Earth jurisprudence
Encyclopedia
Earth jurisprudence is a philosophy of law
and human
governance
that is based on the idea that humans are only one part of a wider community of beings and that the welfare of each member of that community is dependent on the welfare of the Earth
as a whole. It states that human societies
will only be viable and flourish if they regulate themselves as part of this wider Earth community and do so in a way that is consistent with the fundamental laws or principles that govern how the universe
functions, which is the ‘Great Jurisprudence’.
Earth jurisprudence can be differentiated from the Great jurisprudence, but can also be understood as being embedded within it. Earth jurisprudence can be seen as a special case of the Great Jurisprudence, applying universal principles to the governmental, societal and biological processes of Earth.
Earth jurisprudence seeks to expand our understanding of the relevance of governance beyond humanity to the whole Earth community, it is Earth-centric rather than anthropocentric. It is concerned with the maintenance and regulation of relations between all members of the Earth community, not just between human beings. Earth jurisprudence is intended to provide a philosophical basis for the development and implementation of human governance systems, which may include ethics
, law
s, institutions, policies and practices. It also places an emphasis on the internalisation of these insights and on personal practice, in living in accordance with Earth jurisprudence as a way of life.
Earth jurisprudence should reflect a particular human community’s understanding of how to regulate itself as part of the Earth community and should express the qualities of the Great jurisprudence of which it forms part. The specific applications of Earth jurisprudence will vary from society to society, while sharing common elements. These elements include:
who identified the destructive anthropocentrism on which existing legal and political structures are based as a major impediment to the necessary transition to an ecological age in which humans would seek a new intimacy with the integral functioning of the natural world.
The feasibility of developing this jurisprudence (by then provisionally referred to as ‘Earth jurisprudence’) was discussed at meeting attended by Berry in April 2001, organised by the Gaia Foundation in London at the Airlie Conference Center outside Washington
. A group of people involved in the law and with indigenous peoples came together from South Africa, Britain, Colombia, Canada and the United States. (See 'Thomas Berry and an Earth Jurisprudence: An Exploratory Essay', by Mike Bell, The Trumpeter, Vol. 19, no. 1 (2003)).
The first detailed exploration of Earth jurisprudence in print and the introduction of the term ‘Great Jurisprudence’ occurred with the first publication of Wild Law
by Cormac Cullinan
, launched at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Cape Town
2002.
2004 workshop
April 2004, first UK workshop held to discuss and develop the principles of Earth jurisprudence, titled 'Wild Law Wilderness Workshop: A Walking Workshop on Earth Jurisprudence'. Donald Reid (former chairman of UKELA, the UK Environmental Law Association) and Cormac Cullinan (author of Wild Law
) lead the workshop in the Knoydart Peninsula (one of the last true wilderness areas in the Scotland).
The feasibility of developing a new form of jurisprudence
was discussed at a conference in Washington
attended by Thomas Berry in April 2001, organised by the Gaia Foundation. A group of people involved with law and indigenous peoples attended from South Africa, Britain, Colombia, Canada and the United States.
In 2006 the first Center for Earth Jurisprudence established in Florida. The mission of the Centre, which is co-sponsored by Barry and St. Thomas Universities, Florida, is to re-envision law and governance in ways that support the well being of the Earth community as a whole. This involves fostering mutually enhancing relationships among humans and nature and recognition of the rights of nature.
Earth jurisprudence UK conference held in November 2006, 'A Walk on the Wild Side: Changing Environmental Law'. Based on the book Wild Law by Cormac Cullinan. Held at the University of Brighton and organised jointly by UKELA and ELF. Chaired by John Elkington (of SustainAbility and the ELF Advisory Council) with guest speakers, Cormac Cullinan, Norman Baker
MP (former Liberal Democrat
Environment Spokesman), Satish Kumar
(Resurgence) and Begonia Filgueira (Gaia Law Ltd).
