Feature image: Lake Huron, shown here, could be conferred legal rights under a new bill put forth in the New York State Assembly. Education Images/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
As the Trump administration pushes the climate crisis to a breaking point, a novel legal tactic is gaining momentum in the fight.
Will the Great Lakes, one of the natural wonders of the United States, be allowed to go to court to defend their rights to exist on equal terms with the human race? Last month, a bill was introduced in the New York State Assembly granting them and all other bodies of water in New York those legal rights. The waters, the bill declares, “shall possess the unalienable and fundamental rights to exist […] free from human violations.”