Events

Rights of Nature

Wednesday July 20, 2022

6:30 pm

Where:  Join us virtually – Register Here

Please join our Sierra Club Niagara Group for our monthly Environmental Series designed to inform our members and inspire action.

Let’s learn about Rights of Nature. We are excited to offer this presentation by:

Dr. Joe Stahlman, director of the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum, who will discuss the native view that the natural world is sacred and we are one element of that world.

Tish O’Dell, organizer with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund will discuss their work on Rights of Nature laws

Assemblyman Patrick Burke, D-142^nd district, will discuss the Great Lakes Bill of Rights legislation he introduced in the NYS Assembly.

Rights of nature is a legal theory that describes inherent rights as associated with ecosystems and species, similar to the concept of fundamental human rights.

Rights of nature legislation brings us back to the concepts of being one with nature, a belief held by Indigenous cultures throughout the world.  Our current laws treat nature as a “resource” to be owned, used, and degraded.  We are now dealing with the legacy of the “resource” economy of the 20^th Century. Does anyone remember Love Canal or a burning Buffalo River? The Western New York region deserves to be on the forefront of a proactive approach to environmental protection.

We hope you can join us for this next offering in our monthly Environmental Series!