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Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Date of Publication: 2011
Binding: soft cover
Edition: 2nd Edition
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very good condition. Light wear. Binding tight, pages clean. Pictures available upon request.
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Date of Publication: 2011
Binding: soft cover
Edition: 2nd Edition
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very good condition. Light wear. Binding tight, pages clean. Pictures available upon request.
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Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice, 2nd Edition Paperback – April 28 2011

by Cormac Cullinan (Author), Thomas Berry (Foreword)

15 ratings

4.2 on Goodreads

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We are rapidly destroying our only habitat, Earth. It is becoming clear that many of the treaties, laws and policies concluded in recent years have failed to slow down, let alone halt or reverse, this process. Cormac Cullinan shows that the survival of the community of life on Earth (including humans) requires us to alter fundamentally our understanding of the nature and purpose of law and governance, rather than merely changing laws.

In describing what this new 'Earth governance' and 'Earth jurisprudence' might look like, he also gives practical guidance on how to begin moving towards it. Wild Law fuses politics, legal theory, quantum physics and ancient wisdom into a fascinating and eminently readable story. It is an inspiring and stimulating book for anyone who cares about Earth and is concerned about the direction in which the human species is moving.

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"Every now and then, an idea emerges that helps the human species to evolve. Wild Law is one such idea and is brilliantly explained in this book. Cormac Cullinan leads us toward a new relationship with Mother Earth - just in time."--Maude Barlow, activist, co-founder of the Blue Planet Project and author of Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis

"Even in an age that feels itself to be enlightened and humane, and condemns cruelty to animals, and claims to take "the environment" seriously, the idea of "Wild Law" still seems, to many, to be bizarre. How can wild creatures, or landscapes, be granted the same kind of respect - the same rights - in law, as a human being? Yet, as Cormac Cullinan argues so powerfully, the morality of this is clear, and the logic of the case seems impeccable. Indeed we should be asking, can we claim to be fully civilized in the absence of such laws?"--Colin Tudge, author of The Secret Life of Trees, Feeding People is Easy and Consider the Birds: How They Live and Why They Matter

"The arrogance of the 'civilised' world has blinded it to the wisdom of the indigenous people for too long. Cormac Cullinan's call for the indigenous voices and the wisdom of thousands of years of human experience to be heard in the heart of our governance systems is both timely and powerful. This provocative and groundbreaking book is an important milestone in the process of finding a viable ecological role for contemporary human societies."--Martin von Hildebrand, co-ordinator of COAMA, programme for indigenous people in Colombia, which received the Right Livelihood Award in 1999

"This book of Cormac Cullinan explains with great clarity how we can change our entire approach to governance so that we can continue life on a liveable planet. In its basic outlines this book is one of the finest contributions to the entire field of jurisprudence in recent times."--Thomas Berry

"We desperately need some new thinking today about systems of global governance. We're stuck with the same obsolete, ignore-the-earth institutions that were brought into being after the 2nd World War, and they're now failing us ever more catastrophically. Wild Law shows just how radical we now need to be in creating new institutions that are genuinely 'fit for purpose' in the 21st Century."--Jonathon Porritt, Director of Forum for the Future

"Africa, the cradle of humanity, is rich in biodiversity and human cultures. Both are being degraded and destroyed by a world order that has forgotten the role we need to play in the Earth system and the value of communities. This important book shows not only why we need to revise our governance systems completely, but also how to begin doing so in a way that draws inspiration from nature and from our diverse human communities."--Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement

"Wild law is to law what quantum physics is to physics"--Alessandro Pelizzon, co-founder of Earth Laws, the Australian network on Wild Law and Earth Jurisprudence

"Wild Law is a stimulating, eminently readable response to our governance crisis. The survival of our species and health of the Earth family depends on our ability to transform governance systems so that humans become part of the ecological matrix of biological and cultural diversity. This book is a milestone on that path."--Dr. Vandana Shiva, President of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and author of Staying Alive and Water Wars

About the Author

Cormac Cullinan is an author, practicing environmental attorney, and governance expert who has worked on environmental governance issues in more than twenty countries. He is a director both of Cullinan and Associates, Inc., a specialist environmental and green-business law firm, and the governance consultancy EnAct International. At the invitation of Bolivia, Cullinan spoke at the 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and led the drafting of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Moth

