Part I introduces and defends the environmental minimum as a framework for conceptualising the relationship between environmental harm and human rights. The framework distinguishes between human rights, understood as an expression of idealised values and norms derived from considerations of political morality, and human rights law, the domestic and international protection regimes that entail practical limitations and trade-offs. There are no bright red lines between human rights and human rights law, as they frequently interact and influence one another, but the distinction is useful to explain some of the compromises the environmental minimum proposes.