustrate this possibility of expanding the scope of consumption towards sustainable consumption, ADPF 656 was chosen as an example, as it is a decision on the impossibility of using pesticides without a prior scientific analysis of their danger to the population. These considerations lead to the recognition that a Law for the Anthropocene needs specific regulations and principles, enabling the implementation of new economic alternatives such as the circular economy and recognition of the commons in a fraternal perspective.