References:
Earth jurisprudence open meeting, a formal evening of talk and discussion on 'Law and Governance from an Earth-Centred Perspective', November 2006. With Patricia Siemen, Director of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence, and colleagues Margaret Galiardi and Herman Greene. Liz Hosken, Director of the Gaia Foundation, gave a brief overview of the latest initiatives to further Earth jurisprudence thinking globally, as increasingly, given the rapidly deteriorating state of the planet, this idea of law is guiding and inspiring a number of legal departments in different parts of the world, from Ethiopia
and Ghana
, to the United States. Meeting chaired by Ian Mason, Head of Law and Economics at the School of Economic Science
, London, and organised by the Gaia Foundation. Held at Denning Hall, north London.
2007 events
“Earth Jurisprudence: Defining the Field and Claiming the Promise”, a three-day colloquium on the principles and implications of the emerging field of Earth Jurisprudence. Cormac Cullinan of EnAct International, South Africa, Thomas Linzey and Richard Grossman both of Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Pennsylvania, and Liz Hosken of Gaia Foundation, London, are amongst the speakers at the new Centre for Earth Jurisprudence in Florida, USA, April 2007.
UK conference and workshop, September 2007, entitled, “A ‘Wild Law’ Response to Climate Change”. A participatory event to develop a practical approach for applying Wild Law principles which are already helping shift legal processes in the US and South Africa. Organised by UK Environmental Law Association, in partnership with the Environmental Law Foundation and the Gaia Foundation, with funding from the Body Shop Foundation. Internationally renowned speakers will include Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety
, Pennsylvania, who helped win a Supreme Court case in the USA on climate change; Cormac Cullinan, the South African lawyer and author of Wild Law; and Peter Roderick, Director of the Climate Justice Programme UK, a barrister with twenty years’ experience in private practise, the oil industry, academia and the public interest environmental sector, and was Friends of the Earth
’s lawyer in London from 1996. Held at a conference centre in Derbyshire, UK.
References: UKELA next events.
An Earth Jurisprudence conference held in the USA in February 2008, in collaboration with the new Center for Earth Jurisprudence, and with students from Barry University Law School (Orlando, FL) and St. Thomas University Law School (Miami, FL).
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
governance
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
that is based on the idea that humans are only one part of a wider community of beings and that the welfare of each member of that community is dependent on the welfare of the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
as a whole. It states that human societies
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
will only be viable and flourish if they regulate themselves as part of this wider Earth community and do so in a way that is consistent with the fundamental laws or principles that govern how the universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
functions, which is the ‘Great Jurisprudence’.
Earth jurisprudence can be differentiated from the Great jurisprudence, but can also be understood as being embedded within it. Earth jurisprudence can be seen as a special case of the Great Jurisprudence, applying universal principles to the governmental, societal and biological processes of Earth.
Earth jurisprudence seeks to expand our understanding of the relevance of governance beyond humanity to the whole Earth community, it is Earth-centric rather than anthropocentric. It is concerned with the maintenance and regulation of relations between all members of the Earth community, not just between human beings. Earth jurisprudence is intended to provide a philosophical basis for the development and implementation of human governance systems, which may include ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
, law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
s, institutions, policies and practices. It also places an emphasis on the internalisation of these insights and on personal practice, in living in accordance with Earth jurisprudence as a way of life.
Earth jurisprudence should reflect a particular human community’s understanding of how to regulate itself as part of the Earth community and should express the qualities of the Great jurisprudence of which it forms part. The specific applications of Earth jurisprudence will vary from society to society, while sharing common elements. These elements include:
- a recognition that any Earth jurisprudence exists within a wider context that shapes it and influences how it functions;
- a recognition that the universe is the source of the fundamental ‘Earth rights’ of all members of the Earth community, rather than some part of the human governance system and accordingly these rights cannot be validly circumscribed or abrogated by human jurisprudence;
- a means of recognising the roles and ‘rights’ of non-human members of the Earth community and of restraining humans from unjustifiably preventing them fulfilling those roles;
- a concern for reciprocity and the maintenance of a dynamic equilibrium between all the members of the Earth community determined by what is best for the system as a whole (Earth justice); and
- an approach to condoning or disapproving human conduct on the basis of whether or not the conduct strengthens or weakens the bonds that constitute the Earth community.
