Earth Law Center Blog
Coalition Spotlight: Ríos Protegidos
Earth Law Center is proud to announce joining the Ríos Protegidos initiative, a space that seeks to strengthen the protection of Chile’s rivers by applying existing tools, recognizing gaps and opportunities in river conservation and restoration, and promoting new legislation on protected and restored rivers. ELC’s Latin America Legal Program recently participated in a workshop to promote the conservation and permanent restoration of rivers in the Aysén region—a huge, sparsely populated area in southern Chile that is home to volcanoes, massive ice fields, and other natural wonders.
Dam Removal 101: Why Earth Law Supports Free-Flowing Rivers
Since Earth law highlights our moral and sacred obligation to prevent species extinction and catastrophic ecosystem degradation, it places paramount importance on the fact that free-flowing rivers are essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems and biodiversity.
Utah Advances Anti-Rights of Nature Bill with Implications for Artificial Intelligence
The Utah state legislature has in recent months been advancing anti-Rights of Nature legislation in the form of H.B. 249, which now awaits the governor’s signature. The bill, known as the “Utah Legal Personhood Amendments,” would explicitly prohibit state governmental entities from granting legal personhood to bodies of water, land, plants, nonhuman animals, and other categories—including artificial intelligence.
"Green Amendments" and the Right to a Healthy Environment
You may be surprised to learn that federally, and within the majority of states, the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is not an essential right afforded to the people. What can be done to change that?
Earth Law Center Advocates for the Rights of Peru's Marañón River
A major court ruling on a case against Peruvian state oil company Petroperu, as well as the Regional Government of Loreto and other state entities, is expected in the coming weeks. It has the potential to establish the river as a rights-bearing entity, which would make it the next in a growing list of rivers in South America to have been recognized as having rights.
Nederland Appoints Guardians for Boulder Creek Watershed
The town of Nederland, Colorado, located in the mountains west of Boulder, has appointed two guardians on behalf of Boulder Creek and its watershed, whose rights they previously recognized via town resolution. This move is being celebrated as the first time people have been appointed legal guardians for Nature within the U.S.
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Earth Law
Earth law is the emerging body of law that will protect, stabilize, and restore the functional interdependence of Earth's life and life-support systems at the local, bioregional, and global levels. Earth law may be expressed in constitutional, statutory, common law, and customary law, as well as in treaties and other agreements both public and private.
