About Earth Law Portal
About Earth Law Portal
The Earth Law Portal is a digital portal and repository of Earth Law legal models, templates, and resources.
Here, activists, lawmakers, businesses, and members of the public can easily join the movement to create and implement a new generation of Earth-centered laws, with a focus on the United States and North America (Turtle Island).
Our vision for Earth Law is to amplify and, in some cases, “import” these efforts and partner with organizations and allies to make best practices and resources accessible to all—to empower communities, governments and everyone to take action for Nature.
By seeking to restore balance to our relationship with Nature, we collectively protect human well-being by contributing to the protection of ecosystems that support all life. Join us!
What is Earth Law?
What is Earth Law?
“Earth Law” is an emerging series of Earth-centered laws for protecting, restoring, and stabilizing the functional interdependency of Earth's life and life-support systems.
Earth Law movements include the following, amongst others
Earth Law movements include the following, amongst others
Earth Law movements include the following, amongst others
Why Earth Law in the United States?
Why Earth Law in the United States?
The United States was a global environmental leader when it passed a series of landmark environmental laws in the 1970s. While these laws have been helpful in slowing the destruction of Nature, they have failed to restore balance to our relationship with ecosystems and species.
Now, 50 years later, we must acknowledge that our legal system is sorely outdated. The climate and biodiversity crises has reached a boiling point, with direct impacts to the well-being of both human and non-human communities of life throughout the United States.
We need to address root causes to solve this problem. That means rejecting the false notion that Nature is mere human property, a limitless resource, rather than embracing the truth that humans are part of a finite web of life. We must create a legal system that is ecocentric, or Nature-focused, rather than anthropocentric, or purely human focused.
Fortunately, there are movements across the globe that the United States can learn from. The Rights of Nature has been embraced throughout Latin America and in hotspots in South Asia, Africa, Oceania, and beyond.
The rights of future generations movement is advancing rapidly in hotspots in Europe and at the United Nations. Ecocide is under consideration as a recognized crime at the International Criminal Court. Human environmental rights. Biocultural rights. Nature on the Board. Ocean rights. Animal rights. Ecocentric governance. The list goes on and on.
While some of these movements have made progress in the United States, by and large, they have yet to reach the mainstream implementation they are beginning to earn in many foreign and international jurisdictions. It is time to listen, to learn, and to take action.
Acknowledgement
