How can we ensure that our most precious natural sites such as lakes and mountains are spared from human pollution? One answer is giving lawful rights to them, something that recently happened in Toledo, Ohio where residents passed a bill that grants new rights to Lake Erie. In the last few years, Lake Erie has suffered from overwhelming algae blooms that are caused by nitrogen and phosphorus runoff. Sometimes it’s so bad that Toledo’s residents can’t use their tap water for days at a time. With the passing of a new bill, Lake Erie now has the right “to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve,” which gives environmentalists and stakeholders a legal option to protect a natural body when environmental regulations fail. Although this is a first in the US, similar laws recognizing the intrinsic rights of ecosystems have passed in Colombia, New Zealand, and India.
Lake Erie just became the first ecosystem in America to be granted rights
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