Craig M. Kauffman - The Politics of Rights of Nature: Strategies for Building a More Sustainable Future

Writing a book on Rights of Nature (RoN) while Craig is evacuated from wildfires in Oregon and Pam cannot drive her daughter to high school due to flooding in her coastal community brings the subject to life. Over the past ten years of our collaboration, travel, fieldwork, and participation, we have learned so much from RoN activists and collaborators. For this we are eternally grateful. We are also fiercely committed to transforming our Earth systems to better reflect our common responsibility for present and future generations. The isolation and threat of the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of how precious life is and how tethered our bond is to Nature and to each other. We hope this book serves as a useful resource for communities struggling to change systems to enable living in harmony with Nature and with each other.

This project would not have been possible without the support of our institutionsCoastal Carolina University (Pam) and the University of Oregon (Craig)and the generous colleagues who read drafts, commented, and provided time for our writing. We thank the Rockefeller Brothers Fund for its generous financial support of our survey project. The Oregon Humanities Center and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon provided support for indexing, for which we are grateful. Adam Chamberlain, chair of the Department of Politics at Coastal Carolina University, crafted our first survey, and provided guidance and expertise in survey analysis. We thank Josephine de Mevius for completing the French translation of the survey and Ceclia Perdigo for the Portuguese translation. The authors conducted the Spanish translation. Anna Jernigan and Katya Tkhostova provided invaluable research support for both our network analysis and in creating a dataset of RoN legal provisions. We also thank Alex Putzer for updating our dataset of legal provisions during 2020. We participated in various International Studies Association Environmental Studies Section panels with helpful discussants like Peter Dauvergne and Stacey VanDeveer, and generous colleagues, including Javiera Barandiaron, Robin Broad, and Todd Eisenstadt. Their support and feedback have been critical in our process.

Over the years, we have attended various international RoN forums from Quito to Paris and beyond. We appreciate the openness of RoN movement leaders and are inspired by their determination and perseverance, even when their lives have been threatened. These are our heroes and heroines. We cannot name them all here, but they are woven throughout this book. Special thanks also go to Shannon Biggs, Casey Camp-Horinek, Hugo Echeverria, Natalia Greene, Patricia Gualinga, Tamati Kruger, Stacy Long, Kirsti Luke, Mari Margil, Marsha Moutrie, Maria Mercedes Sanchez, and Linda Sheehan for their leadership and insights.

Beth Clevenger and Anthony Zannino have been stewards in this process. Beth, thank you for attending our panels, sending us emails, reminding us of the importance of this work, and supporting this publication from start to finish. You are valued partners and part of this network. Thanks also to Kate Gibson and the brilliant copy editors of Westchester Publishing Services. Any errors are certainly our oversight.

Above all, we thank our familiesKeerti, Kaavya, and Kaashni (Craig) and Bill, Gabriella, and William (Pam). We have spent long hours away from home, doing fieldwork or locked in our offices, and most recently on Zoom calls. Yet, our time outdoors with you allcamping, hiking, and kayakinghas reinvigorated our efforts and brought the reality of living in harmony with Nature into our hearts. Thank you for giving us the time and spaceand, most important, the reasonto do this.