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18 Penn St. Envtl. L. Rev. 47 (2009-2010)
What Is Earth Jurisprudence: Key Principles to Transform Law for the Health of the Planet

handle is hein.journals/pensaenlar18 and id is 49 raw text is: What is Earth Jurisprudence?: Key
Principles to Transform Law for the Health
of the Planet
Judith E. Koons*
But we have only begun
to love the earth.
We have only begun
to imagine the fullness of
life.
How could we tire of hope?
- so much is in the bud.
- Denise Levertovl
I.   INTRODUCTION
Earth Jurisprudence is an emerging legal theory based on the
premise that rethinking law and governance is necessary for the well-
being of Earth and all of its inhabitants.2  Earth Jurisprudence is an
* Professor of Law, Barry University School of Law, Orlando, Florida. B.A., J.D.,
University of Florida, M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School. Copyright, Judith E. Koons,
2009. Co-chair of the governing committee of the Center for Earth Jurisprudence (CEJ),
a collaborative initiative of St. Thomas and Barry Universities. I am grateful for the
philosophical groundwork of Thomas Berry and Cormac Cullinan, the spiritual
leadership of Sr. Patricia Siemen, O.P., J.D., the insightful comments of CEJ members
Mary Munson, Jane Goddard, and Nicole Gerard, and the helpful research assistance of
Tim Martin, Erin Cox, Lisabeth Fryer, and Jimmy Davis. All errors are my own.
1. Denise Levertov, Beginners, in JOAN CHITTISTER, THE CRY OF THE PROPHET: A
CALL TO FULLNESS OF LIFE 55 (Mary Lou Kownacki ed., 2009).
2. The term Earth Jurisprudence arose out of a meeting hosted by the Gaia
Foundation with environmental thinker Thomas Berry in April of 2001 at the Airlie
Center in Virginia. See CORMAC CULLINAN, WILD LAW: A MANIFESTO FOR EARTH
JUSTICE 17 (2d. ed. 2003). The major works of Thomas Berry are THE DREAM OF THE
EARTH (1988), THE UNIVERSE STORY (co-authored with Brian Swimme, 1992), THE
GREAT WORK (1999), and EVENING THOUGHTS (2006). Chief among other works
significant to the spawning of Earth Jurisprudence are Christopher D. Stone, Should

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