ix
time. Some research conveyed the idea that this culture was mostly nomadic, with few efforts or innovations at creating settlements or actively managing their environments. New research and new books
have shown this to be false. There are few silver linings to the horrific bushfires of the Australian summer, but in the emptiness of the devastation they did in many places show the lines and evidence of
long-standing and ancient improvements on the land. Extensive and continuous land management,
something careful scholars have known, was made evident in the aftermath of the bushfires when an
ancient and elaborate system of aquaculture was discovered.
Hopeful as well are the ways that Indigenous cultures are merging ancient wisdom and modern
legal tools, such as the efforts to attach legal and legally defensible rights to nature and natural systems. Ironically an idea expressed in the 1970s by another Christopher (Stone, not Alexander) in the
important book Should Trees Have Standing?
3
, it was the Maori of New Zealand who applied and
tested this idea, notably through the Te Urewera Act of 2014, declaring this large ancient forest a legal
person and as such entitled to rights of protection and the ability (through a special governance board)
when threatened to sue in the courts.
4
More recently the idea is gaining hold and being applied in a
variety of settings, including in ecosystems near cities (such as in the city of Toledo, Ohio, through the
Lake Erie Bill of Rights
5
). The lessons may also include the need to shift our Western thinking more
in the direction the Maori call “Mauri,” or the spirit or life force that can be found in every element in
nature, from fish to trees to rocks. This moves us closer to the notion of their inherent moral worth,
and also to a sense of their pervasive and all-encompassing nature – it is all around us, even in cities,
calling for acknowledgement and respect.
Several years ago I had the chance to participate in filming the story of how a group of citizens of
Perth, Western Australia, organised to defeat a proposed highway expansion (the Row 8 highway) that
was slated to destroy an ancient banksia forest and rare wetland. These areas are highly sacred to the
Noongar people, and during one on-camera interview with Noongar Elder Noel Nannup, I learned
more about how deeply embedded in nature these ancient Aboriginal societies saw themselves. The
larger non-Indigenous world is not likely to embrace this worldview completely, but there are clear
lessons to be learned and patterns (some contained here in this book) that can be followed. Most
impressively, Nannup talked about the sense of unity between Aboriginals and nature, a totemic culture. Nannup described how at a young age every child is assigned one (or more) totems in the natural
world. His was the Bronzewing Pigeon. He spoke eloquently and with remarkable detail about this
bird and its biology. It was a creature that he was both clearly fascinated by and that he loved deeply.
It was his totem and as such he always carried with him the duty to stand up for the pigeon.
This is just one example of the wonderful traditions that offer compelling lessons for how we cultivate
the love, respect and active care for nature we need today. It is easy to succumb to despair, as official
reports and projections come piling in and images of burning forests and the deadening of nature bombard us daily. The book before you is one positive response to the challenge of ecological grief experienced by many of us today. It is hard not to fall into a morass of hopelessness and despair, especially
when contemplating the diminished world we are leaving the young. But books like this one offer a dose
of hope that we might develop the tools and methods and framework to address these challenges and to
find (hopefully) a more restorative path and future.
Philosophers sometimes challenge us to consider the ultimate meaning of life: is it primarily about
seeking pleasure or happiness, or is it also (or primarily) about purpose and meaning? The rekindling
3 Christopher Stone, Should Trees Have Standing? Law, Morality and the Environment, Oxford University Press, 1972.
4 See “Te Urewera Act,” Environment Guide, found here: http://www.environmentguide.org.nz/regional/
te-urewera-act/
5 E.g. See Tom Henry, “More at stake than water with Lake Erie Bill of Rights court decision,”
The Blade, January 25, 2020, found here: https://www.toledoblade.com/local/environment/2020/01/25/more-atstake-than-water-with-lake-erie-bill-of-rights-court-decision-toledo/stories/20200124136
New Patterns for a Healthy Planet
time. Some research conveyed the idea that this culture was mostly nomadic, with few efforts or innovations at creating settlements or actively managing their environments. New research and new books
have shown this to be false. There are few silver linings to the horrific bushfires of the Australian summer, but in the emptiness of the devastation they did in many places show the lines and evidence of
long-standing and ancient improvements on the land. Extensive and continuous land management,
something careful scholars have known, was made evident in the aftermath of the bushfires when an
ancient and elaborate system of aquaculture was discovered.
Hopeful as well are the ways that Indigenous cultures are merging ancient wisdom and modern
legal tools, such as the efforts to attach legal and legally defensible rights to nature and natural systems. Ironically an idea expressed in the 1970s by another Christopher (Stone, not Alexander) in the
important book Should Trees Have Standing?
3
, it was the Maori of New Zealand who applied and
tested this idea, notably through the Te Urewera Act of 2014, declaring this large ancient forest a legal
person and as such entitled to rights of protection and the ability (through a special governance board)
when threatened to sue in the courts.
4
More recently the idea is gaining hold and being applied in a
variety of settings, including in ecosystems near cities (such as in the city of Toledo, Ohio, through the
Lake Erie Bill of Rights
5
). The lessons may also include the need to shift our Western thinking more
in the direction the Maori call “Mauri,” or the spirit or life force that can be found in every element in
nature, from fish to trees to rocks. This moves us closer to the notion of their inherent moral worth,
and also to a sense of their pervasive and all-encompassing nature – it is all around us, even in cities,
calling for acknowledgement and respect.
Several years ago I had the chance to participate in filming the story of how a group of citizens of
Perth, Western Australia, organised to defeat a proposed highway expansion (the Row 8 highway) that
was slated to destroy an ancient banksia forest and rare wetland. These areas are highly sacred to the
Noongar people, and during one on-camera interview with Noongar Elder Noel Nannup, I learned
more about how deeply embedded in nature these ancient Aboriginal societies saw themselves. The
larger non-Indigenous world is not likely to embrace this worldview completely, but there are clear
lessons to be learned and patterns (some contained here in this book) that can be followed. Most
impressively, Nannup talked about the sense of unity between Aboriginals and nature, a totemic culture. Nannup described how at a young age every child is assigned one (or more) totems in the natural
world. His was the Bronzewing Pigeon. He spoke eloquently and with remarkable detail about this
bird and its biology. It was a creature that he was both clearly fascinated by and that he loved deeply.
It was his totem and as such he always carried with him the duty to stand up for the pigeon.
This is just one example of the wonderful traditions that offer compelling lessons for how we cultivate
the love, respect and active care for nature we need today. It is easy to succumb to despair, as official
reports and projections come piling in and images of burning forests and the deadening of nature bombard us daily. The book before you is one positive response to the challenge of ecological grief experienced by many of us today. It is hard not to fall into a morass of hopelessness and despair, especially
when contemplating the diminished world we are leaving the young. But books like this one offer a dose
of hope that we might develop the tools and methods and framework to address these challenges and to
find (hopefully) a more restorative path and future.
Philosophers sometimes challenge us to consider the ultimate meaning of life: is it primarily about
seeking pleasure or happiness, or is it also (or primarily) about purpose and meaning? The rekindling
3 Christopher Stone, Should Trees Have Standing? Law, Morality and the Environment, Oxford University Press, 1972.
4 See “Te Urewera Act,” Environment Guide, found here: http://www.environmentguide.org.nz/regional/
te-urewera-act/
5 E.g. See Tom Henry, “More at stake than water with Lake Erie Bill of Rights court decision,”
The Blade, January 25, 2020, found here: https://www.toledoblade.com/local/environment/2020/01/25/more-atstake-than-water-with-lake-erie-bill-of-rights-court-decision-toledo/stories/20200124136
New Patterns for a Healthy Planet