In this special sneak preview of our next season, we hear from Melinda Janki, a lawyer who's fighting to keep her home country of Guyana from becoming one of the world's largest carbon bombs.

Rep Ro Khanna on the House Oversight Committee's Climate Disinformation Investigation and New Subpoenaed Documents

Dec 20th, 2022 16m 46s

The House Oversight Committee wrapped up its investigation into climate disinformation earlier this month and published a second tranche of revealing internal documents that spell out exactly how the world's largest oil companies have misled th

First Climate RICO Filed + James Hansen Sues EPA

Dec 6th, 2022 40m 27s

November was a big month for climate litigation! The first-ever climate RICO was filed on behalf of 16 Puerto Rican municipalities, plus a cohort of scientists and researchers, including NASA scientist James Hansen, sued the EPA to compel them

SCOTUS Is Back in Session: Here Are the Climate Cases to Watch For

Oct 12th, 2022 46m 32s

West Virginia v EPA isn't the only big climate case before the Supreme Court this year, from questioning the SEC's disclosure rules to major Clean Water challenges there's a lot more to come. EarthJustice's Sam Sankar and Kirti Datla join to gi

S2, Ep 6 | False Friends of the Court

Jun 7th, 2022 22m 27s

I have been wondering for months what possible sense it makes for every right-wing think tank to have an amicus program. I mean...is any judge really surprised to learn that the Cato Institute is against regulation? But these are not folks who

S2, Ep5 | On Judges, Juries, and Precedent

May 19th, 2022 22m 2s

In many of the countries where some of the world's largest climate cases are unfolding, the legal system looks very different than it does in the former English colonies. In much of Europe and Latin America, for example, the Roman system domina

S2 | Ep4: What Can the UN Actually Do About Climate?

May 12th, 2022 23m 20s

Compensation for climate change has been a hot topic at the UN since the early 90s. For countries already experiencing what the UN calls loss and damage the main goal has always been to prevent more damage. But fossil fuel lobbyists had differe

S2 | Ep 3: An Update on the Big U.S. Youth Climate Case

May 5th, 2022 26m 14s

Juliana v United States was one of the first big youth climate cases, and it has inspired several others. In 2021, it looked like the case was dead in the water, but it's back now with one more shot... and a new Netflix documentary on the case

S2 | Ep2: Secret Tribunals

Apr 29th, 2022 41m 43s

A clause in most free trade agreements and investment treaties obligates countries to engage in a process known as international arbitration if there's a dispute with a foreign company. It was meant to assure companies that their investments in

S2 | Ep 1: Ecocide

Apr 21st, 2022 27m 39s

With an internationally accepted definition of this crime, advocates are pushing for international courts to recognize it as well, and they're making progress. In this episode we explore what that means, what an ecocide trial might look like, w

S1 Ep5 | The Backlash

Apr 7th, 2022 33m 58s

In 2019, after a decade-long campaign, voters in Toledo Ohio voted to approve the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, effectively giving the lake personhood. It drew an incredible amount of attention. This wasn’t San Francisco hippies or Brooklyn hipster

Bonus

Responsibilities Not Rights: A Tūhoe Perspective

Mar 31st, 2022 13m 47s

When Tūhoe negotiated legal personhood for their homeland Te Urewera, the global rights of nature community cheered. But in this conversation about how the case connects to rights of nature overall and to the global push for climate action, Tam

S1 | Ep 4: Children of the Mist

Mar 24th, 2022 23m 50s

In New Zealand, after decades of negotiating, Tuhoe people won personhood for their ancestral homeland Te Urewera.

Bonus

Unpacking the Landmark Los Cedros Ruling

Mar 17th, 2022 21m 36s

Last episode we told the story of Ecuador's rights-of-nature journey, today Melissa Troutman and Joshua Pribanic, directors of Invisible Hand and co-founders of the journalism organization Public Herald, join to talk about what the landmark Los

S1 | Ep 3: The Cloud Forest v The Mine

Mar 10th, 2022 27m 47s

Ecuador was the first country to adopt rights of nature into its constitution, but its Constitutional Court (Ecuador’s equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court) has not heard many cases in the decade or so since the law was added. The new Constitut

Special Bonus: What West Virginia v EPA Means for Acting on Climate Change

Mar 3rd, 2022 21m 14s

A case argued at the Supreme Court this week—West Virginia v EPA—has potentially huge implications for regulating greenhouse gas emissions. NYU law professor Richard Revesz and Center for Biological Diversity attorney Jason Rylander join us to

S1 | Ep2: Who Speaks for the Trees?

Feb 24th, 2022 31m 38s

A look at where rights of nature came from and how the concept has played out in the U.S.

S1 | Ep1: Manoomin v Minnesota

Feb 17th, 2022 31m 5s

Welcome to our first season, The Forest for the Trees, a look at rights of nature cases all over the world. In this episode, we start with a case that's making its way through the courts right now, on behalf of wild rice, or manoomin in the Oji

Welcome to Damages

Jan 19th, 2022 2m 50s

People don't bring massive lawsuits against their governments or some of the world's largest companies unless they're out of options and ready to fight like hell. That's exactly what's behind the hundreds of court cases seeking justice for the

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