16 Ecocentrism: Further Reading / Resources
💻📜 The Earth Law Center’s recent literature review is a great gateway to more resources. For even more (but less curated), see the UN Harmony with Nature project’s ‘Expert Library.’
💻 Rights of Nature in Ecuador and Bolivia (Wikipedia).
💻 Web of Life Activity (Project Learning Tree): Students can learn about food webs, and what can happen if a species is removed from an ecosystem.
💻 Livecams (explore.org): Students can watch live videos of animals within their habitats and discuss what elements make up healthy ecosystems.
🌐 British Animal Studies Network.
📙📙 A special issue of Educational Sciences on ecocentric education, a special issue of Environmental Education Research on new materialisms and environmental education, and a special issue of The Ecological Citizen on ecocentric visions.
🌐Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, Nonhuman Rights Project, International Rights of Nature Tribunal
💻 Thomas Berry’s website
Sussex Spotlight: Rights of Nature: Los Cedros Hearing
In a landmark ruling on December 2021, Ecuador’s highest court decreed that plans to mine for copper and gold in the protected cloud forest of Los Cedros are unconstitutional and violate the rights of nature and revoked the mining permits.
Mika Peck in Life Sciences, University of Sussex, has been investigating the ecological importance of Los Cedros since the mid-90s. He compared the significance of the ruling to Thomas Paine’s (also a Sussex man) Rights of Man – a key text in the American Revolution: “It is important for the world to reflect on the limits of nature and to seriously question the effectiveness of current conservation policies and actions,” he said. “Policy frameworks that place humans in context as a part of nature, integrated into a system that balances intrinsic rights between legitimate subjects of the law, rather than placing humans as above, or apart from, nature, will be a necessary part of addressing the serious environmental issues that our planet is facing. This ruling is as important to nature as Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man were to our own species.” (Quotations from Guardian article).
