What If Nature Had Rights?
RIGHTS OF NATURE 101 WEBINAR SERIES
how has RIGHTS OF NATURE become an international movement?
what might it be like to have rights of nature for our community?
Rights of Nature 101Webinar Series
Beginning June 17th, join us for Rights of Nature 101—a dynamic webinar series exploring the growing global movement to recognize ecosystems as legal entities with rights. Together, we’ll trace the history of Rights of Nature organizing in the Berkshires and the Northeast, learn from groundbreaking campaigns in Pittsburgh, PA and Orange County, FL, and hear from Indigenous leaders whose communities have long honored the Earth as a living relative. This series offers an accessible introduction to the legal, cultural, and spiritual foundations of this movement—rooted in the belief that protecting nature begins with recognizing its inherent right to exist, thrive, and evolve.
Taught by esteemed guests from the center for democratic & environmental rights:
Thomas Linzey, Senior Legal Counsel,
and Frank Bibeau, Director of the Tribal Rights of Nature Program in the United States
Thomas Linzey serves as Senior Legal Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights. He is widely recognized as the founder of the contemporary community rights movement which has resulted in the adoption of hundreds of municipal laws across the United States. Further, he drafted the very first rights of nature law in the world (Tamaqua Borough, Pennsylvania, 2006), and consulted on the very first rights of nature constitutional provisions (Ecuador Constitution, 2008).
Frank Bibeau is an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe and has spent most of his life on Leech Lake Reservation in Ball Club, Minnesota. Frank is a Tribal Attorney working extensively with Chippewa treaty rights, civil rights and sovereignty, on and off reservation. Frank also processes wild rice and smokes whitefish in Ball Club. Frank serves as Executive Director for the 1855 Treaty Authority.
WELCOME & INVITATION VIDEO
Why Rights of Nature Is a Movement We Need Now
By Lev Natan
Founder & Executive Director, Alliance for a Viable Future
Over the past two decades, my life’s work has been rooted in deep questions like: why do we treat each other and the earth the way that we do? Why is there so much suffering in the world? And, what can we do to protect our sacred, precious planet from more destruction?
These questions have guided me from studying human ecology and globalization in academia and across continents, to working in addiction recovery, to apprenticing with Indigenous elders, and ultimately to founding Alliance for a Viable Future (AVF) here in the Berkshires of the Northeast.
I’ve come to understand that real, lasting systemic change must be relational, grounded in justice, and built on a foundation of reverence for life. And in recent years, I’ve found that the Rights of Nature Movement offers one of the most inspiring—and practical—strategies for doing just that.
About ten years ago, I heard Thomas Linzey, an environmental lawyer who is one of the founders of the Rights of Nature movement say, “We don’t have an environmental movement in the U.S. because we don’t have constitutional rights for nature.”
When I heard him say that, I felt something shift. I was listening to his podcast, and it was like someone had finally named what I had felt in my bones for years but hadn’t been able to articulate.
Of course! How can we protect the Earth if our legal system treats rivers, forests, and mountains as property to be owned and exploited, rather than living relatives with rights of their own?
We've been trying to use regulatory laws to limit harm, but what we really need is a transformation in how we relate to the natural world—not as a resource, but as a living community we belong to.
I was so moved by the clarity and power of that message that I played the podcast for my wife. She was equally inspired.
Digging deeper, we learned that the modern Rights of Nature movement began in 2006 in Tamaqua Borough, Pennsylvania, when the community passed the first local ordinance in the United States recognizing the rights of ecosystems. This groundbreaking effort, led by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), inspired a wave of similar ordinances across the country. In 2008, Ecuador became the first nation in the world to enshrine Rights of Nature in its national constitution, recognizing Pachamama—the Earth Mother—as a living being with rights to exist, regenerate, and evolve.
Landmark municipal victories followed, including Pittsburgh’s 2010 ordinance banning fracking based on the rights of local ecosystems, and Orange County, Florida’s 2020 charter amendment granting legal standing to its rivers and wetlands. These breakthroughs reflect a growing global movement that redefines environmental protection through the lens of relationship, responsibility, and legal personhood for nature.
Before I knew it, my wife had reached out to Thomas Linzey at the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights. He has always been right there, ready to support our local efforts. Before I knew it she launched a Rights of Nature campaign in our hometown of Sheffield, Massachusetts.
That was in 2019. We didn’t win the town vote—but what we did gain was even more valuable in the long run. We met incredible community members who shared our love for the Housatonic River and our longing to live in better relationship with the land. We learned firsthand how important it is to go beyond raising awareness—to build actual relationships with people in our community and walk the path of trust, listening, and co-creation.
One of the biggest lessons from that campaign was this: we needed to take the time to develop two essential ingredients for future success.
First, we needed a core organizing team—a committed circle of 8–10 community members ready to roll up their sleeves, listen deeply, and do the real work of moving a Rights of Nature campaign forward in their town.
Second, we needed a robust network of allies—folks who would show up at town meetings, raise their hands, and vote to recognize the legal rights of the Housatonic River. That kind of support doesn’t just appear—it grows from years of trust, shared learning, and collaboration.
Since then, I’ve poured myself into building that foundation through Alliance for a Viable Future. We’ve hosted leadership retreats, community-building circles, and Indigenous Peoples’ Day gatherings. We’ve facilitated healing conversations across lines of difference and worked to cultivate a bioregional network of people, organizations, and institutions who care deeply about the future of the Berkshires.
Now, six years later, we feel ready to re-kindle the regional conversation about Rights of Nature—with greater clarity, strategy, and support than ever before.
That’s why we’re launching our Rights of Nature 101 webinar series, beginning June 17th. This is more than an educational program. It’s the first step in building momentum in our region for how RIghts of Nature can truly become a reality in our own neighborhoods and towns.
We’ll explore the global history of the Rights of Nature movement—from tribal communities across the U.S., to the Andes Mountains in Ecuador, to successful campaigns in Pittsburgh, PA and Orange County, FL—all while rooting our inquiry right here in the sacred Housatonic River Watershed.
I see the Rights of Nature legal framework going hand-in-hand with partnering with key organizations and stakeholders to develop coherent economic transition planning for regenerative business practices across all sectors of society—because legal rights alone are not enough. We need to answer the question: once Rights of Nature ordinances pass, then what?
What happens when the river has rights, when a bylaw is passed, but there’s no support system to help local businesses shift to regenerative practices?
We envision a step-by-step, community-led process where Rights of Nature becomes the legal framework that initiates a regenerative transition across the Berkshires. That means:
Working with local partners to co-design programs that help landowners and businesses reflect on their current practices and have support to transition to even more regenerative ways of doing business.
Supporting this shift with policy guidance, economic incentives, and training in ecological stewardship.
Cultivating a culture of care, cooperation, and uplifting accountability that makes these changes real—not just on paper, but in the soil, in the water, and in our communities.
This is not an abstract idea. It’s already happening around the world—successfully being integrated into the global legal system –and it can happen here too, if we move together.
It starts with showing up.
If you care about clean water, healthy soils, and a viable future for our children, I invite you to register for our June 17th webinar.
Once you register, I ask that you truly commit to attending. Because when we gather—when we see who else is in this with us—it becomes real. That energy, that connection, that shared intention is what sparks momentum and builds our community’s power to choose our future together.
If you’ve already signed up—thank you so much!
Your presence matters.
Our second Rights of Nature webinar isn’t until September 30th, so this is your moment to step into this conversation and help shape what comes next.
In the end, this work is about love. Love for the Earth. Love for our communities. Love for the future.
The river is calling. Let’s rise to meet her.
In partnership,
Lev
