Chip Colwell - What if nature, like corporations, had the rights and protections of a person?
In recent years, the
U.S. Supreme Court has solidified the concept of corporate personhood.
Following
rulings in such cases as Hobby
Lobby and Citizens
United, U.S. law has established that companies are, like people, entitled
to certain rights and protections.
But that’s not the only
instance of extending legal rights to nonhuman entities. New Zealand took a radically
different approach in 2014 with the Te
Urewera Act which granted an 821-square-mile forest the legal status
of a person. The
forest is sacred to the Tūhoe people, an indigenous group of the
Maori. For them Te Urewera is an ancient and ancestral homeland that breathes
life into their culture. The forest is also a living ancestor. The Te Urewera
Act concludes that “Te Urewera has an identity in and of itself,” and thus must
be its own entity with “all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a
legal person.” Te Urewera holds title to itself.
Although this legal
approach is unique to New Zealand, the underlying reason for it is not. Over
the last 15 years I have documented similar cultural expressions by Native
Americans about their traditional, sacred places. As an anthropologist, this
research has often pushed me to search for an answer to the profound question:
What does it mean for nature to be a person?
The snow-capped
mountain
A majestic mountain
sits not far northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Like a low triangle, with
long gentle slopes, Mount Taylor is clothed in rich forests that appear a
velvety charcoal-blue from the distance. Its bald summit, more than 11,000 feet
high, is often blanketed in snow – a reminder of the blessing of water, when
seen from the blazing desert below.
The Zuni tribe lives
about 40 miles west of Mount Taylor. In 2012, I
worked with a team to interview 24 tribal members about the values
they hold for Dewankwin K’yaba:chu Yalanne (“In the East Snow-capped
Mountain”), as Mount Taylor is called in the Zuni language. We were told that
their most ancient ancestors began an epic migration in the Grand Canyon… read
more:
