The Boulder, Colo. local government will deliberate a new law next week that would legally define and protect plants and animals as living beings.
The 'Rights of Nature' movement recently descended on Boulder to push environmentalist laws to the local government, according to Denver Westwood News. Their most recent proposal asks that Boulder County recognize "the rights of all naturally occurring ecosystems and their native species populations to exist and flourish."
Westwood News reports:
Slipping a line about how "trees are people, too" into the county planning documents isn't exactly awarding a constitutional right. Advocates of the Rights of Nature say it's a significant step, though, toward acknowledging that current protections for native species haven't saved a number of struggling populations in Boulder County — from the lark bunting to the burrowing owl to the bristlecone pine forest — from being imperiled. But critics fear that embracing the concept of legal rights for flora and fauna sets a dangerous precedent that can lead to further restrictions on property and energy development, as well as genetically modified crops.
