The rights of nature : a legal revolution that could save the world / David R. Boyd

Bibliografía: p. 235-250. Índices

Introduction. Three damaging ideas and a potential solution -- Part I. The rights of animals. The honorary vertebrate ; 1. Breakthroughs in understanding animal minds ; Lucy ; 2. The evolution of animal welfare ; 3. Can a chimpanzee be a legal person? ; 4. The expansion of animal rights -- Part II. The rights of species. A fish, a dam, and a lawsuit that changed the world ; 5. Saving endangered species: "whatever the cost" ; A dirty cop and the unicorn of the sea ; 6. Endangered species laws go global -- Part III. The rights of nature: from trees to rivers and ecosystems ; Walt Disney, the Sierra Club, and the Mineral King Valley ; 7. Watershed moments: asserting the rights of American ecosystems ; 8. A river becomes a legal person ; The land was here first ; 9. Te Urewera: the ecosystem formerly known as a national park -- Part IV. The rights of nature: new constitutional and legal foundations ; A river goes to court ; 10. Pachamama and Ecuador's pioneering consitution ; An unlikely president and champion for nature's rights ; 11. Bolivia and the rights of Mother Earth ; A voice for the Great Barrier Reef ; 12. Global game changers -- Conclusion. Right planet, rights time

"Palila v Hawaii. New Zealand's Te Urewera Act. Sierra Club v Disney. These legal phrases hardly sound like the makings of a revolution, but beyond the headlines portending environmental catastrophes, a movement of immense import has been building--in courtrooms, legislatures, and communities across the globe. Cultures and laws are transforming to provide a powerful new approach to protecting the planet and the species with whom we share it. Lawyers from California to New York are fighting to gain legal rights for chimpanzees and killer whales, and lawmakers are ending the era of keeping these intelligent animals in captivity. In Hawaii and India, judges have recognized that endangered species--from birds to lions--have the legal right to exist. Around the world, more and more laws are being passed recognizing that ecosystems--rivers, forests, mountains, and more--have legally enforceable rights. And if nature has rights, then humans have responsibilities. In The Rights of Nature, noted environmental lawyer David Boyd tells this remarkable story, which is, at its heart, one of humans as a species finally growing up. Read this book and your world view will be altered forever."--