Projects & Events
JOIN US TO CELEBRATE THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE SOCIETY!
The Society for Earth Law (SOEL), an international coalition of lawyers, law students, educators, scientists, and advocates, will formally launch during Climate Week NYC, on September 24, 2025, from 1:30 to 3:00 PM EDT, at the Works on Water 2025 Triennial Exhibition taking place in the LMCC Arts Center on Governors Island, New York City (see logistics on second page). The event is free and open to the public. It will also be livestreamed for free on SOEL's YouTube page (to access use the Eventbrite ticket).
Please register for either the in-person event or the livestream by clicking the BUTTON above or
At SOEL’s Launch, the new leaders will be inducted and charged with carrying SOEL’s vision to the world. Our mission is bold and urgent: to transform legal systems so they prioritize the health of Earth and present and future generations of all life.
Featured speakers include:
Karenna Gore - Center for Earth Ethics
Natalia Greene – Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature
Grant Wilson, Executive Director, and Missy Lahren, Chair of the Board – Earth Law Center
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim - Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology.
Sarah Cameron Sunde - Artist and Works on Water co-founder.
SOEL is a new association engaged in reimagining the role of law in an age of ecological crisis. Frustrated by the legal system’s ongoing failure to address escalating climate and ecological crises, SOEL calls for a bold shift: legal frameworks that recognize Earth not as property or a storehouse of resources, but as a living, interconnected community. SOEL envisions a world where legal, economic, social, and political systems are rooted in a shared commitment to nurture, regenerate, and sustain the Earth community—locally, bio-regionally, nationally, and globally.
Guided by three core principles
Relationality
We are an indivisible part of the entire community of life and life systems and must recognize the interdependence of all life.
Reciprocity
We must give back to all living beings and ecosystems to ensure justice, accountability, sustainability, and regeneration.
Responsibility
We must enter into a new ecological social contract requiring resilience, adaptation, and the ability to respond as individuals and as a collective to our obligations in the face of ecological change.