For a while now, there has been legal protection for some nonhuman individuals, endangered species, and ecosystems.
And it’s slowly expanding. For instance, earlier today Sandra, an orangutan at an Argentinian zoo, was granted limited human rights.
Nonhuman individuals, species, ecosystems, and future generations all need not only legal protection, but also legal representation. We need people who can give them voice in the legal and political system, and it needs to be institutionalized.
This is not only good for them, but for us too. We all benefit from a society where all beings – including future generations – have rights and protection. It will give us incentive to organize ourselves so that what’s easy and attractive is also good for life in general. And what’s good for life in general, is good for us. After all, we are an intrinsic part of the processes and dynamics of Earth.
I imagine a future society where this is a given. And where they look back at our time, and wonder how we could allow the cruelty to animals we see today, and an economical and production system that is set up so ordinary activities destroys our own life support system.