Comment on “A rights revolution for nature” (2 July 2019)
Robert A. Michaels, President and consulting health risk toxicologist, RAM TRAC Corporation, Schenectady, New York;
Richard A. Hammerman, Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation B’nai Israel; Toms River, New Jersey;
Heslley Machado Silva, Professor, University Center of Formiga/MG, Brazil.
Does nature have rights, or do such rights inhere to people based upon their “natural right” to enjoy nature and benefit from its ecosystem services? Chapron, et al. (2019) address this issue in Science (29 March). Natural rights, including the divine right of kings to rule, derive from the Doctrine of Natural Law, which also has been cited as the source of human rights as exemplified in the U. S. Declaration of Independence: “we hold these truths to be self-evident...” [including] that people are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, [most notably] “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Science and religion have confluent interests in protecting nature, which is to say, securing rights claimed on its behalf. Natural Law, however, is a doctrine of religion, not a principle of science: nothing in science, including civil and natural rights, actually is “self-evident.” For example, the human onus of stewardship over god’s creations (nature), originates from ‘Natural Law’.
If claimed rights were not conferred by civil authority, claimants might seek to secure them under Natural Law. We have argued that the science/religion relationship has proved dynamic rather than static, evolving from conflict to potentially planetsaving cooperation (Michaels, Hammerman, and Silva 2018). Securing the rights of nature, or of people to benefit from nature, therefore would seem a viable additional arena for science/religion cooperation.
Chapron, Guillaume; Yaffa Epstein and José Vicente Lépez-Bao. A rights revolution for nature - Introduction of legal rights for nature could protect natural systems from destruction. Science 363 (6434), 1392-1393, DOI: 10.1126/science.aav5601, online March 14, 2019;
Michaels, Robert A; Richard A. Hammerman, and Heslley Machado Silva. Emerging green synergy in the science/religion relationship: from conflict to potentially planet-saving cooperation. Environmental Claims Journal, 30(4):31436, DOI: 10.1080/10406026.2018.1504381, 23 pages, online 3 October 2018.
Publication citation
Michaels, RA; Richard A. Hammerman, and Heslley Machado Silva. Comment on “A rights revolution for nature.” Science Magazine, e-Letter, online: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6434/1392/tab-e-letters, 2 July 2019;