THE RIGHTS OF NATURE: A GLOBAL MOVEMENT
Producers: ISSAC GOECKERITZ, HAL CRIMMEL, MARIA VALERIA BERROS - 2018 - USA - 52'
Western views and the legal system tend to view nature as property and a resource from which wealth is extracted, a commodity whose only value is to provide for human needs. But for millennia indigenous communities have viewed themselves as part of nature. As pressures on ecosystems mount and conventional laws seem increasingly inadequate to address environmental degradation, communities, cities, regions, and countries around the world are turning to a new legal strategy known as “The Rights of Nature”.
The Rights of Nature: A Global Movement explores the more recent origins of this legal concept and its application and implementation in Ecuador, New Zealand, and the United States, and the successes and challenges inherent in creating new legal structures that have the potential to maintain and restore ecosystems while achieving a balance between humans and nature. Viewers will learn how constitutional reforms adopted in Ecuador have helped recognize nature as a legal entity and how partnerships between the Māori and the government of New Zealand have led to personhood status for rivers, lakes, and forests - and a renewed sense of balance between people and nature. They will also see how the Rights of Nature function in the urban setting of Santa Monica, California.
Languages: English narration with English subtitles over Spanish-speaking interviews.
Producers: Issac Goeckeritz, Hal Crimmel, María Valeria Berros
Writer: Hal Crimmel
Editor / Camera: Issac Goeckeritz
This screening will be presented, in person, by writer and producer Hal Crimmel; an open Q&A will be held after the screening.
Dr. Hal Crimmel is Chair and Brady Professor of English at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, USA. Hal also serves as Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies for the College of Arts and Humanities. He teaches environmental humanities courses and has published widely on sustainability issues, including the books Utah’s Air Quality Issues: Problems and Solutions (University of Utah Press, 2020); Desert Water: The Future of Utah’s Water Resources (University of Utah Press, 2015); Dinosaur: Four Seasons on the Green and Yampa Rivers (University of Arizona Press, 2008); and Teaching in the Field: Working with Students in the Outdoor Classroom (University of Utah Press, 2003), among others.
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