PHILOSOPHY
“Amidst a climate crisis owing to air pollution and deforestation, negative environmental impacts affect also animals and humans who depend upon nature.” OLIVIA LADA MOCZARKSI
defencelessness and pain susceptibility. This closely parallels the arguments for nature’s rights; the environment suffers through both corporate exploitation and mass deforestation. Nature’s innocence and its necessity to support all life forms highlight the moral obligation to protect it. Though some resist codified rights due to nature’s non-sentience, making the notion unusual, there is already precedent for non-human entities to have legal rights as some water bodies have been given legal personhood. Amidst a climate crisis owing to air pollution and deforestation, negative environmental impacts affect also animals and humans who depend upon nature. Therefore, with nature fulfilling the two criteria for rights, creating codified protections will aid against exploitation. If animals have rights to protect their dignity and life quality, so should inanimate nature. Since the rights of nature are also an extension of human rights to clean water and a safe home, our futures are interdependent thus establishing and enforcing rights will aid common welfare and benefit.
The moral focus on nature’s rights is particularly interesting, mirroring historical arguments for the equality of women, races and children. Rights for nature seem ludicrous now yet rights for those too were once ridiculed but seem obvious today. In rare examples, water bodies are given legal personhood, due to their impact on local habitats and inhabitants. Biodiversity and humans depend on the water to drink and irrigate crops. Destroying the environment infringes upon animal rights who are owed safe habitat and humans too have the right to clean water and a safe home. Destroying nature means the rights of dependent animals and humans are also infringed upon, thus nature should have rights as we are morally obliged to protect it for ourselves and others. Therefore, if animals have rights, so can nature. Rights depend on both a moral justification and a vulnerability that requires protection. Animal rights are justified by the need to defend creatures from exploitation due to their
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