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The nation’s initial Earth Jurisprudence symposium on ecological crisis, including climate change, drew overflow attendance and internet observers from sixteen states and six countries. Leading thinkers and practitioners of law, philosophy, and Native American traditions emphasized the necessity of fostering law and public policies that restore the health and well-being of the Earth community as a whole. The key messages were that human law must tailor itself to the realities of Earth’s ecological laws, respond to the human face of suffering caused by unprecedented ecological crisis, and rapidly address emerging challenges to the public welfare. Co-sponsors of the symposium were the Center for Earth Jurisprudence and the Barry Law Review which is set to publish the proceedings of the symposium in its fall 2008 issue.

Opening the event was Cormac Cullinan, South African environmental attorney and author of Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice. Wild law recognizes and embodies the qualities of the natural Earth system in which humans exist. Cullinan proposed that the question is not whether trees have standing in human law, but whether humans have standing within the laws of nature which ultimately transcend and govern human law, to deny trees existence and habitat. Winona LaDuke, Program Director for the Honor the Earth Fund, presented key tenets of indigenous wisdom, such as reciprocity in all human interactions with Earth, making decisions from the perspective of future generations, and understanding humans as belonging to the living land. LaDuke and Barbara Wall, philosopher from Villanova University, referenced the law of the Creator as formative influence in human law. Cullinan noted that transition to wild law could also follow from complexity theory, systems theory, and the physical sciences ~ as well as human self-interest in survival.

Attorney Donald Goldberg represented Inuit villagers whose homes are sinking into the encroaching sea. Their petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights sought to hold the United States accountable for greenhouse gas emissions that far exceed an allotted percentage based on world population. The Commission denied the petition but scheduled a later thematic hearing to study multiple causation problems in anticipation of future human rights petitions. Andrew Kimbrell, of the plaintiffs’ attorney team in Massachusetts v. EPA, discussed strategy, significance, and challenges in the first U.S. Supreme Court decision to address global warming. He elaborated on the classical Greek notion of natural law that viewed all beings as ends rather than means. He suggests development of public trust, guardianship, and citizen supervision legal strategies. When attorney Joseph Guth studied the history of the common law, he noted how judges shift their decisional approach to fulfill their obligation to the public welfare as challenges to society change over time. Mr. Guth suggests that courts reviewing ecological torts and public nuisance claims shift from a financial cost-benefit analysis to the precautionary principle when an ecosystem approaches the limit of ecological sustainability. Each of the above presentations will be available on for viewing on the Center for Earth Jurisprudence’s website at www.earthjuris.org by April 1. Student participation in the symposium was funded in part by a grant from the Environmental Land Use Legal Section.

For more information contact Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, Esquire, Executive Director

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April 2008

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