Can a River Take Us to Court? Exploring the Rights of Nature

With Jessica den Outer. 

For centuries, our legal systems have treated nature as something to be owned and exploited, for human gain. In recent decades, the tenor of conversation may have shifted towards conservation and protection, but nature remains an object. The environmental laws, treaties and international agreements we enact have little impact; ecosystems continue to collapse, global temperatures continue to rise.

But a bold new movement is challenging this paradigm, calling time on inadequate, anthropocentric lawmaking, and ushering in an exciting new ecocentric approach based around the rights of nature.

Jessica den Outer joins us on the show to talk about the history of this new legal movement, and dive into some of the challenges it is facing, and opportunities it is creating, around the world. We discuss the legal personality of the Whanganui River in Aotearoa / New Zealand, the enshrining of the rights of nature in the National Constitution of Ecuador, and the strength of grassroots movements for the Mar Menor in Spain and the River Ouse in Sussex, England.

The Forest Fights Back: A Global Movement for the Rights of Nature is 40% off for podcast listeners on plutobooks.com. Use the coupon PODCAST at the checkout.