Ecotourism and recreation businesses formed new economic allies for environmental law.

Evidence

In addition, because some of that emerging service industry was directly dependent on environmental protection, the number of powerful economic interests affirmatively in support of environmental laws was increasing. Ecotourism, for instance, had become big business. The same public values that supported enactment of tough environmental laws also fueled consumer demand for the enjoyment of pristine environments. Closing beaches because of ocean pollution could have catastrophic consequences for a community dependent on such tourism. The collapse of a fishery population because of pollution or overfishing by “factory boats” could likewise have severe economic consequences for small businesses that utilized charter boats. Emissions from a power plant that undermined visibility in a state or national park could adversely affect tourism-dependent businesses in the surrounding community. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 724

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s Land/place thread in the polyad: value inscribed in place generates legal-political constituencies. — connects to: Much of the business community stopped opposing strict environmental law by the mid-1990s. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 712; Business funded a two-decade intellectual pipeline to change environmental law — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 439; Strict environmental laws coexisted with a thriving US economy — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 1100

Broader Connections

• Strict environmental laws coexisted with a thriving US economy #expands (0.72) — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 1100