> The Thames may be cleaner than when it was declared biologically dead in 1957, but other rivers are close to ecological collapse, suffocated by algae, fungi and weeds that bloom in the run-off from industrial farming.
> On 1 June, Natalie Bennett, a former leader of the Green Party, waded into this slurry with the first reading of a private member’s bill in the House of Lords. The Nature’s Rights Bill calls for Nature (capitalised) to be recognised in law as ‘a legal subject and rights-bearing entity’ with ‘inherent rights’ to exist; to maintain its natural cycles, processes, ‘diversity’ and ‘abundance’; and ‘to be free from pollution, contamination and degradation that threatens ecological integrity, resilience or health’. The bill recognises ‘the rights of Nature ... as the foundation of human life, society and economic activity’ and would impose a legal duty on individuals, businesses and public bodies to operate inside safe ecological limits, with ‘a duty of care towards Nature’.