Stephan Harding is the coordinator of the MSc in Holistic Sciences at Schumacher College, Devon, UK. He is the author of Animate Earth: Animated Gaia: Science, Intuition and Gaia (2006). This article by the author appeared in The Guardian (3 April 2007). Translation: Jiří Zemánek.
The only way to prevent the destruction of our planet is to give it legal rights.
Stephan Harding
It is now undeniable that our culture is harming the world. There are many attempts to remedy this situation – most of them focus on either technical solutions or reforming existing laws, such as introducing “green” taxes or expanding systems using tradable emissions permits. These approaches have much to offer, but perhaps it is time to question the very institutions and ways of thinking that have brought us to this situation, so that we can change them before it is too late.
A key area that calls for reform is our legal system, which in its current form is aiding the destruction of the natural world. At the heart of our laws is the Enlightenment notion that we humans live in a universe that is nothing more than a mindless machine full of resources to use as we please. Our jurisprudence has been carefully crafted to give us unlimited freedom to use these supposedly dead resources solely for the benefit of our own species. In the current legal system, only humans have rights.
This human-centered, or anthropocentric, legal framework, however, is based on an outdated worldview that is increasingly at odds with science. Quantum physics has shown us that matter is much more like a sentient form of energy than the inert, dead “stuff” we used to think of it as. Breakthroughs in ecological science have taught us that the entire Earth is far from a dead ball of stone, but rather a living organism that keeps its surface fit for life through complex interactions between its living forms and its rocks, atmosphere, and water. And the latest findings in biology suggest that even bacteria may have some level of self-awareness.
Terrestrial jurisdiction
We live in a world that is far more alive than we ever dared to assume, and it is therefore appropriate to imagine a legal system in which our planet and all its living creatures have the same rights to life and flourish as humans. From the perspective of this new legal understanding, known as Earth jurisdiction, all of nature resembles a community or “great body” that only functions well when each of its parts thrives.
In practice, this would mean that no development projects could take place without taking into account the rights of the minerals in the land, the rights of individual living beings, rivers, mountains, and entire ecosystems. If something went wrong, cases would be heard in ordinary courts, where the evidence would be heard by those who could best represent the rights of these more-than-human persons. These could be people who lived simple lives near the sites in question: shamans or natives, for example. It would be understood that the Earth has no special obligations to us, but that its main interest is to maintain the integrity of the whole, if necessary by restricting the activities of any errant species such as ourselves.
For South African lawyer Cormac Cullinan, who, along with Father Thomas Berry, is one of the pioneers of the Earth jurisdiction perspective, a fundamental shift in our understanding of the purpose of human governance systems is essential. Is it right, Cullinan asks, to “govern in a way that maximizes our human freedom to use the Earth, and to intervene only or primarily when that use threatens or undermines the rights of other people”? I think not, because the survival of our culture depends on learning to govern ourselves in such a way that we finally find our fruitful and rightful place in the great web of life.