Do oak trees, mountains, and rivers, have rights?

Do oak trees, mountains, and rivers have rights?

By Robert H. Taylor,  January 3, 20223

While attending the 8th Annual All Me-Wuk Language Symposium a gentleman presenter explained how the concept of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) was used by the Nisena'n people in the ongoing attempt to defeat the Centennial Water Supply Project (NID, n.d.) over the Bear River. 

Figure 1.

8th Annual MeWuk Symposium

For understanding and opposition against the NID link above and links below. It remains an important matter as according to YubNet (2022) the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) may still support the project.

• Fighting to be Heard on California’s Bear River, (Covert, 2017).

• Stop Centennial Dam and Save the Bear River, (SYRCL, 2018).

• We are here: Bear River People vs. Centennial Dam, (UGENAdotORG, 2020).

Personally, I found it was very difficult to understand the TEK concept. After the presentation I asked a few clueless but respectful questions of the presenter. Sensing my puzzlement and not quite believing TEK to be an effective means of furthering the argument, the gentleman kindly (and I’m grateful for this) brought me the document shown below in Table 1 the next day. This table provides an excellent explanation of the concept and in some detail. 

Table 1

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

Source: Wilder, et al., 2016.

Being a rather cynical (at times), skeptical (always), curmudgeon I was reminded of George Carlin’s comedy routine about disingenuous meanings of words and phrases. Assigning “rights” to organic entities, ecosystems, trees, rivers, and mountains seems an odd concept and initially feels false. Yet there is a growing recognition of the concept as having a legal basis. Consider these three articles.

• Should rivers have the same rights as people? (Barkham, 2021).

• Does Nature Have Rights? (Spear, 2022).

• The global movement to give nature 'rights'. (Garcia, 2022). 

Perhaps it is a bit of a naïve “hippy” concept because it is fuzzy and challenging to articulate. On the other hand is their pride in seeing sacred mountains destroyed for patriotic pride (Way, 2016)? Did the buffalo have any rights? No of course not! They went from some 30 million to 325 in 1884 (Flat Creek Inn, 2015). They sure could have used some and I would make the case nature now, the world we live in now could also use a little bit.

Who best to articulate such a concept for the purpose of protecting nature and the earth itself? Practically speaking, lawyers of course however for groups I think a strong case could be made that it is indigenous people, i.e. us as natives who hold the moral and spiritual high ground because of our present situation and our long relationship with the land and nature.

References

Barkham, P. (2021). Should rivers have the same rights as people? The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/25/rivers-around-the-world-rivers-are-gaining-the-same-legal-rights-as-people

Covert, S. (2017). Fighting to be Heard on California’s Bear River. https://www.americanrivers.org/2017/05/tribe-fighting-ca-bear-river/

Flat Creek Inn. (2015). The Bison: from 30 million to 325 (1884) to 500,000 (today). https://www.flatcreekinn.com/bison-americas-mammal/ 

Garcia, C. (2022). The global movement to give nature 'rights'. https://theweek.com/environmental-news/1013565/the-global-movement-to-give-nature-rights

Logan, R. (2008, July 12). George Carlin on soft language [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o25I2fzFGoY 

Nevada Irrigation District (NID). (n.d.). Centennial Water Supply Project. https://www.nidwater.com/centennial-water-supply-project

South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL). (2018, February 8). Stop Centennial Dam and Save the Bear River [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFZg5BHHVZU&t=1s 

Spear, J. L. (2022). Does Nature Have Rights? Institute for New Economic Thinking. https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/does-nature-have-rights

UGENAdotORG. (2020, October 614). We are here: Bear River People vs. Centennial Dam [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9f047tFIoY

Way, R. (2016). The real history of Mount Rushmore. Star Tribune. https://www.startribune.com/the-real-history-of-mount-rushmore/388715411/?refresh=true

Wilder, B. T., O'Meara, C., Monti, L., Nabhan, G. P. (2016). The Importance of Indigenous Knowledge in Curbing the Loss of Language and Biodiversity. BioScience, 66, 6, 499–509. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biw026 

YubNet. (2022) Centennial dam still appears to have support on NID Board. https://yubanet.com/regional/centennial-dam-still-appears-to-have-support-on-nid-board/