Granting Legal Rights to Nature by Paul Hanna




Methuselah - Granting Legal Rights to Nature by Paul Hanna

“Don’t expect to see a bird or a bear testify in court anytime soon, but there is a growing body of opinion that animals, birds, rivers, forests — nature — should have greater standing before the law. The concept has been around since 1972 when a professor at the University of Southern California, Christopher Stone, first hypothesized the notion; he asked in an article, Should Trees Have Standing? But legal scholars say we are still far from giving nature a solid legal voice.”

“If I’ve got a right to life, you have a duty not to kill me. If one thinks of other species in the same way — they wouldn’t have the same rights as humans, but they would at least have the right to exist, and therefore a fundamental right to play their part in the evolutionary story.”

Read full article at theStar.com >>

(Photo: Methuselah, the oldest living thing on earth by harold_davis)


About this entry