Barry Law Environmental and Earth Law Program Information Session Fall 2023
The Green Amendment, Orlando, January 8, 2023
Maya K. van Rossum is the Founder of Green Amendments for the Generations, a grassroots non-profit organization inspiring a nationwide movement to secure constitutional recognition and protection of environmental rights in every state and ultimately at the federal level. Maya is also the Delaware Riverkeeper, leading the watershed based advocacy organization, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, for over 30 years in its efforts to protect the health of the Delaware River and its tributaries. A skilled activist, attorney, strategist and community organizer, she was named in 2020 as a River Hero by River Network, in 2019 as one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s Power 100, and One of the “10 Most Influential People of 2015” When It Comes to Energy Issues by SNL Energy. Her writing has been featured in such publications as BloombergLaw, Law360, the Boston Globe, and TIME Magazine. She is author of, The Green Amendment: The People’s Fight for a Clean, Safe, and Healthy Environment. Since launching Green Amendments for The Generations, constitutional amendments have been proposed in 11 states, with New York formally passing a Green Amendment in 2021.
On Sunday, January 8th, the Center for Earth Jurisprudence hosted Maya, along with a panel of Constitutional Law experts, to discuss the realities of implementing “Green Amendments” in Florida. The panel included Barry Law professor Jason Buhi, former Barry Law professor Judy Koons, and Barry Law Alum and environmental advocate Mel Martin.
Earth Jurisprudence In Practice
Ecological Immersion Academy 2020: The Rights of Nature
Ecological Immersion Academy 2020
The Rights of Nature
Each year the Center for Earth Jurisprudence holds an Ecological Immersion Academy combining legal education with ecologically immersive activities. This Academy seeks to reestablish those connections human have with the natural world to better understand what we are advocating for. In Week One Center for Earth Jurisprudence Director Margaret Stewart provided an overview of the legal philosophy known as the Rights of Nature.
Recommended Readings
Boyd, David R., The Rights of Nature: A Legal Revolution That Could Save the World, Introduction xxi-xxxvi (2017).
Center for Earth Jurisprudence, An Introduction to Earth Jurisprudence: Guiding Principles and Wild Law Possibilities, 1-45.
Stone, Christopher D., Should Trees Have Standing? And Other Essays on Law, Morals, and the Environment, 1-48 (1996)
Koons, Judith. At The Tipping Point: Defining an Earth Jurisprudence for Social and Ecological Justice, 58 Loy. L. Rev. 362-383 (2012).
MacPherson, Elizabeth, et.al., Constitutional Law, Ecosystems, and Indigenous Peoples in Colombia: Biocultural Rights and Legal Subjects, Transnational Environmental Law, 1-20, Cambridge University Press (2020).
In Week Two Stacey Gordon Sterling, Animal Law Program Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund provided an overview of Animal Law.
Animal Rights Additional Readings Compiled by Stacey Gordon Sterling
What Can Animal Law Learn from Environmental Law (2d ed., Randall S. Abate ed., 2020).
Charlotte E. Blattner, The Recognition of Animal Sentience by Law, 9 J. Animal Ethics 121 (2019).
Karen Bradshaw, Animal Property Rights, 89 U. Colo. L. Rev. 809 (2018).
Maneesha Dekha, Unsettling Anthropocentric Legal Systems: Reconciliation, Indigenous Laws, and Animal Personhood, 41 J. Intercultural Studies 77 (2020).
David Favre, Living Property: A New Status for Animals Within the Legal System, 93 Marquette L. Rev. 1021 (2010).
Nicole Pallotta, Islamabad High Court Holds that Animals Have Legal Rights, ALDF (Oct. 2, 2020), https://aldf.org/article/islamabad-high-court-holds-that-animals-have-legal-rights/ (contains like to the court’s opinion).
Yon Soo Park & Benjamin Valentino, Animals Are People Too: Explaining Variation in Respect for Animal Rights, 41 Human Rights Q. 39 (2019)
Laurence H. Tribe, Ten Lessons Our Constitutional Experience Can Teach Us About the Puzzle of Animal Rights: The Work of Steven M. Wise, 7 Animal L. 1 (2001).
In Week Three Grant Wilson from the Earth Law Center provided an overview of Ecosystem Rights.
Grant Wilson, Murky Waters: Ambiguous International Law for Ocean Fertilization and Other Geoengineering, 49(3) TEX. INT’LL.J. 507 (2014).
Grant Wilson, Deepwater Horizon and the Law of the Sea: Was the Cure Worse than the Disease?, 41 B.C. ENVTL. AFF.L. REV. 63 (2014).
Grant Wilson, Minimizing Global Catastrophic and Existential Risks from Emerging Technologies through InternationalLaw, 31 VA. ENVTL. L.J. 307 (2013).
Chris Wold, Grant Wilson, and Sarah Foroshani, Leveraging Climate Change Benefits Through the World TradeOrganization: Are Fossil Fuel Subsidies Actionable?, 43 GEO. J. INT'LL. 635-694 (2012).
In Week Four, Professor Nadia Ahmad of Barry University School of Law presented on Environmental Justice.
Earth Rights Conference 2019: Tribunal on the Rights of Lake Vättern
During the Earth Rights Conference 2019 a Tribunal on the Rights of Lake Vättern was held.
