Grant Wilson and Michelle Bender of Earth Law Center - Legal Rights of Nature

“How do you give nature a voice within carbon markets?” -Grant Wilson

Grant Wilson, Executive Director of Earth Law Center, & Michelle Bender, Ocean Campaigns Director of Earth Law Center, join hosts Armando Davila & Troy Carter for a discussion about the Rights of Nature Movement. After an overview of how this movement advocates for nature to have rights just as humans do, Grant and Michelle discuss traction that the movement is gaining in Ecuador and New Zealand and explore how this movement can be integrated with the carbon market’s financial approach to protect nature to the fullest extent possible. This deep conversation also includes a heart-centered discussion about how humanity, society, economics, and law are inseparable from nature and also explores the unique challenges of protecting the rights of our oceans. You’ll also learn more about the Earth Law Center and how you can get involved.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• An overview of the rights of nature movement and Earth law

• Rights of nature laws that are being enacted internationally

• The articles of Ecuador’s rights of nature

• An example of a successful lawsuit in the name of rights of nature

• A journey into Ecuador’s Los Cedros cloud forest and how Earth law saved it from mining, setting a precedent for respecting the rights of nature

• New Zealand’s journey of granting legal rights to its rivers

• What rights of nature means in relation to indigenous worldviews

• How the rights of nature movement can be integrated with the carbon market’s financial approach to protecting nature

• Unique corporate structures where nature can be a shareholder or sit on a board of directors

• How humanity, society, economics, and law are inseparable from nature

• The dangers of viewing Earth as a machine and focusing on technological solutions for the climate crisis

• How listeners can get involved in the rights of nature movement

• Approaching decisions that may support human/societal development but may be harmful to nature (ie mining precious metals for technology)

• How the rights of nature apply to oceans

• How legal victories can change public opinion and vice versa

• About the Earth Law Center

RELEVANT LINKS:

Earthshot Labs: www.earthshot.eco

Earth Law Center: https://www.earthlawcenter.org/ 

Intro & Outro Music by Little Whale: https://littlewhale.bandcamp.com