How to take action for Rights of Nature
Rights for Nature are easy to implement, it's about principles!
Lots of people get discouraged when they think about getting rights for Nature. But it’s actually not that hard, and lots of people are doing it. Here’s HOW.
Portrait of Fernando Lezama, Taita, Piajao, Putumayo, Colombia
“We do not see that this device will be ever capable of sending recognizable speech over a distance of several miles. Messer Hubbard and Bell want to install one of their ‘telephone devices’ in every city. The idea is idiotic on the face of it.”
If you tell your friends you’re getting Rights for Nature, they’ll probably tell you it’s an impossible task, and an unsolvable problem.
But it's not. Here’s why.
1) Everyones doing it!
Rights for Nature have been implemented all over the world — pretty much every Indigenous nation already has it in their legal code. (And they are happy to teach about why and how it works.) But it’s also been implemented in the developing and the industrialized world, and there is probably a great legal team working on it near you already. Don’t believe us? Just look at the list!
2) You can start small
The $206 billion tobacco settlement started with a waitress who had lung cancer from second-hand smoke in a small town in California. You don’t need to be big to get something done. In fact, when it comes to landmark law, sometimes it helps a lot to start small and know the territory well.
3) Rights are about principles
You don’t have to solve all implementation problems at once with a Rights of Nature code. You just have to clearly spell out the principles you are trying to achieve. Principles are not values, they are fundamental truths. Rights of Nature is great because it’s just putting natural law, and basic truths about sustainability into the legal code, on equal footing with commercial interests. Thankfully you already have a lot of the work done because human rights, INCLUDES Nature’s rights in the “right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment”.
4) Enforcement is location specific
A Rights of Nature code needs to be followed by legal work on enforcing Rights. Legal codes on enforcement need to be jurisdiction specific. Which is why we love Stop Ecocide because their work is synergistic with, and complementary to ours. When you put in a clean, understandable, and clear Rights code that people in your jurisdiction are willing to agree to, you give enforcement action something to build on.
5) It's not about ideology
Lots of people start arguing when you ask them “why” they would do a Rights of Nature code. But the truth is, people have lots of different motivations for doing something. A good action for Rights of Nature is about “how”, and ”what”. If you open up to why someone might do something, and just focus on if they’re willing to end up at the same destination, you’ll find it's actually not that hard to get people to agree that Rights of Nature makes sense, and will help everyone have a cleaner, healthier, and more abundant planet.
6) You CAN do it
““Furthermore, why would any person want to use this ungainly and impractical device when he can send a messenger to the telegraph office and have a clear written message sent to any large city in the United States? … Mr. G.G. Hubbard’s fanciful predictions, while they sound rosy, are based on wild-eyed imagination and lack of understanding of the technical and economic facts of the situation, and a posture of ignoring the obvious limitations of his device, which is hardly more than a toy … This device is inherently of no use to us. We do not recommend its purchase.””
The truth is, you can’t listen to everyone if you want to do something awesome for the future. Sometimes you just have to listen to other people who have done something similar.
People all over the world are implementing Rights for Nature. And you can too.
Choose a jurisdiction: Remember, smaller is better at first!
Research how to get a Rights code adopted: You’re the one who knows your local landscape.
Get buy-in: Remember buy-in is about what not why. Rights are principles not values.
Adopt it: Get it done.
We’re not saying this is going to be easy, we’re saying you should do it anyway. Because nothing good happens by talk. It only happens with action.
In conclusion, Nature’s rights are achievable
When we started down this path, it seemed crazy and wholly improbable that we would make any traction where so many had failed previously. Everyone around us told us to turn back and stop. We weren’t the right people, with the right motivation, and other, better, people had failed.
We didn’t listen. We were listening to Nature, which needs this. Because we work for Nature. And you can too.
Please amplify this initiative by sharing the message on our unbranded social channels.
For Nature. With ❤️.
