A new law of nature:Ecuador next week votes on giving legal rights to rivers, forests and air

The wisdom of the ancients makes it into the modern court room. Hoooray earth!!

Can we do the same here in the US?

Enough exploitation of our natural resources!
The environment should be the #1 concern of our policy makers - we all come from nature and will return to nature - get it?

What creative and wonderful people! We could learn from them.

wish the US would do this

you people have got to be kidding

this is some mother earth father sky BS. i thought we have moved past this colours of the wind shit.
im all for environmental safety but this shit is going too far. are the trees and rivers gonna start voting too?

the only thing we can learn about this is that its beyond any reason and logic

The Earth is art. 1 in a series of 1.

People in Ecuador are so stupid.

Just goes to show how far down the illogical rabbit-hole liberalism will take you.

The global awakening is at hand...

Bravo Ecuador!!!

I think its amazing and bold. It shows a truly progressive state of mind, an understanding that nature and its components are not here just to be used, abused and destroyed. I hope more countries will follow this example (assuming they pass the bill).

And to those who are so angry about Ecuador taking charge of their countries destiny, I wonder how you feel about corporate personhood?

Brilliant Ecuador! Show the USA and all of the world what is right and good. We need leaders in this world if we are going to wage a battle with global warming.

thank you ecuador

Brilliant, is absolutely right.

Hear that popping sound? That's a million neo-con tiny little heads exploding. Them, and several fellow travellers on this page flailing about from the same spasm.

Rivers can't vote or think? Wake up! Bad news, neither can corporations. And most of them, especially the crooked ones, we can do without. Water? Try it for 4 days - if you live write back.

If this idea ever hits North America it will tie the neo-cons in knots permanently. And for the bewildered few on this page - looks like Armageddon, doesn't it?

I personally dont care if the trees are cut down. The earth has been through a lot worse, and plants will surely outlive the rule of mankind. The only real choice is how disgusting a planet we want live in until we die. we'll never truly appreciate our beautiful Earth.

Should definitely happen. Why not. Air is what we all breathe to live. Water is what we all drink to live. Trees and other organisms are a must for us to LIVE. So if we need all these things to live, they help us, why shouldn't there be something that would protect em from being destroyed. If they go we are sure to follow. Humans are so cocky and so ignorant. We all depend on something to live. It cannot be done alone.

hopefully ecuador's system will have some way of handling frivolous lawsuits .

Hollowman?

Got a deal for you.

A prominent political doctor tells you "We're arranging to give you all the money you ever wanted. For 1 whole week!"

You say - "Great! Uh wait, what's the hook?"

The Doc says - "After the week we cut out your lungs and sell them to an oil company exec with lung cancer."

You say - "What happens to me?"

Doc says - "Well look. He's important, you aren't. You die on the table, unimaginably rich!"

Nobody ever gives you the news that cold, but it is that cold. If people wish to end their lives for whatever morbid reasons that's one thing - but to damage the lives of others through indifference to others and reckless abuse of the natural world - NO.

Ecuador may yet lose on the referendum. But the point being made is that we are running out of living things to abuse. As we need protection from the elements, we too are an element from which the natural world has no defenses.

It's time to balance that out.

Otherwise you may start pining for that 1 week offer.

Putting the "mental" in environmentalism.

Awesome!

My family is from Ecuador. Ecuador rocks for the environment!

Hooray for Ecuador! Lead the world in the right direction... you can't count on the USA to do anything like this.

I may decide to become an attorney if I can fight for Mother Nature in the courts!

so, like right now, in my happy place, i am packing my sailboat and moving to south america:)

It's incredible how cultures differ so greatly. Anyone this Native Americans would have done this if they were still in control of the continent?

Everything they are protecting is necessary for basic functions of life so what's the big deal?

It's all about balance.

I love ECUADOR =)