History
The need for a new jurisprudence was first identified by Thomas BerryThomas Berry
Thomas Berry, C.P. was a Catholic priest of the Passionist order, cultural historian and ecotheologian ....
who identified the destructive anthropocentrism on which existing legal and political structures are based as a major impediment to the necessary transition to an ecological age in which humans would seek a new intimacy with the integral functioning of the natural world.
The feasibility of developing this jurisprudence (by then provisionally referred to as ‘Earth jurisprudence’) was discussed at meeting attended by Berry in April 2001, organised by the Gaia Foundation in London at the Airlie Conference Center outside Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. A group of people involved in the law and with indigenous peoples came together from South Africa, Britain, Colombia, Canada and the United States. (See 'Thomas Berry and an Earth Jurisprudence: An Exploratory Essay', by Mike Bell, The Trumpeter, Vol. 19, no. 1 (2003)).
The first detailed exploration of Earth jurisprudence in print and the introduction of the term ‘Great Jurisprudence’ occurred with the first publication of Wild Law
Wild Law (book)
Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice is a book by Cormac Cullinan that proposes recognizing natural communities and ecosystems as legal persons with legal rights. The book explains the concept of wild law, that is, human laws that are consistent with earth jurisprudence...
by Cormac Cullinan
Cormac Cullinan
Cormac Cullinan is a practising environmental attorney and author based in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a director of the leading South African environmental law firm, Cullinan & Associates Inc, and Chief Executive Officer of EnAct International, an environmental governance consultancy...
, launched at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
2002.
2004 workshop
April 2004, first UK workshop held to discuss and develop the principles of Earth jurisprudence, titled 'Wild Law Wilderness Workshop: A Walking Workshop on Earth Jurisprudence'. Donald Reid (former chairman of UKELA, the UK Environmental Law Association) and Cormac Cullinan (author of Wild Law
Wild Law (book)
Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice is a book by Cormac Cullinan that proposes recognizing natural communities and ecosystems as legal persons with legal rights. The book explains the concept of wild law, that is, human laws that are consistent with earth jurisprudence...
) lead the workshop in the Knoydart Peninsula (one of the last true wilderness areas in the Scotland).
The feasibility of developing a new form of jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
was discussed at a conference in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
attended by Thomas Berry in April 2001, organised by the Gaia Foundation. A group of people involved with law and indigenous peoples attended from South Africa, Britain, Colombia, Canada and the United States.
In 2006 the first Center for Earth Jurisprudence established in Florida. The mission of the Centre, which is co-sponsored by Barry and St. Thomas Universities, Florida, is to re-envision law and governance in ways that support the well being of the Earth community as a whole. This involves fostering mutually enhancing relationships among humans and nature and recognition of the rights of nature.
Earth jurisprudence UK conference held in November 2006, 'A Walk on the Wild Side: Changing Environmental Law'. Based on the book Wild Law by Cormac Cullinan. Held at the University of Brighton and organised jointly by UKELA and ELF. Chaired by John Elkington (of SustainAbility and the ELF Advisory Council) with guest speakers, Cormac Cullinan, Norman Baker
Norman Baker
Norman John Baker is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Lewes in East Sussex since 1997. Since May 2010 he has been Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department for Transport....
MP (former Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
Environment Spokesman), Satish Kumar
Satish Kumar
Satish Kumar is an Indian, currently living in England, who has been a Jain monk and a nuclear disarmament advocate, and is the current editor of Resurgence, founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher College international centre for ecological studies and of The Small School...
(Resurgence) and Begonia Filgueira (Gaia Law Ltd).
