“…legal personhood affords rights of protection to the water to protect it from pollutants, from human-caused climate change impacts and from man-made contamination.” — Kelsey Leonard, Shinnecock tribe member, water and climate science researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

From “Kelsey Leonard: What If Lakes And Rivers Had Legal Rights?” interviewed on the TED radio program “Our relationship with Water” on NPR 8/7/20, rebroadcast 1/31/21.

And the results of today’s exploitative attitude toward water?

“…over 2 billion people … live in countries that are experiencing high water stress currently, and it is anticipated that by 2030, up to 700 million people worldwide could be displaced by intense water scarcity.”

For more on the movement toward legal rights of nature, see CELDF (Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund), headquartered in Mercersburg PA.