Prosecutor: Gunilla Högberg Björck.
Judges: Margaret Stewart, Center for Earth Jurisprudence, Stefan Mikaelsson, Sametinget, Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network.
Secretariat: Hana Begovic, Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.
See more on www.naturensrattigheter.se www.earthrightsconference.org
Earth Rights Conference 2019
“Just as human beings have human rights, all other beings also have rights which are specific to their species or kind and appropriate for their role and function within the communities within which they exist.”
4th International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature
Tom Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network guides his relatives in the opening ceremony of the 4th International Rights of Nature Tribunal held in conjunction with the COP23 in Bonn, Germany. To watch the compelling testimonies at this Tribunal, please visit https://therightsofnature.org/videos/.
Webinar Series "Protecting Our Common Home"
PROTECTING OUR COMMON HOME
The Center for Earth Jurisprudence is hosting a 3 part webinar series that began Jan 13th! This series explores emergent legal systems and cultural themes and addresses the intrinsic rights of nature and the international Earth laws movement. Topics include law and policy, ethics, principles of environmental sustainability, science, and spirituality.
FIRST WEBINAR was Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016: Highlights of Third International Tribunal on the Rights of Nature and the December 2015 Paris Climate Summit. CEJ's Director, Sr. Pat Siemen, traveled to Paris amidst COP21. There, she attended numerous gatherings, teachings, discussions, and the 2 day International Tribunal on the Rights of Nature. The first episode in this webinar series highlights the Tribunal and the 2015 Paris Climate Summit.
SECOND WEBINAR was Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016: Rights of Nature: What are They? The first half was led by Sr. Pat Siemen, lecturing on the history of the Rights of Nature movement and answering the question "what are rights of nature?"
The second half showcased Shannon Biggs from Movement Rights who addressed Community Rights.
THIRD WEBINAR: Wednesday, March 16, 2016: Florida Constitutional Revision Committee and a "Community Rights" Amendment Protecting Human and Ecological Health
This webinar featured Italo Lenta, Libby Comeaux, Esq., and Sr. Pat Siemen, discussing community rights and a constitutional amendment that protects our ecosystems.
3rd International Tribunal- Rights of Nature, Introduction
International Rights of Nature Tribunal Video
Introduction was shot & produced by Clement Guerra. The Tribunal was held in Paris, France parallel to UN FCCC COP 21. We were privileged to sit on the steering committee that planned the Tribunal, and were in attendance.
We were in Paris representing the Center for Earth Jurisprudence (CEJ) and serving as a member of the planning committee of the Third International Tribunal on the Rights of Nature.
The first Tribunal was created in 2013 by the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN). CEJ is a member and active participant in the Alliance. On December 4 and 5th the Third International Tribunal on the Rights of Nature took place in Paris at Maison des Metallos. GARN hosted the Tribunal in partnership with End Ecocide on Earth, and supported by NaturesRights and Attac France. The Tribunal has a strong focus on enabling indigenous peoples and local communities to share their unique concerns and solutions about land, water and culture which impact the shape of climate justice within the global community.
The Tribunal is a unique, citizen-created initiative. It gives people from all around the world the opportunity to testify publicly as to the destruction taking place in their communities — destruction that is often “legal” and done so with the support of governments and corporations.
Much like a criminal indictment or grand jury, the Tribunal featured internationally renowned lawyers and leaders for planetary justice, who sat as Judges and heard cases addressing issues of climate change, GMOs, fracking, extractive industries and other environmental and human violations. The distinguished panel of Tribunal judges consider the testimony, and then offer judgments and recommendations for Earth’s protection and restoration based on the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. This Declaration demands everyone respect the integrity of Earth’s vital ecological processes. Accordingly, the Declaration supports proposed amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to recognize the crime of Ecocide.
Some of CEJ’s dearest friends and past workshop presenters were Judges or witnesses during the Tribunal. Cormac Cullinan served as the Chair of the Tribunal. Vandana Shiva presented a case with her peers on the destruction of food security because of GMO seeds. Natalie Greene sat as lead secretariat of the Tribunal and Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians, presented the case on water privatization. Former Bolivian Ambassador to the UN Pablo Salon, and Nnimmo Bassey, former chair of Friends of the Earth International lead the case against the Financialization of Nature and the hidden downsides to the UN REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) program being foisted on primarily indigenous communities. Shannon Biggs, Movement Rights, USA, testified on behalf of the devastation happening because of fracking, as did Casey Camp Horinek of the Ponca Nation. Linda Sheehan of the Earth Law Center acted as one of the two prosecuting attorneys. Colleague Valérie Cabanes presented the case on Ecocide.
Other prestigious Judges included Tom Goldtooth, Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, Alberto Acosta, former President Ecuador Constitutional Assembly, and Osprey Orielle Lake, co-director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network.
After hearing two days of testimony, the Judges found many injustices against Nature. Those Judgments will be released for the world to see—to apply and to consider. Linda Sheehan, in a powerful closing argument, aptly argued this: “we hear often that we need system change, not climate change…. system change is the Tribunal’s primary charge. Energy sources, or food systems, or a climate convention focused on our destructive economic system violate human rights, violate the rights of indigenous peoples, and violate the rights of nature.”