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chelsea Green Publishing; 2nd edition (April 28 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1603583777
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1603583770
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 340 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.56 x 1.27 x 23.5 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #2,305,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #398 in Environmental & Natural Resources Law (Books)
- #2,480 in Public Policy (Books)
- #2,574 in Environmental Policies

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Malvin
How to the law can help us live sustainably with the earth
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2011
Amazon Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )

"Wild Law" by Cormac Cullinan is the 2nd edition of the groundbreaking book that was first published in 2002. In the 2011 update, Mr. Cullinan articulates a philosophy of law intended to help humanity achieve a sustainable relationship with the earth by expanding democractic rights to include non-human life. Mr. Cullinan, who has spent a lifetime in law and environmental activism, delivers an intelligent, passionate and insightful book that should appeal to educated readers who have a keen interest in environmental law, justice and democracy.

The Foreword is written by the late Thomas Berry, a theologian who has had a profound influence on Mr. Cullinan's thinking. Following Berry, Mr. Cullinan believes that humanity's rift with the natural world must be healed both spiritually and constitutionally. As the dimensions of the environmental crisis become more and more evident, the law must circumscribe human action with respect to the earth's carrying capacity or else risk a vastly diminished future for ourselves.

Mr. Cullinan shares his experiences coming to age in apartheid South Africa when discussing issues of justice. If the world as we know it is being exploited to extinction because our legal system allows it, Mr. Cullinan reasons, then those laws must be unjust. Therefore, just as South Africa's people rose up to oppose its system of racial separation, the author believes that people today must demand that nations begin to recognize the rights of nature.

Mr. Cullinan's central concept is the "great jurisprudence" of the universe which transcends human law. Put simply, Mr. Cullinan believes that the earth has rights that are independent of human rights. Not unlike The Lorax (Classic Seuss), the practical application of these kinds of laws might be to accord legal representation to trees for the right to grow, fish for the right to swim, rivers for the right to flow, and so on. Human activity would be circumscribed by the requirement to bequeath a better earth for the enjoyment of future generations.

Mr. Cullinan believes that humanity must organize into "bio-regional" communities that are commited to honoring and celebrating the life giving power of the earth. These communities might follow the example set by Ecuador to accord legal recognition to non-human life forms. Acting in concert, a "communion of communities" could help the planet begin the healing process while restoring people's sense of wonder and purpose on earth.

While some might view Mr. Cullinan's work as utopian, his views seem to be in the mainstream of progressive thought and action. For example, Noam Chomsky's description of interlocking democracies in a post-capitalist world (see Chomsky on Anarchism) appears strikingly close to Mr. Cullinan's concept of a "communion of communities." In India, it appears that "bio-regional" communities have formed around river rights. And of course, Bolivia successfully introduced the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth at the United Nations (which is reprinted here in the appendix). The evidence suggests to me that Mr. Cullinan's work deserves our attention and support.

I highly recommend this visionary book, along with Robyn Eckersley's classic The Green State: Rethinking Democracy and Sovereignty, to everyone interested in achieving a sustainable, democratic future.

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Robert McLean
A powerful message
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2013
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Having an acute interest in climate change, I found Cormac Cullinan's thoughts helped me better understand the importance each of us have in caring for the earth, or at least doing what we can to keep it in a state suitable for human habitation.

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Zoeeagleeye
The Book the Earth Has Been Waiting For
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2011
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It is time to leave the centuries old left brain thinking. We've lived as if it were the only truth, the only way. The Earth has not prospered under its rule. Wild Law is a book whose time has come, and although many will claim it is "too mystical," it is time they learned to deal with the fact that there are more invisible things in life than visible.

Cormac Cullinam gives us many pithy quotes. His take on relationships is not new but the truth of it needs to be made clearer. Even Darwin said his "survival of the fittest" was misunderstood and we now know that species survive (especially the human species) not through competition, but through cooperation. Cullinam writes,
"the 'new physics' based on quantum theory revealed that the universe is a single integrated whole composed of a dynamic network of relationships."

