Christopher Stone, Who Proposed Legal Rights for Trees, Dies at 83
A law review article he wrote in 1972 kick-started a worldwide movement to grant nature the same rights enjoyed by human beings.
Christopher D. Stone in an undated photo. “I am quite seriously proposing,” he wrote in an influential article, “that we give legal rights to forests, oceans, rivers and other so-called ‘natural objects’ in the environment.”Credit.via USC Gould School of Law
May 28, 2021, 5:13 p.m. ET
Christopher D. Stone, who in 1972 made what seemed a whimsical argument that forests and rivers should have rights in the eyes of the law and in the following decades found his work galvanizing environmental lawyers in the United States and launching a global movement to grant nature the legal status of personhood, died on May 14 at an assisted living facility in Los Angeles. He was 83.
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Rep. Deb Haaland – Photo by Joshua Roberts | Getty Images
WASHINGTON Rep. Deb Haaland confronted expected tough questioning from Republican senators on Tuesday at her confirmation hearing to become the first Native American secretary of the Department of the Interior.
But the New Mexico Democrat also drew support from Rep. Don Young, a longtime Alaska Republican who made a quick appearance to praise her for her willingness to work with GOP colleagues in the House. Many of Haaland’s critics are from oil-and gas-producing states in the West and have slammed the Biden administration’s recent moves on energy policy.
“I have a lot at stake here. I am an oil-producing state too,” Young told members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “She’ll work for us and she’ll reach across the aisle. If we have people in the Department of Interior like Deb maybe there’ll be a balance.”
Published on January 23rd, 2021
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders to reverse some of the worst environmental decisions of the Trump Administration, highlighted by his revoking of the Keystone XL permit issued under Trump.
By Dan Bacher
Immediately following his inauguration on January 20, President Biden signed Executive Orders that take “critical first steps to address the climate crisis, create good union jobs, and advance environmental justice, while reversing the previous administration’s harmful policies,” according to a fact sheet issued by the Department of Interior under Biden as President.
Restoring National Monuments
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He is one of the leaders from the world of Americaâs allies who would have been pleased to see the tenure of Donald Trump ending. But Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who became the first world leader with whom President Joe Biden spoke since his inauguration on Wednesday, January 20, found his pleasure to be short-lived. The 49-year-old premier, who spoke with Biden over phone for around 30 minutes on Friday, January 22, was disappointed over the latterâs decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline project between the two giant neighbors of North America. Trudeau is also facing a heat in his own country as ministers have been left fuming by Bidenâs decision and were not even hesitant to challenge the nuclear-powered southern neighbor in war.