Earth Law Center Blog
Earth Jurisprudence and its Consideration of Animals
Janice Cox of World Animal Net (WAN) discusses the connections between the degradation of nature and animal exploitation and abuse in our society. She calls for a shift towards Earth Jurisprudence, prioritizing and protecting the natural world.
ELC to Attend Puebla’s Living Rivers Forum and Festival
Earth Law Center is participating in the Ríos Vivos Foro y Festival (Living Rivers Forum and Festival) in Puebla, Mexico. Participants will consider new approaches to river restoration and celebrate local waterways like the Atoyac River.
An Earth Law Solution to Ocean Plastic Pollution
Plastic pollution in Earth's oceans seriously threatens marine ecosystem health; current environmental laws have failed to address this global issue.
Rights for the River Ethiope, Nigeria
It is a special place of worship due to its origination at the base of a cottonwood tree; an environmental irony where human interest and appreciation endangers what it seeks to appreciate.
Co-Violations: Where Both Human and Ocean Rights Violations Occur
The Earth Law Framework for Marine Protected Areas serves as a tool for adopting a holistic and rights-based approach to ocean governance; protecting both nature and humans from co-violations of their rights at sea.
The Amazon River Needs Rights Recognition Now
The Amazon River is the world’s largest in water volume, and 2nd only to the Nile in surface water. It is the largest river basin, running through Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana, Bolivia and Brazil.
Rights of Nature: A Few Theoretical Considerations
The Rights of Nature movement... is still relatively young, and its proponents are still actively involved in debates about how to best articulate its conceptual framework.
Earth Law Center’s 2017 Was One for the Books
Medicine Bow National Forest, near ELC's new regional office in Boulder, CO
Dams + Climate Change = Bad News
Dams disrupt a waterway's ability to support vital ecosystems. They increase evaporation, and make coastlines vulnerable to storm surges and rising sea levels.
Earth Law Center’s Fight to Return Rights to the Ocean
In Spring 2017, ELC launched the Rights of the Ocean Initiative to promote an Earth-centered paradigm in ocean governance.
How Earth Law Can Help Cetaceans in Uruguay
The convergence of two major ocean currents turn the waters of coastal Uruguay into a rich ecosystem, and nursery for fish, seabirds, and whales.
Indigenous Perspectives at the Forefront of Environmental Jurisprudence
Earth Law recognizes the worldviews of many indigenous cultures and applies it to legal systems.
Do Dams Violate a River’s Right to Flow?
Once a symbol of ingenuity and engineering prowess, the latest research shows that dams destroy river ecosystems and adversely affect human health and well-being.
Building Momentum: Earth Law Center’s Universal Declaration of River Rights
Laws safeguarding the environment have not kept apace with rapidly expanding human activity. Earth has lost more than half its trees since humans first learned to wield an axe. According to the WWF, roughly one-quarter of coral reefs worldwide are considered damaged beyond repair, with another two-thirds under serious threat. The good news is that a solution has appeared, in the form of Earth Law.
Views from ELC’s First International Marine Protected Area Conference
IMPAC4 met in Chile with over 1000 participants from 80 countries, including the Prince of Monaco, President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet and renowned oceanographer, Dr. Sylvia Earle.
How Rights of Nature Will Help Restore Mexico City’s Rivers
Securing rights for nature would mean that rivers have a right to clean water and adequate flows, and ecosystems have a right to integral health free from pollution.
Ecosystem Based Approach to MPAs
Despite many successes of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), our world's seas and oceans continue to suffer from pollution and degradation. What the seas and oceans need is a paradigm shift so that other species and ecosystem needs are equally important to human ones.
Earth Law Means Rights for All (Including Humans)
"Now, the world at large seems to be rediscovering indigenous wisdom by coming around to the idea that humans are part of a complex whole – not outside and independent of it."
A New Paradigm for Our Ocean
Earth Law Center is promoting a new paradigm for ocean governance- one that focuses on the Ocean’s own well-being and is guided by principles of sustainability, ecosystem health, precaution and interconnectedness.
The Importance of the Atrato River in Colombia Gaining Legal Rights
Guest Blogger Laura Villa gives us the scoop on the Atrato River in Colombia gaining legal rights.