The “rights of nature” is the idea that if a corporation can have legal standing as a person, why can’t a river or a mountain? Thomas Linzey, one of the early architects of a legal framework for granting rights to nature, now believes that structure doesn’t go far enough: Even when ecosystems are granted rights, the land is still owned by someone or some entity, even if that is a land trust or conservancy.
Through Linzey’s work in collaboration with the Sacred Contract Coalition, a 30-acre mountain in Colorado was recognized in June 2025 as the first mountain to own itself. What could this mean for protecting other places?
Guests:
Thomas Linzey, Senior Legal Counsel, Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights
Crystal Wolfchild, Guardian of The Mountain
Kumu Ramsay Taum, Cultural Advisor
Highlights:
00:00 – Introduction
02:30 – Thomas Linzey on his career fighting projects on behalf of communities
05:40 – Linzey on why federal environmental laws don’t protect air, water, or communities
11:00 – Linzey explains rights of nature legal framework
16:30 – Successful rights of nature cases in other parts of the world
19:15 – Rights of nature is Western law catching up with Indigenous cosmovisions
21:45 – Going beyond the rights of nature to land that owns itself
35:00 – Crystal Wolfchild on what it means to be a guardian of the Mountain
40:30 – Wolfchild on what this case could mean for other places
44:00 – Ramsay Taum on incorporating Hawaiian sense of environmental responsibility with Western worldviews
50:45 – Taum on the connection between restoring sovereignty and the rights of nature
56:00 – How to respond to climate changes like rising sea levels
58:00 – Climate One More Thing
For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit our episode page at climateone.org
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