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How 'Rights of Nature' Is Recasting the Relationship Between Law and the Earth [1]

In 2006, a local government council in Pennsylvania concerned about sewage sludge dumping enacted the Western legal system’s first formal “rights of nature” instrument. Today, numerous countries have laws recognizing specific rights or even legal personhood for nature. As legal expert Alice Bleby explains, this new perspective arises from a wide range of contexts and plays out in many different ways.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat: 
Activism [3]
Biodiversity [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Environmental Studies [10]
Fish & Fisheries [11]
Forests [12]
Government [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Natural Resources [15]
Policy [16]
Pollution [17]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [18]
Water & Oceans [19]
Region: 
National (U.S.) [20]
California [21]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [22]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [23]
International [24]
Africa [25]
Asia [26]
Australia & Oceania [27]
South America [28]
Visibility: 
Public [29]
  • Read more about How 'Rights of Nature' Is Recasting the Relationship Between Law and the Earth [1]

Amid Heat Waves, Data on Heat Deaths Deadly Serious [30]

Heat waves, heat domes … heat deaths. The reality of climate change means a grim uptick in fatalities, more so from excess heat than any other kind of extreme weather event. Reporter’s Toolbox points to useful data sources for covering the crisis, with insights on how to go behind the numbers to find the stories of those most vulnerable to heat’s effects.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Reporters Toolbox [31]
Topics on the Beat: 
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [32]
Environmental Justice [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Health [33]
Journalism & Media [34]
People & Population [35]
Region: 
National (U.S.) [20]
Visibility: 
Public [29]
  • Read more about Amid Heat Waves, Data on Heat Deaths Deadly Serious [30]

"New Colombian President Pledges To Protect Rainforest" [36]

"Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first elected leftist president, will take office in August with ambitious proposals to halt the record-high rates of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Petro has promised to limit agribusiness expansion into the forest, and create reserves where Indigenous communities and others are allowed to harvest rubber, acai and other non-timber forest products."

Biodiversity [4]
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Justice [8]
Forests [12]
Public [29]
South America [28]
Source: AP [37], 06/27/2022
  • Read more about "New Colombian President Pledges To Protect Rainforest" [36]

Haaland Lays Out Next Steps On Native Boarding Schools Probe, Legislation [38]

"Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Wednesday outlined the next steps her department has planned to address the legacy of abuses at government-run schools for Indigenous children and legislation to examine the matter."

Environmental Justice [8]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [35]
Public [29]
National (U.S.) [20]
Source: The Hill [39], 06/24/2022
  • Read more about Haaland Lays Out Next Steps On Native Boarding Schools Probe, Legislation [38]
August 24, 2022 to August 26, 2022

Environmental Justice Briefing for Reporters on Plastic Pollution [40]

Beyond Plastics invites journalists to Bennington College in Vermont for this two-day, in-person environmental justice briefing on plastic pollution issues, including its impact on frontline communities in the southern US and Indonesia.

Other Events [41]
Visibility: 
Public [29]
Topics on the Beat: 
Chemicals [5]
Environmental Justice [8]
Pollution [17]
Region: 
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [42]
Asia [26]

"Native American Tribes To Co-Manage National Monument For First Time" [43]

"The Biden administration has reached a historic agreement to give five Native American tribes more say over the day-to-day management of a national monument in Utah, marking a new chapter in the federal government’s often-fraught relationship with tribes."

Environmental Justice [8]
Government [13]
Natural Resources [15]
Public [29]
National (U.S.) [20]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [44]
Source: Washington Post [45], 06/21/2022
  • Read more about "Native American Tribes To Co-Manage National Monument For First Time" [43]

"Black Farming Projects Look To Recoup Historical U.S. Land Losses" [46]

"When Black land rights activists were offered a 150-acre (60-hectare) plot in the U.S. South, they saw it as an opportunity towards righting a historical wrong."

Agriculture [47]
Environmental Justice [8]
Public [29]
National (U.S.) [20]
Source: Thomson Reuters Fdn. [48], 06/21/2022
  • Read more about "Black Farming Projects Look To Recoup Historical U.S. Land Losses" [46]

"Unhoused in Phoenix’s Perilous Heat: ‘If I Don’t Keep Cool, I’ll Die’" [49]

"Phoenix is the US’s deadliest city for heat fatalities while its urban sprawl makes it a concrete heat island".