References:
- ELFLine is the quarterly newsletter of the Environmental Law Foundation, which reports on both the status of the Foundation and matters of general environmental interest. ELF was one of the organizers of the 2006 conference.
- The Gaia Foundation news
- News from Gaian Life, a company dedicated to improving both health and the environment through organic and eco-friendly lifestyles as well as scientific research and regeneration projects.
- John Elkington’s Journal recording the day he chaired the 2006 conference and to Cullinan’s book, Wild LawWild Law (book)Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice is a book by Cormac Cullinan that proposes recognizing natural communities and ecosystems as legal persons with legal rights. The book explains the concept of wild law, that is, human laws that are consistent with earth jurisprudence...
. Photo of speakers and others involved. - Community Ecological Governance newsletter, No. 5 quarterly update October 2006
Earth jurisprudence open meeting, a formal evening of talk and discussion on 'Law and Governance from an Earth-Centred Perspective', November 2006. With Patricia Siemen, Director of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence, and colleagues Margaret Galiardi and Herman Greene. Liz Hosken, Director of the Gaia Foundation, gave a brief overview of the latest initiatives to further Earth jurisprudence thinking globally, as increasingly, given the rapidly deteriorating state of the planet, this idea of law is guiding and inspiring a number of legal departments in different parts of the world, from Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
and Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, to the United States. Meeting chaired by Ian Mason, Head of Law and Economics at the School of Economic Science
School of Economic Science
The School of Economic Science , a registered charity based in Mandeville Place, near Oxford Street in London, provides courses in what it calls "Practical Philosophy" and "Economics with Justice". The courses are based on the Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, which sees an underlying unity in...
, London, and organised by the Gaia Foundation. Held at Denning Hall, north London.
2007 events
“Earth Jurisprudence: Defining the Field and Claiming the Promise”, a three-day colloquium on the principles and implications of the emerging field of Earth Jurisprudence. Cormac Cullinan of EnAct International, South Africa, Thomas Linzey and Richard Grossman both of Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Pennsylvania, and Liz Hosken of Gaia Foundation, London, are amongst the speakers at the new Centre for Earth Jurisprudence in Florida, USA, April 2007.
UK conference and workshop, September 2007, entitled, “A ‘Wild Law’ Response to Climate Change”. A participatory event to develop a practical approach for applying Wild Law principles which are already helping shift legal processes in the US and South Africa. Organised by UK Environmental Law Association, in partnership with the Environmental Law Foundation and the Gaia Foundation, with funding from the Body Shop Foundation. Internationally renowned speakers will include Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety
Center for Food Safety
The Center for Food Safety is a U.S. non-profit organization, based in Washington, D.C., that also maintains an office in San Francisco, CA...
, Pennsylvania, who helped win a Supreme Court case in the USA on climate change; Cormac Cullinan, the South African lawyer and author of Wild Law; and Peter Roderick, Director of the Climate Justice Programme UK, a barrister with twenty years’ experience in private practise, the oil industry, academia and the public interest environmental sector, and was Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
’s lawyer in London from 1996. Held at a conference centre in Derbyshire, UK.
References: UKELA next events.
An Earth Jurisprudence conference held in the USA in February 2008, in collaboration with the new Center for Earth Jurisprudence, and with students from Barry University Law School (Orlando, FL) and St. Thomas University Law School (Miami, FL).
Classes being taught in law schools
The first law school course in Earth Jurisprudence was taught at Barry University School of Law during the Spring term 2007, by Professor Sister Patricia Siemen, Esquire, Director of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence and adjunct faculty at Barry School of Law.Literature
- Cullinan, CCormac CullinanCormac Cullinan is a practising environmental attorney and author based in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a director of the leading South African environmental law firm, Cullinan & Associates Inc, and Chief Executive Officer of EnAct International, an environmental governance consultancy...
