Earth jurisprudence

In essence a regulatory framework for environmental protection is defensive in nature and is impeding our ability to protect the environment. On the other hand, “movements” are driven by communities, unwilling to accept such a defensive role for themselves and move toward fixing the problems of governance that consistently shove them into that position in the first place. Indeed, people were once treated as property. In response, the abolitionists did not ask for a “slave protection agency” - they sought recognition of their rights in law. Securing rights means not fiddling around with regulating how that property can be used. It means changing the very framework of governance that defined those things as property in the first place.

It has been said that there is nothing as powerful as an idea, whose time has come. In the past eight years there has been a groundswell of action in this area and communities have been driving rights for nature legislation into law. Some examples include Pennsylvania, USW where five Municipalities (20,000 people) passed “rights for nature” ordinances - which says nature has right to exist and flourish and gives community standing to advocate the rights of nature.

Further, in 2008 the constitution of Ecuador was amended to state that nature has the “right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its natural cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution”. To ensure these rights the government is responsible for "precaution and restriction measures in all the activities that can lead to the extinction of species, the destruction of ecosystems or the permanent alteration of natural cycles".

Berry has coined the term “Earth Jurisprudence” to describe this evolution in law. Earth jurisprudence refers to legal philosophies developed by humans that are derived from and consistent with the laws of nature. The law of nature is termed the “Great Jurisprudence” and it invites the human community to “take its lead from the universe and not from itself when establishing laws”.

By understanding and respecting these processes, Earth jurisprudence supplies the general principles out of which practical laws can be extrapolated. Two important consequences of this the contention that our law should evolve to reflect the inherent value of nature and that human beings are deeply, deeply connected and dependant on nature. This shift has the potential to protect our environment and shift our perception of nature in a way that a regulatory approach cannot.