One World, Many Defenders: The urgency of climate change is spurring a broad array of activism.

• Author: Gerhardt, Tina

In August, the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe sued the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, alleging that the agency has violated the rights of manoomin ("good berry," Ojibwe for wild rice) by allowing Enbridge to pump up to five billion gallons of water during construction of its expansion of the Line 3 oil pipeline.

"The legal argument is that manoomin, in our culture and world, is a living entity, like everything else," stated Frank Bibeau, a tribal attorney representing the White Earth Band. "It has rights just like us to exist and flourish and multiply. And its not being watched out for."

The action is part of a burgeoning Rights of Nature movement, which could radically redefine the legal standing of nature and thereby restructure how corporations, individuals, and governments engage with it. The movement represents a new frontier in the fight against climate change.

In April, a Rights of Nature lawsuit was filed in Florida on behalf of waterways, wetlands, and streams. It aims to block a large 1,900-acre housing development. In 2017, Maori in New Zealand won recognition of the Whanganui River as a living entity, granting it the same legal rights as a person. Later that year, the Ganges River and the Yamuna River and their ecosystems were also accorded legal standing in India.

In 2016, Indigenous women initiated and led the Standing Rock movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The campaign brought together Indigenous peoples in one of the largest mobilizations in decades. Environmental organizations and settler allies showed up in solidarity, hosting actions in cities across the United States.

Meanwhile, Anishinaabe peoples including the Red Lake Nation and the White Earth Nation have been waging a fierce fight against the Enbridge Line 3 expansion. They have used a variety of strategies, including ongoing protests, nonviolent direct action, locking themselves to Enbridge equipment, blocking roads that are critical for construction, and filing lawsuits at the federal and state level. They sent a letter to President Joe Biden with more than 200 co-signers to highlight how the expansion violates centuries-old treaties that guarantee the right to hunt, fish, and gather wild rice in the lands, rivers, and lakes of territories that were ceded.

As President, Biden has put climate change at the center of his agenda, through new positions and appointments. Biden created the positions of U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate...