Note
Author: Tessa Adkins (Washington University School of Law)
A plaintiff must show a personal injury to have standing to bring a claim in a court. Having this standing to sue proves unusually difficult in environmental suits. This Note argues that this myopic approach is flawed, and instead, courts should use Gaia standing. Under this approach, environmental plaintiffs’ standing is based on their relationship to the nonhuman entity Gaia, or the Earth as a unified organism. This would honor both the Constitution and the reality of environmental injury.
Keywords: standing, Gaia standing, Gaia, Gaia theory, environmental, environment
How to Cite: Adkins, T. (2020) “A Tough Bitch in Federal Court: An Argument for Gaia Standing”, Washington University Journal of Law and Policy. 63(1).