Why Rivers Should Have The Same Rights as Us

Who is water? This question presents a fundamental change in thinking by giving legal personhood to water and will transform our approach to water as a culture. In this TED talk, Kelsey Leonard argues that water needs legal rights just as people do. Leonard is a legal scholar and scientist in the the Shinnecock Nation--an indigenous tribe of people in the state of California, USA. Her tribe believes that water holds memories and therefore holds life. Water is alive to the Shinnecock. 

Holding a glass of water in our hands, do we too have such appreciation for this vital substance? Do we truly revere the life-giving power that water holds in our lives? Giving water legal rights would be one way to fight injustice towards water, the land and all beings who love and live on the earth.