Rights of Nature

On Sept. 21 at 12pm Pacific, the Resilience and Possibility in These Times call will host a conversation around Rights of Nature: Expressing Interconnectedness in Law. Hosted by Bill and Lynne Twist, featuring Natalia Greene, co-founder and executive committee member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and Thomas Linzey, senior legal counsel for Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights.

Register here (https://landing.pachamama.org/global-call) and I am looking forward to seeing you at the event!

https://landing.pachamama.org/global-call

From Executive Producer Mark Ruffalo comes the world’s first documentary film on the Rights of Nature Movement, a “plot-twisting, eye-opening” story about the current global battle between capitalism and democracy where the fight for our survival is at stake.

Ruffalo will join a public discussion immediately after the screening with the film’s award-winning directors, Joshua B. Pribanic and Melissa Troutman, and Rights of Nature experts who are featured in the doc. The group will open up a Q&A and talk about how this movement can actually create the systemic cultural change we need.

Tickets** are available to Public Herald Patrons for $1 or individual donations for $15 on Paypal with proceeds going to Public Herald Studios.

If you missed the Restoring the Land through Fire' with Ron Goode event. You can view the recording here: facebook.com/watch/?v=3250189665070390.

Second edition of an online course on the Rights of Nature that I am proud to be contributing to with members of the United Nations’ Harmony with Nature initiative : ). Thanks for sharing in your networks.

We are pleased to announce the second edition of a four-month online course on the Rights of Nature offered by the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina, starting mid-September. The first edition reached out as far Australia, France, USA and the UK!

Registration is until September 4th.

Acknowledging personhood rights to nature is associated with the alternative principles of “Buen Vivir” (Good Living) and “Vivir Bien” (Living Well). Initiated in Ecuador and Bolivia, this process has appeared in discussions of national regulatory systems such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and has also been empowering its presence at an international level, particularly in the UN.

The course aims:

1. To deepen and strengthen theoretical arguments linked with this process of acknowledgment that implies expanding the legal subjectivity beyond human beings.

2. To boost the practical side within this acknowledgement aiming at creating tools at a designing institutional level, developing public regulations and policies, strengthen dispute strategies mainly those subject of public interest in the field of nature protection.

3. To lay down dialogues and connections with different disciplines which are essential in order to understand this legal phenomenon and improve its meaning by identifying the contributions from a holistic perspective, the social sciences and humanities, as well as natural sciences and several art expressions.

In addition to legal aspects, this course presents some introductory concepts of holistic science, systems thinking and the application of the principles of living systems to man-made systems (which leads to regenerative practices such as circular economy, biomimicry, regenerative agriculture and economy, etc.).

Target audience: Local, provincial, regional, and national civil servants dealing with environmental protection and development. Members of NGOs and other organizations of the civil society. Law graduates and advanced law students, advanced students of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences interested in the issue.

Syllabus
FIRST PART
Theoretical approach

Module 1
Introduction What is the acknowledgment of rights of nature? Introduction over the several points of view that has been translated into law so as to regulate nature protection. Law perspectives about natural resources, environmental law and rights to nature, Pachamama, Madre Tierra (Mother Earth).

Module 2
Rights of Nature recognition process: a Latin American perspective. Rights of nature, Pachamama, Madre Tierra recognition process analysis together with wider proposals introduced as “alternatives to capitalism”, particularly considering Ecuador and Bolivia experiences of the last few years.

Module 3
International level: The proposal for an International Declaration on the Rights of Nature. The UN “Harmony with Nature” strategy. Examination on “Harmony with Nature” initiative from a selection of a series of documents which has been produced over the last years: reports, General Assembly resolutions, expert reports, etc. In addition, it is proposed to search and reconstruct how these ideas “from the South” has circulated toward the international sphere.

SECOND PART
Practical approach

Module 4
Judicial decisions in the field of rights to nature: a Latin American and compared perspectives. Compared and Argentinian jurisprudence analysis - special focus on decisions coming from Latin American countries - in which the legal status of nature and animals is being the subject of debate.

THIRD PART
Interdisciplinary approach

Module 5
Holistic Science Perspective. An introductory concept on the Holistic Science approach and Systems Thinking is going to be presented in order to interconnect the classic perspectives in academia.

Module 6
How Natural Sciences tackle this issue. From the Natural and Physical Sciences point of view, some central concepts to think this contemporaneous period such as Anthropocene and Biodiversity Loss, among others will be introduced.

Module 7
How Social Sciences and Humanities tackle this issue. From the Social Sciences and Humanities point of view, some core concepts that enable the understanding of how the link between nature and society has been reviewed in the past decades as well as the conflicts around the ecological issue will be introduced.

Module 8
How arts tackle this issue. From several arts expressions, some core concepts to understand how the link between nature and society has been reviewed in the past decades as well as the conflicts around the ecological issue will be introduced.

