Putting Nature’s Rights On Par With Ours

    The Civil Rights Movement was an attempt to make sure that everyone was granted fair and equal rights under the law.

   But what if “everyone” became “everything”?

   A few communities across America have proposed the idea of giving elements of nature rights under the law. Until recently, however, this never really went anywhere significant, laws only ever being implemented in Pittsburgh and Santa Monica.

    A few months ago, though, the town of Toledo, Ohio, decided to do something about the problems with their source of water, Lake Erie. In 2014 the entire town of over 500,000 people went through a three day period during which they couldn’t use or drink any tap water. Boiling it only made the toxins more dangerous, and the shops were soon cleared out of bottled water.

   There had been problems similar to this in the past when Lake Erie’s water had become undrinkable because of algae blooms caused by pollution. Finally, the citizens of Toledo put their foot down and developed a bill that would give Lake Erie the right to exist and flourish, uninhibited by human interference.

   It seemed like an unreasonable, radical idea to many, but the people arguing in favor of the legislation insisted that this was the only way to ensure real change. For years, the same environmental laws had been in place, and nothing had actually changed or been fixed. It was time for something more powerful, something to put an end to this problem.

   On February 6, 2019 the vote was held to determine whether or not a lake would be given legal rights.

   While plenty of the locals were decidedly in favor of the plan, it was by no means guaranteed that they would win.

   Farmers, the key element of the core economy in Toledo, were not in favor of the bill. The number one factor causing the algae blooms was the chemicals from pesticides and fertilizers from nearby farms that ran off into the water. If the legislation passed it would mean that the farmers would need to make dramatic changes to the way in which they conducted business, and that would likely cost them money.

   Despite some people’s objections, the bill was passed with approximately 61% of voters in favor, and the residents of the town of Toledo are now all legally able to sue on behalf of Lake Erie to protect its civil rights.

   This is a huge step forward in terms of environmental protection. People have tried for years to use various methods to protect the land they live on, and this new approach could just be a key part of the solution. Sometimes it takes a fresh perspective to see what needs to be done, and by viewing nature as an entity deserving of legal protection to this extent, that is what the people of Toledo have done.