Sustainability, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Politics, Activism, Biodiversity, Carbon Footprint, Wildlife, Regenerative Agriculture, Circular Economy, Extinction, Net-Zero · One Planet Podcast · Mia Funk

A Barrister for the Earth: Ten Cases of Hope for Our Future w/ MONICA FERIA-TINTA

·59 min·4 clips

Monica Feria-Tinta says her work is driven by "a love for humanity" and being "one with nature."

The speaker begins with a direct appeal to young people. She says they are powerful. She pushes back against the idea that outside voices should define their limits. The work, she suggests, starts step by step. Each case teaches something new. Learning is gold when there is time to do it well. She encourages listeners to get informed. She also moves beyond quick Googling and toward learning in different ways. The conversation treats knowledge as a form of civic strength. It is not framed as individual heroics. It is framed as shared contribution. Ordinary people matter. Communities matter. The discussion then turns toward rivers and ecological rights. The Atrato case becomes the central example. In that case, the river was recognized as having the right to be free from pollution and the right to restoration, and four rights were acknowledged in all. That recognition also gave the community a way to address the harm it was living with. Guardians were elected to help implement a plan with the government. The speaker presents that as part of a wider shift in legal imagination. She points to Spain's Mar Menor. She points to New Zealand, where similar recognition happened through a treaty. She points to Peru, where the River Maranon and Lake Titicaca have received recognition, and to Nepal, where a glacier has also been declared to have rights. She then turns to England, where the story is being shaped by communities deeply concerned with a biodiversity crisis. In Lewis, she advised a community that developed a charter recognizing rights for the river, working with the local council. The river Ouse has become part of that movement. The river Wye now has a voice in council meetings when matters affecting it are discussed. The river Severn is also becoming a focus for protection. The larger argument is that people do not stand outside nature. Protecting rivers, communities, and human bodies belongs to one shared struggle.

As heard by us

Rights-of-nature law is framed as practical community work, not abstract theory.

Monica Feria-Tinta presents rights-of-nature law as a set of practical moves, not an abstract theory. She starts with the power young people already have, then widens the frame to community action around rivers.

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Why you'd press play

You want hope grounded in real cases, river rights, and people who moved the law.

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