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© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Westra et al. (eds.), Ecological Integrity in Science and Law,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46259-8_11
Promoting Human Attachment to Place
in Ecological Law
Geoffrey Garver
Abstract Contemporary law, including environmental law, is built on worldviews
and moral philosophies that encourage and sanction detachment of people from
place. As ecological law matures, it must embody principles for re-embedding
people in the places that nourish them and for constraining or abolishing remote
decisions and policies made without intimate connection to, concern about and
knowledge of the local people and places affected. Time-tested Indigenous worldviews and ways of life, as well as principles of eco-cultural restoration, provide
insights on how to promote attachment to place in the law.
1 Introduction
In her brilliant book Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer tells of asking a
friend what place “you know best and knows you in return,” to which he replied,
“My car” (Kimmerer 2013, p. 125). Years later, she writes, his car is where he tried
to kill himself. You detach yourself from the Earthly places that nurture you at your
peril. Braiding Sweetgrass is a compelling reflection on the beauty and wonder of
attachment to place, how to maintain and cherish it and, ultimately, why it is an
essential element of an enduring human presence on this finite planet. Yet,
Kimmerer’s profound and resonant message has not yet come through in any significant way in the domain of law. Indeed, legal regimes around property, state sovereignty, trade, land use, energy, agriculture, finance—it is hard to find an area of
law that does not fit—predominantly favor detachment of people from place and
decisions that are taken without attachment to or knowledge about the remote people and places they affect, far too often negatively.
G. Garver (*)
Concordia University, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment,
Montreal, QC, Canada
McGill University, Economics for the Anthropocene/Leadership for the Ecozoic Partnership,
Law and Governance Research Initiative, Montreal, QC, Canada
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Westra et al. (eds.), Ecological Integrity in Science and Law,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46259-8_11
Promoting Human Attachment to Place
in Ecological Law
Geoffrey Garver
Abstract Contemporary law, including environmental law, is built on worldviews
and moral philosophies that encourage and sanction detachment of people from
place. As ecological law matures, it must embody principles for re-embedding
people in the places that nourish them and for constraining or abolishing remote
decisions and policies made without intimate connection to, concern about and
knowledge of the local people and places affected. Time-tested Indigenous worldviews and ways of life, as well as principles of eco-cultural restoration, provide
insights on how to promote attachment to place in the law.
1 Introduction
In her brilliant book Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer tells of asking a
friend what place “you know best and knows you in return,” to which he replied,
“My car” (Kimmerer 2013, p. 125). Years later, she writes, his car is where he tried
to kill himself. You detach yourself from the Earthly places that nurture you at your
peril. Braiding Sweetgrass is a compelling reflection on the beauty and wonder of
attachment to place, how to maintain and cherish it and, ultimately, why it is an
essential element of an enduring human presence on this finite planet. Yet,
Kimmerer’s profound and resonant message has not yet come through in any significant way in the domain of law. Indeed, legal regimes around property, state sovereignty, trade, land use, energy, agriculture, finance—it is hard to find an area of
law that does not fit—predominantly favor detachment of people from place and
decisions that are taken without attachment to or knowledge about the remote people and places they affect, far too often negatively.
G. Garver (*)
Concordia University, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment,
Montreal, QC, Canada
McGill University, Economics for the Anthropocene/Leadership for the Ecozoic Partnership,
Law and Governance Research Initiative, Montreal, QC, Canada