According to Thomas Berry, human rights are a subset of rights of nature, indicating that the rights of nature are integral to upholding human rights. Without respecting the rights of nature, human rights cannot be sustained due to our complete reliance on healthy ecosystems. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize and respect the rights of nature as a culture to ensure harmony between human rights and nature's rights.
On this episode, Nate is joined by maverick ecologist Pella Thiel to discuss the legal frameworks behind the Ecocide and Rights of Nature Movements. Our current economic and legal systems have no mechanisms to consider nature in our decision making - much less to make systemic planetary stability a priority. Could redefining the destruction of our biosphere to be considered a crime parallel with that of genocide alter the way we structure laws governing our societies and economies? How are countries legislating and enforcing these ideas - even going so far as to act against the flow of the superorganism? Most importantly, how could top-down legal ideas such as these interact with bottom-up individual action to create powerful shifts in cultural values and motivations?
About Pella Thiel:
Pella Thiel is a maverick ecologist, part-time farmer, full-time activist and teacher in ecopsychology. She is the co-founder of Swedish hubs of international networks like Swedish Transition Network and End Ecocide Sweden and a knowledge expert in the UN Harmony with Nature programme. Pella was awarded the Swedish Martin Luther King Award in 2023 and the Environmental Hero of the year 2019.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JgRlgKHvKCE
More info, and show notes: www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/121-pella-thiel