When Nature Goes to Court: Rights of Nature and Their Alignment With Cooperatives With Cheryl Markham

Should nature have rights? Can it defend its rights in court? Anthropocentric legal systems have resulted in an ecological crisis. Are there ways to look beyond the current system and create a “Rights of Nature” jurisprudence? Cheryl traces the origins of Rights of Nature jurisprudence from Tribal codes and U.S. political entities. She outlines existing public law strategies, and advocates for the use of cooperatives as a strategy to for people to act in alignment with Rights of Nature jurisprudence.

Cheryl Markham is the founding attorney of Peoples Community Law, a cooperative law practice in the Seattle Metro area, serving cooperative clients and networks throughout Washington State. Prior to opening the practice, Cheryl was a legal aid attorney for many years and served as a Senior Policy Advisor for King County regional government in WA State where she collaborated with an interdepartmental staff team and community-based partners to create innovative new policies and programs for equitable community development. Cheryl is a member of the Membership and Stewardship Circles of the Guild.

Over the last three years Cheryl completed the Master of Management, Cooperatives and Credit Unions with the International Centre for Cooperative Management based out of Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, Canada, and will graduate with her cohort this fall. This webinar is based on the Final Research Paper Cheryl submitted for completion of the Master’s Degree.