To find out more: http://www.unlvirtual.edu.ar/?portfolio=rights-of-nature-theoretical-pr…

The course is open to international students. The fees are of the order of 150 USD if I recall : contact the UNL at cursosvirtuales@fcjs.unl.edu.ar

#rightsofnature #nature #onlinecourse #course #regenerativepractices

On Thurs. Aug 20th at 7pm (Pacific), I will, along with the Rights of Mother Earth Task Force and Redbud Resource Group will host the conversation, 'Restoring the Land through Fire' with Ron Goode.

Ron Goode is an expert on good fire. California Indians have been using fire as a tool for managing natural resources for thousands of years, a practice that has yielded some surprising benefits to this fire-adapted landscape. "The way to water is through fire," says Ron, and in this episode of the Tending the Wild Summer Series, Ron will discuss that concept and more as he explains the importance of good fire, especially in the context of our changing climate and worsening wildfire seasons.

Join us via zoom and bring your friends, this is one talk you won't want to miss. There will be time for questions at the end.

Register here: https://pachamama.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYqd-6qqzgrGNI5k9wtzwsbBQH2…

and share with others here: https://www.facebook.com/events/588876548454035/

Hello Rights of Nature Friends,

On November 3rd, in Orange County, Florida, citizens will make history by voting on the Wekiva River and Econlockhatchee River Bill of Rights (WEBOR). It would install into law the rights of these two rivers and all waterways in Orange County to exist, flow, be free of pollution, and maintain a healthy ecosystem. It will also give citizens the right to clean water. This has never happened on the county level in the U.S.
As far as I know, this he only Rights of Nature initiative in the nation that will be on a ballot this November. We need your support. The opportunity to help on such a fundamental level doesn't happen often. Please keep reading. This is the case being made to non-Orange County Floridians.

This law, prescribing these rights, is necessary because:
• Orange County citizens, like all Floridians and I presume like you, do not have a right to clean water. In fact, a new law in Florida expressly says Floridians have NO rights regarding the natural world. This amendment guarantees Orange County citizens clean water.
• If corporations can have rights, so can nature. If nature doesn’t have rights, it can’t be defended against polluting corporations that do. That’s the legal reality.
• Our current regulatory system isn’t working. Our waterways in Florida have been polluted for years and it’s always the same story: “We have to elect the right people.” No. Our right to clean water and healthy ecosystems shouldn’t depend upon who’s in office.

The importance of this charter amendment to SW Floridians is two-fold.
First, pollution in Orange County makes it way into Lake Okeechobee, worsening blue-green algae blooms and red tides such as we residents of SWFL experienced in 2018, when our beaches were lined with dead marine life and our tourist economy was severely impacted. We’ve had multiple water summits down here, while the problem mostly originates up north.
Second, passing the Wekiva River and Econlockhatchee River Bill of Rights makes a Caloosahatchee River Bill of Rights or an Estero Bay Bill of Rights much more likely. Passing this ballot measure will clearly declare the will of the people to protect the quality of our lives and the natural world we cherish.
Opposing forces will be pumping lots of money into defeating this citizen initiative at the ballot box. We need to respond with a robust campaign of our own. Please help us by providing critical financial support now at https://righttocleanwater2020.com/. A $50.00 donation will buy approximately 350 texts messages to targeted voters, $100.00 twice that or a strategically placed 4’ x 8’ road sign.
Thank you!

Hi everyone. This is the first time I've posted in this group (:

An exciting case is going to be heard sometime in the next couple of months in Ecuador's Constitutional Court. The Rights of Nature will be used as a precedent in defence of a legally protected forest, the Reserva Los Cedros, which is being threatened by grand scale mining.

Los Cedros is in the most biodiverse region in the world, and home to several critically endangered species. There is an international campaign happening to support the local forest defenders and try to give worldwide attention to this case, as it has implications for extractive industries in over 2 million hectares of protected areas across Ecuador.

Here's a link to our press release if anyone is interested in sharing and supporting this campaign, thank you!
https://loscedrosreserve.org/los-cedros-legal-case-could-set-a-world-pr…

The seriously cute frog is pristimantis cedros - endemic to Los Cedros and only recently discovered. Photo credit Morley Read (:

Environmental issues are often democracy issues, which is why this Rights of Nature organization has filed a lawsuit to protect the right of citizens to vote this November on a county charter amendment recognizing the rights of two rivers. This is a first for Florida and the nation. Check it out: https://www.theinvadingsea.com/2020/07/10/floridas-clean-waterways-act-…. Photo by John Moran.

If you missed the live webinar with Casey Camp Horinek, Pennie Opal Plant, and Shannon Biggs speaking on the Rights of Nature with Movement Rights. You can watch it here

Last night (7-9-2020) the Rights of Mother Earth Task Force (Sonoma County) hosted an online screening of Tending the Wild - a documentary shines light on the environmental knowledge of indigenous peoples across California by exploring how communities have actively shaped and tended the land for millennia.

You can watch the recording here: