Another “quick takes” on items where there is too little to say to make a complete article, but is still important enough to comment on.
The focus this time: Inorganic Lives Matter!
First, a little mood music:
Carrying on…
A mountain in New Zealand has been declared a person complete with legal rights.
“A mountain in New Zealand considered an ancestor by Indigenous people was recognized as a legal person on Thursday after a new law granted it all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.
“Mount Taranaki — now known as Taranaki Maunga, its Māori name — is the latest natural feature to be granted personhood in New Zealand, which has ruled that a river and a stretch of sacred land are people before. The pristine, snow-capped dormant volcano is the second highest on New Zealand’s North Island at 2,518 meters (8,261 feet) and a popular spot for tourism, hiking and snow sports.
“…
“The law passed Thursday gives Taranaki Maunga all the rights, powers, duties, responsibilities and liabilities of a person. Its legal personality has a name: Te Kāhui Tupua, which the law views as ‘a living and indivisible whole.’ It includes Taranaki and its surrounding peaks and land, ‘incorporating all their physical and metaphysical elements.’
“A newly created entity will be ‘the face and voice’ of the mountain, the law says, with four members from local Māori iwi, or tribes, and four members appointed by the country’s Conservation Minister.”
Last November, voters in the City of Everett were asked if they wanted to give a river legal rights.
“Everett voters will decide next Tuesday if the Snohomish River should have legal rights.
“If Initiative 24-03 passes, any city resident could take anyone negatively impacting the watershed’s health to court.
“Individuals, companies or businesses found responsible for disturbing the watershed would be liable for the damages, and would have to pay City Hall for restoration projects.”
So, how did the voters decide?
“57 percent of voters in Everett, Wash., granted rights to a geological feature, specifically, the Snohomish River watershed.”
Meanwhile, in Colorado, Animal-rights activists sued to give an elephant the right to sue… as represented by “animal-rights ideologues”. So, how did that lawsuit fair in the Colorado Supreme Court?
It failed.
“‘An elephant is not a person’ and is not afforded the same liberties as a person under the Colorado Constitution, the Colorado Supreme Court decided Tuesday.
“The state’s highest court upheld an El Paso County District Court decision that decided five elephants at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo were not included in state liberty statutes. The petitioner, the Nonhuman Rights Project, had argued the animals should be included and should be moved to a sanctuary ‘because they are autonomous and extraordinarily cognitively and socially complex beings,’ according to the opinion announcement.”
TTFN.
