Welcome to Western Mass Rights of Nature
We are a grassroots organization in Western Massachusetts working to bring about legal and cultural changes to recognize the rights of the natural world to exist, thrive, evolve and be restored .
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What is Rights of Nature?
Rights of Nature is a global movement that advocates for reforming legal systems to recognize the inherent rights of the natural world to exist, thrive and evolve. Western legal systems are anthropocentric and treat the natural world as the property of people. By failing to recognize the inherent value and acknowledge the inherent rights of the natural world, the best these legal systems can do is to mitigate harm to the environment; they cannot truly protect the natural world. The ecological destruction we witness every day is the tragic result.
The Rights of Nature movement seeks to change this, by passing laws recognizing that people and the natural world share a fundamental, non-anthropocentric relationship based on our shared existence on this planet. It emphasizes the inherent value of non-human entities, as well as our mutual co-dependency, and therefore the critical need and responsibility people bear to protect all non-human life.
The concept that humans are part of, as opposed to separate and distinct from, the natural world is not new. It has existed for thousands of years in many Indigenous cultures. Today, legal provisions recognizing the Rights of Nature are being enacted around the world, incorporated by some countries into their constitutions and adopted by others into national and local laws. In many of these places, Indigenous groups are at the forefront of the Rights of Nature movement.
"Everything here is sacred. We are all related. We are related to the trees, the birds, the animals, nature herself. We all have a right to exist and thrive. Mother Earth is a sacred soul and has rights not to be exploited for someone’s profits."
The words of Rekumani (Bill Greendeer), a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Deer clan, explaining the 2018 amendment to the Ho-Chunk Nation tribal constitution enshrining Rights of Nature
Meetings
Meetings
We typically meet twice a month to discuss our efforts to gain rights for our waters and lands. We collaborate with other groups across the region. New members and ideas are more than welcome!
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