Dreams of Legal Personhood: Rights for Nature in Hawai'i
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2023
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Why should the State of Hawai’i implement substantive legal rights for nature and be the first state in the Nation to do so? The State of Hawai’i is uniquely and advantageously positioned to implement legal rights for nature for a multitude of reasons that include, the ecocentric culture of its indigenous native Hawaiian people, its popular natural spaces beloved by residents and visitors alike, and a stable democratic party supermajority in the State, among other key reasons. In doing so, Hawai’i can purposefully model, inspire and motivate other nations and American states to move in a similar direction. Because of its unique historical, environmental, political and legal background, Hawai’i‘s state constitution arguably allows for the enactment of rights of nature legislation today, even though many may not realize this or have yet to seriously consider it. Hawai’i has in the past been first or among the first of states to establish meaningful and progressive environmental initiatives and rights and leads the Nation with its many progressive environmental policies and goals. In this thesis, I argue Hawai’i should be first to enact rights of nature laws because in doing so it would bring a myriad of benefits to the state, ranging from long sought after strides in native Hawaiian self-determination, substantial aid to native ecological and environment protection efforts and sizable support for the State in achieving its admirable environmental and climate-related goals, of which it is currently struggling to meet.
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Political science, Law, Environmental law, ecocentrism, Hawai'i, indigenous rights, legal personhood, native Hawaiian, rights of nature
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236 pages
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