![handle is hein.journals/earjujo10 and id is 1 raw text is: THE RIGHTS OF NATURE MOVEMENT IN THE
UNITED STATES: COMMUNITY ORGANIZING,
LOCAL LEGISLATION, COURT CHALLENGES,
POSSIBLE LESSONS AND PATHWAYS
Marsha Jones Moutrie*
INTRODUCTION
In 2000, representatives from around the world adopted the Earth
Charter. It declares: [w]e are one human family and one Earth
community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth
a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal
human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Since then,
political leaders, theologians, academics, environmentalists, scientists,
lawyers, and others have worked to achieve the goal of a sustainable
society founded on respect for Nature. Many have been guided by the
teachings of Father Thomas Berry, whose Ten Principles of
Jurisprudence included: [t]he universe is composed of subjects to be
communed with, not objects to be used. As a subject, each component of
the universe is capable of having rights.2 Environmental attorney,
* Marsha Jones Moutrie is a California attorney (UCLA School of Law, 1975), who
served as City Attorney of Santa Monica, California from 1994 through 2016. During
that time, she wrote, co-wrote, or approved as to form the city's environmental laws,
including its Sustainability Rights Ordinance. She also directed the city's litigation,
including the successful litigation against global corporations whose gasoline additive
had polluted the city's water wells. Since retiring from municipal service, she has
practiced law primarily as an Earth Law Center volunteer.
1 Earth Charter Initiative, Charter of the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS), International Law& World Order: Weston's & Carlson's Basic
Documents (2001). https://earthcharter.org>virtual-library2>the-earth-charter>text
[https://perma.cc/46X4-TMED] (last visited Sep. 6, 2020).
2 Thomas Berry's Ten Principles of Jurisprudence, GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR THE
RIGHTS OF NATURE, https://therightsofnature.org/thomas-berrys-ten-principles-of-
jurisprudence/ [https://perma.cc/BV4P-VY9R] (last visited Sep. 6, 2020).
5](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/earjujo10&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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