He says, "I think that once we recognise that the universe, like a dance, exists by virtue of the cooperative relationships between all involved . . . governance should focus on fostering intimate relationships between members of the Earth Community."

Scientists the world over are rapidly coming to the conclusion that consciousness is all there is, albeit, with different levels of awareness. This is to say that a rock may not have the same level of consciousness as a deer, but it is nonetheless maintained with and in consciousness. Even Lewis Thomas (Lives of a Cell) opined that the Earth was alive and conscious. So when Cullinan tells us that shamans have communicated with their environs and have received word back from their mountains, streams and forests that all is not well, we must listen.

The book's layout is attractive, with insets for quotes every few pages. The writing is utterly clear and easy to read if occasionally repetitive. However, for me, the price alone is worth the "Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth." This Declaration includes, of course, all of Earth's "children." Here are a few of the "Declarations": "Mother Earth is a living being. She has "the right to life and to exist." She has "the right to be respected." She has "the right to continue their vital cycles and processes free from human disruptions." She has "the right to clean air." She has "the right to integral health." Two countries have already adopted this Declaration as part of their constitutions, including Bolivia and it has been debated at the U.N.

What is contained in Wild Law must be the basis for a new age of peace and plenty as has been predicted. But nothing is writ in stone. If we humans continue our profligate, destructive ways, killing our oceans until there are no more fish, destroying the lungs of the Earth, the rainforests, to feed cattle, dumping our nuclear toxic wastes into our precious mountains and consuming more than the Earth can provide, we will be opting for unimaginable suffering, possibly the end of humanity. Do we really want to bequeath this to our children, perhaps even to ourselves, for plant and animal species are disappearing at alarming rates previously unsuspected?

But we can do more than buy, buy, buy or stress ourselves with work, or sit around watching television. We can read this book and enlighten ourselves. We can let it give us new, refreshing ideas that will empower us in a good way. Cullinam concludes, "We must include practices that respect, honour and celebrate Earth and rededicate ourselves to deepening our connection with the whole." Your choice.

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not a natural
Well written but lacks depth
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2011
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Cormac Cullinan's book Wild Law is inspirational. Cullinan writes fluently and rhythmically, effortlesslly carrying the reader along page after page. Even Cullinan's fairly frequent use of neologisms is not disruptive; their meaning is almost always immediately clear from the context in which they appear, and they seem fitting, new words where new words are useful.

It is true, however, that in the first few chapters Cullinan relies too heavily on acronyms representing international organizations and conferences, and it's easy to forget what each one means after it's been explained with its first appearance. This difficulty is only a minor inconvenience, however, and it pretty well disappears as we get a bit more deeply into the book.

In addition to being an accomplished prose stylist, Cullinan presents original ideas about how to deal with an increasingly fragile planet. Some of the new ideas are fairly well developed, but most are merely mentioned repeatedly, so often in some instances that I found myself mistaking familiarity for understanding when, in truth, I had only been presented with brain-storming repeitions of the same gloss.

Cullinan works as an environmental lawyer with an international clientele. It seems certain, therefore, that he is, as a matter of routine, deeply immersed in the sort of legal-rational conflictual parsing of environmentally sensitive, ideologically charged concepts and rules that provide the intellectual substance of geo-political engagement over ways to minimize environmental damage while avoiding barriers to economic growth.

Nevertheless, Cullinan is also a mystic and a romantic. When indigenous people living in the Amazon River basin tell him that their shaman, after taking traditional narcotics, is able to communicate with the tribe's natural habitat and find out what is best for both their community and their ecosystem, Cullinan believes them. Literally. Callinan's openness to mysticism is emphasized as he makes the claim that the rest of us, in our hyper-rational world, could learn important lessons from the shaman's relationship with nature.

Similarly, Callinan views the earth -- perhaps the entire universe! -- as an organism with a rhythmic heartbeat -- maybe even a consciousness! -- that is discernible if only we are committed to listening carefully enough.

