On May 20, 2024, Rockland Sierra Club, Lower Hudson Group and ROAR (Religious Orders Along the River) hosted this conversation titled: SHOULD RIVERS AND TREES HAVE LEGAL RIGHTS?
A new movement is growing around the rights of nature, arguing that rivers, lakes, and forests should have legal rights for themselves, not for their value to human beings. Life on earth depends on the integrity of these ecosystems. Is this just another strategy, or is it a very different way of viewing the world, expanding our moral compass circle to include nature?
Peggy Kurtz of Rockland Sierra Club introduces and moderates the conversation.
Sister Carol De Angelo of ROAR introduces her organization’s work in environmental justice and connecting humans to the natural environment.
Tish O’Dell, Consulting Director for the Community Environmental Defense Fund, presents some background on this new movement, which is based on traditional ways of honoring the natural world, and then opens up the conversation to participants in the meeting.
Watch the discussion HERE.