ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Frozen Laws on a Burning Planet: What Corals Can Teach Us About Time and Scale

• In Event: Governing the Seas: Ocean Science, International Law, and the Contested Politics of the Post-War Ocean (2 of 2)

English Abstract

Coral scientists increasingly lament that the temporal and procedural scales of law are fundamentally misaligned with the accelerating pace of ecological collapse. Nowhere are these tensions more visible than in coral restoration, where the urgency of climate change meets the procedural density of environmental law. In Florida, for instance, multiple state and federal agencies claim overlapping jurisdiction over the same reefs, producing a complex web of permits and regulations. These bureaucratic entanglements become particularly acute during bleaching emergencies, when even short delays may mean the death of entire coral genotypes. My presentation will explore how coral scientists interpret such legal and institutional constraints. Drawing on over thirty in-depth interviews with coral experts conducted in 2024 and 2025, I will examine how governance frameworks, legal timeframes, and institutional boundaries shape scientific possibilities during the ongoing climate crisis. While many scientists describe law as slow and fragmented, I argue here that this framing overlooks the productive roles that law plays as an anticipatory mechanism, a stabilizing force, and a means of democratizing scientific power. Enhancing scientists’ discretionary authority may appear expedient, but it risks alienating publics and eroding legitimacy. Instead, more collaborative, participatory, and multi-scalar approaches would better align scientific innovation with public accountability.

Author

• Irus Braverman, SUNY