This lesson explores the idea that nature may deserve legal rights and examines how environmental justice responds to pollution and overuse of shared resources. These ideas matter because environmental harm can be difficult to detect, prevent, or remedy when ecosystems have no clear legal standing.
Corporations are artificial legal entities, but U.S. law treats them as persons for certain purposes. Corporate personhood allows a corporation to enter contracts, sue, and be sued, and to assert certain constitutional rights. This status is based in part on the idea that people should not lose their rights simply because they act collectively.
All flashcards
What is earth jurisprudence?
A legal and governance approach that holds society can be sustainable only if law recognizes and protects the rights of Earth and its living systems.
What is corporate personhood?
The legal doctrine that treats a corporation, separate from its owners and managers, as a person with certain legal rights and responsibilities.
What is the tragedy of the commons?
A pattern in which people overuse an openly shared resource for individual gain, eventually depleting or damaging it for everyone.
What does earth justice assert?
Earth and living things have fundamental rights, including the right to exist and have a habitat, and human systems should respect those rights.
Why is invisible pollution a legal challenge?
Pollution that is concealed or difficult to observe can harm ecosystems and people while making it harder to identify responsibility and pursue remedies.
Quiz questions
What is earth jurisprudence?Answer: An approach to law and governance that recognizes legal rights for Earth and living systems.
Why can corporations sue and enter contracts?Answer: The law treats corporations as legal persons for certain purposes, separate from their owners.
What does the tragedy of the commons describe?Answer: Individuals overuse a shared resource for personal benefit, causing collective harm.
What does Ecuador’s 2008 Constitution recognize through its Rights for Nature section?Answer: Nature’s right to exist, with people able to enforce those rights on ecosystems’ behalf.
How could legal standing for an ecosystem help address hidden environmental harm?Answer: It could let people bring legal claims on the ecosystem’s behalf.
Based on Business Ethics by Stephen M. Byars, Kurt Stanberry (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.