The following extract, in honor of Earth Day 2024—and every day of respectful living in mutual rapport between humans and nature—is from Chapter 1 in “Sustainability and the Rights of Nature in Practice,” edited by Cameron La Follette and Chris Maser.
Whanganui River in New Zealand
Rights of Nature: Beginnings
“Recognizing that human activity has major implications for the Earth’s ability to support human life in the future, governments, thinkers and advocates worldwide are searching for new paradigms, or refreshing traditional paradigms, that can restore the relationship of mutual respect. Some new ideas encompass the world; others focus on the local community or region. This is exactly what is needed, since human relationship to the environment is always local. In order to change current practices, it is necessary to change technologies, expectations and philosophies. This would seem to be a tall order, but it does not all have to be done at once. The most immediate need is simply to curb human overuse of the natural environment, so that ecosystems can once again flourish according to the ecological processes that create and maintain them. Deeper changes in human cultures, expectations and needs can evolve more slowly, as long as humans show restraint meantime in impinging on the natural environment.
It is, however, essential to approach the massive problems systemically. Symptomatic fixes of local ecological devastation—partial, and human focused—are commonplace worldwide, and tend to be popular, because they can focus narrowly and usually do not require deep-seated cultural or economic change. But they also maintain the focus on human needs rather than on what Nature needs to flourish. Most of these efforts, if carried to their conclusion, would provide minimal natural function, just enough to keep the mostly depleted ecosystem viable for maximum human use. Nature is not allowed to flourish, its resilience is greatly diminished, and the fabric of the local ecosystems—and, frequently, many species—trembles on the edge of extinction. Treating Nature this way also severely diminishes the richness of human communities.
…Different parts of the world show varying levels of trauma. Some cultures remain respectful of living within Nature’s limits, and as a result the ecosystems are fairly healthy. Bhutan is a good example of this. Other regions show the lack of environmental concern that seems essential for maximum industrialization. For example, widespread soil pollution in China, including about 19% of farmland, indicates the results of untrammeled use of pesticides and fertilizers, as well as the results of high industrialization activity leading to inorganic heavy metal pollution such as cadmium, mercury, and arsenic.
‘Rights of Nature’ is a shorthand term for a multipronged effort in many regions to deepen sustainability practices. The concept focuses on restoring relationship to human interaction with Nature, so that humans do not thoughtlessly plunder Nature as if it were merely an inanimate storehouse of resources. Arising out of an international conference in 2010 in Bolivia, the international Rights of Nature movement fused ideas and philosophies from around the world towards the common goal of placing respect for Nature’s right to flourish at the forefront of human activities.
…There are many ways of conceptualizing and undertaking the work to build a society where Nature thrives first. Often the efforts do not go by the name of ‘Rights of Nature,’ but are clearly directed towards a systemic vision of sustainability. They all require, among other things, that Nature be understood as a living entity, capable of entering into relationship with humans. If there is a true relationship, then humans have the responsibilities that inhere in any relationship: to respect the other party profoundly, and to care for their fate, health and future. This is all the more essential when Nature provides all that humans require for sustenance, from air to food and water. But Nature’s rights are inherent, rather than of human making. Humans recognize them and enter into respectful relationship with Nature in order to live sustainably, but do not create its rights. Humans only enforce their side of the relationship, to make sure that Nature flourishes. Understanding this is an important first step in grappling with the concept of Rights of Nature.
…It has become a cliché to say that the world is at a historic turning point in stewarding the health of the world’s ecosystems in the face of crises that may be undermining the Earth’s ability to support human life. But humans do not pour vast resources of time, money and self-sacrifice to restore and repair ecosystems out of fear; those are acts of love. We have a relationship with Nature to repair, a relationship more vital than any words can describe. Rights of Nature is fundamentally a means to relationship; it is neither a luxury nor an impediment to human progress. It is, instead, at the core of human life, as it always has been. The labor, creativity, communal willpower and self-sacrifice necessary to do it are there. In a thousand ways, worldwide, the respectful relationship with Nature, so brutally torn apart, is being repaired.”
Cape Perpetua on the coast of Oregon
Other Gifts-of-Nature Offerings:
• Every Day is a Prayerful Respect for the Earth
• Be One with Sacred Earth—Native American Wisdom
• Revering All Life — Native American Kinship
• The Essence of Spiritual Ecology
• Oceans—Water Bearers for the Land
• Clouds—the Presence of the Ocean
• Forests as Our Spiritual Inheritance
© Cameron La Follette and Chris Maser. Post © by Zane Maser, 2024. Ocean photo of Cape Perpetua by Sue Johnston. Other photo of the Whanganui River in New Zealand is gratefully used from Wikimedia Commons. All 2009-2024 rights of Zane Maser and SunnyCat Astrology reserved worldwide.
Always am I grateful for the inspiration and editorial assistance from Chris Maser, my kind-hearted, generous soul mate.
SunnyCat Astrology 
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