"Does Nature Have Rights?"

"These articles will help you ponder that question."

"By now, we are accustomed to thinking of climate change in terms of human rights. What if we were to think as much about the rights of nature itself – of pets and backyard birds, coyotes and spruce trees, mountains and rivers, ecosystems and the climate, the air that surrounds us? How, and with what consequences, might our worldviews expand to encompass the belief that all these entities have inherent rights and therefore should have legal rights as well?

These pieces about the growing global Rights of Nature movement, one grounded in many Indigenous worldviews, begin to answer such questions.

“What are the rights of nature?” Katie Surma, Inside Climate News. This is a top-notch introduction from a reporter who has made this topic central to her work. See also her wide-ranging article focused on global wetlands: “The scientists making the case for nature’s rights.”"

SueEllen Campbell reports for Yale Climate Connections November 6, 2025.