Breaking the Binary: Rethinking Law, Power, and Possibility

Mar 11, 2025

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Episode Summary

In this episode of Terms of Service, host Mary Camacho speaks with Helen Slottje, an award-winning attorney and co-founder of the Regenerative Law Institute. Helen shares her journey from corporate law to leading a groundbreaking legal movement against fracking, which earned her the Goldman Environmental Prize. They discuss the deeper patterns of power and control in legal systems, how governance structures enforce extractive models, and the need for transformative legal frameworks that align with natural systems. Helen’s work challenges conventional legal thinking, moving beyond fixing broken systems to designing entirely new paradigms for governance and community resilience.

Key Takeaways

Beyond Extractive Systems: Legal and governance structures often reinforce power imbalances, prioritizing control over coherence.
The Fracking Fight as a Model for Change: Helen’s legal strategy helped shift an "inevitable" industry into an impossible one, leading to New York’s fracking ban.
Predator-Prey Dynamics in Law: Legal systems replicate extraction-based power structures, often reinforcing historical violence rather than challenging it.
Regenerative Law vs. Sustainability: The goal is not just to sustain broken systems but to design new legal structures that support thriving, decentralized communities.
Reframing Ownership and Control: From nonprofit governance to alternative currencies, emerging models challenge the idea that control must always be centralized.

Topics Covered / Timestamped Sections

01:19 - Introduction to Helen Slottje and her shift from corporate law to environmental law.
03:19 - The fight against fracking in New York: How legal strategy led to a statewide ban.
07:42 - The Power of Patterns & Systemic Control – How binary thinking limits our ability to create real change.
10:07 - The Role of Narratives in Governance & Social Change – The importance of redefining governance beyond the current nation-state model.
13:45 - Challenging the Predator-Prey Dynamic: How society reinforces power imbalances and why we must shift toward mutual thriving.
22:38 - Hope, Community Building, & Mobilizing Change: The lessons from the fracking fight on organizing and redefining what’s possible.
33:09 - The Evolutionary Leap: Shifting Consciousness – Why we need new frameworks to break conventional thinking and evolve.
35:50 - The Process of Creating Transformational Change – The importance of starting with small groups before scaling change.
40:40 - The Future of Law & Governance: Quantum Thinking – Applying nature, physics, and alternative governance models to drive systemic change..
42:33 - Helen’s "magic wand" wish: Creating language and legal tools to make transformative governance accessible.

Guest Bio and Links

Helen Slottje is a Harvard-educated lawyer and a recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize (‘Green Nobel’). As the founder of the Regenerative Law Institute, Helen helps leaders navigate high-pressure challenges with coherence and emergent design rather than brute force. At the core of her work is the conviction that real solutions emerge by leveraging pressure as a catalyst, embracing coherence with nature’s patterns, and making quantum leaps beyond the limits of conventional thinking

Resources Mentioned

Fracking and Local Bans - The legal strategy that led to New York’s statewide fracking prohibition.
Alternative Governance Models - Expanding democratic decision-making structures.
Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory - Understanding power through hidden cycles of violence and control.

Call to Action

Can legal systems evolve beyond extractive models? Listen to Helen Slottje’s transformative insights on law, governance, and power—and explore how regenerative law might shape the future.

🎧 Listen now: Episode Link

Credits

Host: Mary Camacho

Guest: Helen Slottje

Produced by Terms of Service Podcast

Sound Design: Arthur Vincent and Sonor Lab

Co-Producers: Nicole Klau Ibarra & Mary Camacho