In contrast with what passes for commonsense in our commoditized world, Callinan holds the animistic view that not only humans and perhaps other animals, but trees, tumbleweed-strewn deserts, mountain ranges, all sorts of natural phenomena, should be viewed as subjects rather than objects. Subjects are purposeful, as a river flowing within its banks, rising and falling with rainfall, snow-melt, and drought, sometimes filling a flood plain, and, if healthy, carrying along a rich variety of aquatic life.

Much of Wild Law will seem absurd precisely because of its hopeful, mystical, and romantic character. The rest will seem wildly impractical simply because entrenched international interests that seek to control our world would not stand for the tree-hugging, we're-all-in-this-together constraints that Callinan's proposals and rudimentary ideas would impose on their unfettered ability to make as much short-term profit as possible.

None of this bothers me. I recognize Wild Law's mystical, romantic, and communitarian limitations and, as far as I can tell, Callinan does as well. There remains, however, something else -- maybe more serious, maybe less -- that bothers me about Wild Law. Pick at random any ten-page sequence, read the pages, and then pick another ten-page sequence in the same way. The chances are very good that you'll find little or no difference in the substance of the two sequences. In short, the book is very redundant. Yes, functional redundancy, redundancy with a purpose, as in repeating a difficult idea, has a legitimate place. But Wild Law seems pointlessly redundant, as if it should have been a brief journal article rather than a book.

I readily admit that from chapter to chapter there are occasional, sometimes striking differences in detail, and Callinan's fluid prose style just keeps us reading along, not particularly troubled by the fact that we've read all this before. Still, if Callinan wants to make a really strong case for what he terms "wild law," as I wish he would, he needs a lot more substance. Nevertheless, I have to admit that I liked the book and I learned from it.

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exaltata
Read Thomas Berry instead
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2011
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In Wild Law, author Cormac Cullinan argues that we should put aside much or our current legal system and establish laws more in line with Earth jurisprudence, meaning laws that are modeled after the laws of nature and the universe and that consider humans and all other members of the Earth's ecosystems as parts of a indivisible whole with inherent rights. I won't try to summarize it more than that; the book as a whole is a mess of half thought out arguments, anecdotes, and unjustified conclusions. Cullinan ranges from mildly inarticulate at his best to downright incoherent at his worst. He seems aware of the magnitude of the task he set himself in writing the book, but is completely unable to live up to the requirements of a clear, concise series of arguments in support of his ideas. At one point Cullinan likens this book to a bird that flicks its wings in the hopes that its flock will change direction. Sadly, we are not birds, and an author needs to do much more than flick his metaphoric wings in order to initiate change in the world. Most human beings need a compelling rationale and detailed supporting evidence to embrace change as massive as a fundamental reworking of all the legal systems on the planet.

The justifications that Cullinan makes for his ideas are sloppy and weak, and he completely ignores some of the major hurdles that need to be surmounted for his argument to take root, such as religious or spiritual beliefs that do not jive with his ideas about a "Mother Earth" and the difficulties inherent in jumping from the idea that all humans have inalienable rights to all animals have inalienable rights to some (poorly defined) inanimate objects have inalienable rights (mountains, rivers, etc. are considered equal partners in Cullinan's Earth community). Nor does he address the dilemma created when humans make laws giving rights to animals, plants, and ecosystems; there is an unavoidable conceit involved when humans state that other creatures have rights that need to be protected and then proceed to identify, label, and protect those rights on behalf of those nonhuman entities. While the author mentions trances and spiritual ceremonies allowing us to correspond to animals and ecosystems, the fact remains that any laws we create will be, at best, human interpretations of Earth jurisprudence that we impose upon other creatures.

The only truly compelling parts of the book come when Cullinan is quoting or summarizing the works of the esteemed Thomas Berry. So I'd suggest you do what I wish I had done: skip Wild Law completely and read Berry's pivotal works. You'll come away with a much better idea of the message that Cullinan tries (and fails) to relay, including why we need to embrace Earth jurisprudence and how we can hope to do so. If you still decide to read Wild Law, I would suggest first reading Chapter 15, then Chapter 8, and then going back and reading the rest of the book from start to finish. Those two chapters are the closest the author comings to effectively justifying his arguments, and they shed more light on the topic of Wild Law than any of the other chapters combined.

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