Riverkeeper Webinar Series: Rights of Nature – From Anthropocentrism to Ecocentrism

When:

March 12, 2024: 6:00PM to 7:00PM

Where:

Online - Zoom

In the next installation of our webinar series, Riverkeeper Board Member Karenna Gore of the Center for Earth Ethics will be joined by Thomas Linzey of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights and Riverkeeper Advisory Board Member Steven “Owl” Smith of the Ramapo Munsee Nation to discuss the movement for the “Rights of Nature.” This movement is focused on securing legal standing for natural entities such as rivers, forests, and whole ecosystems in a way that provides a necessary counterbalance to the legal doctrine of corporate personhood. It also encompasses a larger shift in mindset, away from viewing nature as merely property or resources for human use and toward viewing nature as having intrinsic value and agency. The Rights of Nature movement has roots in Indigenous ways of knowing. This webinar will give an overview of the field, situate it in the context of Riverkeeper’s work, and give up-to-date information about jurisprudence and litigation on the national and international level.