Climate Change [6]
Disasters [32]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Public [29]
National (U.S.) [20]
Source: Guardian [50], 06/21/2022
  • Read more about "Unhoused in Phoenix’s Perilous Heat: ‘If I Don’t Keep Cool, I’ll Die’" [49]

Environmental Journalist Recounts His Historical Slave-Era Find [51]

The historic discovery of the Clotilda — America’s “Last Slave Ship” — is only part of the story told in a new book by Alabama-based journalist Ben Raines, which tells the far larger tale about the ship’s survivors, the remarkable Jim Crow-era community they created and its ultimate erosion when faced by decades of environmental racism. A review by BookShelf Editor Tom Henry.

SEJ Publication Types: 
BookShelf [52]
Topics on the Beat: 
Environmental Justice [8]
Journalism & Media [34]
People & Population [35]
Region: 
National (U.S.) [20]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [53]
International [24]
Africa [25]
Visibility: 
Public [29]
  • Read more about Environmental Journalist Recounts His Historical Slave-Era Find [51]

"Senate Poised To Pass Bill Helping Soldiers Exposed To Toxic Substances" [54]

"Sgt. First Class Heath Robinson deployed to Iraq and Kosovo with the Ohio National Guard, but the battle didn’t end when he returned home."

Chemicals [5]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [8]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Military [55]
Public [29]
National (U.S.) [20]
Source: The Hill [56], 06/14/2022
  • Read more about "Senate Poised To Pass Bill Helping Soldiers Exposed To Toxic Substances" [54]

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Source URL:https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=167

Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/publications/features/how-rights-nature-recasting-relationship-between-law-and-earth [2] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication-types/features [3] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/activism [4] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/biodiversity-1 [5] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics [6] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/climate-change [7] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health [8] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice [9] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-politics [10] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmentalists [11] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/fisheries [12] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/forests [13] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/government [14] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/laws [15] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/land [16] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/policy [17] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/pollution [18] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/religion-faith-and-spirituality [19] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/water [20] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national [21] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/california [22] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/great-lakes [23] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/mid-atlantic [24] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international [25] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/africa [26] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/asia [27] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/australia-oceania [28] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/south-america [29] https://www.sej.org/taxonomy/term/81 [30] https://www.sej.org/publications/reporters-toolbox/amid-heat-waves-data-heat-deaths-deadly-serious [31] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication-types/reporter%E2%80%99s-toolbox [32] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/disaster [33] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/health [34] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/journalism/media [35] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/people-population [36] https://www.sej.org/headlines/new-colombian-president-pledges-protect-rainforest [37] https://apnews.com/article/climate-wildfires-politics-presidential-elections-deforestation-d9a4a884d8b1de68a93fb36f2a4bef8b [38] https://www.sej.org/headlines/haaland-lays-out-next-steps-native-boarding-schools-probe-legislation [39] https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/3533458-haaland-lays-out-next-steps-on-native-american-boarding-schools-investigation-legislation/ [40] https://www.sej.org/calendar/environmental-justice-briefing-reporters-plastic-pollution [41] https://www.sej.org/category/event-type/other-events [42] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/northeast [43] https://www.sej.org/headlines/native-american-tribes-co-manage-national-monumeant-first-time [44] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/mountain-west [45] https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/06/20/bears-ears-national-monument-tribes/ [46] https://www.sej.org/headlines/black-farming-projects-look-recoup-historical-us-land-losses [47] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/agriculture [48] https://news.trust.org/item/20220617132319-3rsp7/ [49] https://www.sej.org/headlines/unhoused-phoenix-s-perilous-heat-if-i-don-t-keep-cool-i-ll-die [50] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/20/phoenix-extreme-heat-housing-crisis [51] https://www.sej.org/publications/bookshelf/environmental-journalist-recounts-his-historical-slave-era-find [52] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication-types/bookshelf [53] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/southeast [54] https://www.sej.org/headlines/senate-poised-pass-bill-helping-soldiers-exposed-toxic-substances [55] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/military [56] https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3519534-senate-poised-to-pass-bill-helping-soldiers-exposed-to-toxic-substances/ [57] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=166 [58] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=163 [59] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=164 [60] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=165 [61] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=168 [62] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=169 [63] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=170 [64] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=171 [65] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-justice?page=260