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Kai Huschke is the Northwest and Hawaii organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). He was centrally involved in the first-in-the-nation Community Bill of Rights, Worker Bill of Rights, and Voter Bill of Rights campaign efforts in Spokane, Washington. He supported the first law in the nation banning aerial pesticide spraying in Oregon, facilitated the second-in-the-nation and first-in-Hawaii rights of nature conservation easement and is the chief advisor to the Oregon Community Rights Network and the effort to constitutionalize local self-government in Oregon. He is also a national lecturer for Democracy School. Original music by Eric Freeman.

Derrick Jensen is a longtime grassroots environmentalist and is the author of more than 25 books, including A Language Older than Words, and The Culture of Make Believe. In this episode, Derrick reads his essay, Pretend You Are a River, and we discuss how to listen to nature. You can find more of Derrick’s writing at his web site: http://www.derrickjensen.org/ “So many indigenous people have said to me that the fundamental difference between Western and indigenous ways of being is that even the most open-minded westerners generally view listening to the natural world as a metaphor, as opposed to the way the world really is. Trees and rocks and rivers really do have things to say to us.” — Derrick Jensen, What We Leave Behind Original music by Eric Freeman.

Today’s guest on the podcast is Sean Butler. Sean is the founder of Emergent Law and is working on rights-based approaches to protecting the natural world. We discuss corporate rights, preemption, and the Rights of Nature movement. Article: “Rights for Lake Erie? Why Corporate Rights and Preemption Must Go”, by Sean Butler and Will Falk Emergent Law Original music by Eric Freeman.

Markie Miller is a local organizer with Toledoans for Safe Water in Toledo, OH, a board member of the National and Ohio Community Rights Networks, and she works with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). Toldeoans for Safe Water: https://lakeerieaction.wixsite.com/safewatertoledo Ohio Community Rights Network: http://ohcommunityrights.org/ CELDF: https://celdf.org/

Today’s guest on the podcast is Will Falk. He is a biophilic writer and lawyer. He believes the intensifying destruction of the natural world is the most pressing issue confronting us today. Will recently completed his first book, How Dams Fall: On Representing the Colorado River in the First-ever American Lawsuit Seeking Rights for a Major Ecosystem. To read more of Will’s writing, visit his web site: http://willfalk.org/. To purchase his book, How Dams Fall, visit https://homeboundpublications.com/product/how-dams-fall-by-will-falk/ Original music by Eric Freeman.

This is an interview with Kai Sanburn, the founder of Community Rights San Juan Islands. In this interview she talks about what inspired her to get involved in the Rights of Nature and begin the effort to bring Rights of Nature to San Juan County with the Rights of the Salish Sea campaign. Original music by Eric Freeman.