Wesley J. Smith: I can’t think of a faster way to destroy the economy than to give human-style “rights” to “nature.” But the “nature rights” movement is growing–and too few people are paying attention. Such “it can’t happen here” attitudes are dangerous because they allow one side to fight a war as the other side sleeps.
And look at this: Energy and Environmental Publishing–which brands itself as”the leading source for comprehensive, daily coverage of environmental and energy policy and markets,” gives a big boost in its Greenwire to a radical environmental lawyer named Linda Sheehan, whose newest cause is pushing nature rights. From, “Battle-Tested Lobbyist Wants to Win Legal Rights for Nature:”
Some say environmentalist Linda Sheehan went through a midlife crisis. But she calls it an “awakening.” Sheehan — by all accounts one of California’s most effective environmental lobbyists — had grown frustrated in 2010 after about 20 years of advocacy. The California Coastkeeper Alliance, where she was executive director, was meeting its goals, but waterways were still polluted.
Sheehan talks as if her goal is to stop “pollution.” But nature rights isn’t about that. As I have frequently written, it is about granting nature a quasi right to life by giving it (her) equal consideration in the face of every human activity that interferes with her purported “right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”
What’s more, rights of nature laws give everyone and anyone the legal standing to sue to protect nature’s rights. Talk about a sure way to thwart any large scale use of land or resources! At the very least, consider the extortion possibilities: “Either donate to our Green non profit or we’ll sue.”
Read more.