(2003), Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth JusticeWild Law (book)Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice is a book by Cormac Cullinan that proposes recognizing natural communities and ecosystems as legal persons with legal rights. The book explains the concept of wild law, that is, human laws that are consistent with earth jurisprudence...
, Green Books, Totnes, Devon, ISBN 1-9039998-35-2 - Simon Boyle, 'On thin ice', The Guardian newspaper, London, November 2006
- Stephan Harding, 'Earthly rights', The Guardian newspaper, London, April 2007
- Silver Donald CameronSilver Donald Cameron"Silver" Donald Cameron is a Canadian writer of books and scripts for television and radio. He has also written columns for newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, and articles for magazines....
, 'When does a tree have rights?', The Chronicle Herald (Halifax, Nova Scotia), January, 2007 - Cormac Cullinan, 'If Nature Had Rights', Orion (magazine)Orion (magazine)Orion is a bimonthly, advertisement-free, magazine focused on nature, the environment, and culture, addressing environmental and societal issues....
, USA, January 2008.
Related reading
- Abram, D (1996), The Spell of the Sensuous, Vintage Books, New York
- Berry, TThomas BerryThomas Berry, C.P. was a Catholic priest of the Passionist order, cultural historian and ecotheologian ....
(1999), The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, Bell Tower, New York - Berry, T (2002), 'Rights of the Earth: Recognising the Rights of All Living Things' - Resurgence, No. 214, September/October 2002
- Berry, T (1996), Every Being Has Rights, 23rd Annual E. F. Schumacher Lectures, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
- Berry, T, Swimme, BBrian SwimmeBrian Thomas Swimme is on the faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies, in San Francisco, where he teaches evolutionary cosmology to graduate students in the humanities. He received his Ph.D. from the department of mathematics at the University of Oregon for work in singularity...
(1992) The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era - A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, Harper Collins, New York - Cullinan, C (2002) 'Justice For All: Human Governance Must Be Consistent With Universal laws' - Resurgence, No. 214, September/October 2002
- Gardner, J (2004) Human Rights and Human Obligations - Lecture at the International PEN Congress in Tromsø, Norway
- Reichel-Dolmatoff, GGerardo Reichel-DolmatoffGerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff was an anthropologist, known for his holistic approach and his in-depth fieldwork among tropical rainforest cultures .- Early life :...
(1994) The Forest Within: The World-View of the Tukano Amazonian Indians, Green Books, Totnes - Reichel-Dolmatoff, G (1997) Rainforest Shamans: Essays on the Tukano Indians of the Northwest Amazon, Green Books, Totnes
- Reid, D (2001) 'Earth Jurisprudence: What Lessons Can Be Learned from Celtic Influences on Scottish Law?' Presentation to Technical Session on Wilderness and Jurisprudence at the 7th World Wilderness Congress, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
- Roldán Ortega, R (2000) Indigenous Peoples of Colombia and the Law: A Critical Approach to the Study of Past and Present Situations, COAMA, Bogotá, Tercer Mundo Editores
- Stutzin, G (2002) 'Nature's Rights: Justice Requires that Nature Be Recognised As a Legal Entity' - Resurgence, No. 210, January / February 2002. Godofredo Stutzin was 1990 winner of The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)'s Global 500 Roll of HonourGlobal 500 Roll of HonourThe United Nations Environment Programme established the Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1987 to recognize the environmental achievements of individuals and organizations around the world.The last Global 500 Roll of Honour awards were made in 2003...
which recognises the environmental achievements of individuals and organizations around the world
External links
- Center for Earth Jurisprudence
- EnAct International
- Airlie Principles: Drafted by Thomas Berry, and approved at the 1st Earth Jurisprudence meeting, Washington, April 2001
- The Gaia Foundation, London. About Earth Jurisprudence
- The UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA)
- Earth Law
- The E.F. Schumacher Society
- Resurgence
- The Environmental Law Foundation (ELF)
- Earth Jurisprudence for a Planet in Peril, MP3 series: Part 1 - Part 2