On June 25, ORCIE hosted a rich and timely online conversation with author and activist Maude Barlow on her newest book, Earth for Sale: The Fight to Stop the Last Plunder of the Planet. This book came at a pivotal moment—just after the Bishops of the Global South released their manifesto ahead of COP30, A Call for Climate Justice and the Common Home: Ecological Conversion, Transformation and Resistance to False Solutions, raising the urgent question: “Who is destroying the Earth, and who is offering false solutions?”
Together, we explored how the growing financialization of nature is reshaping decisions about land, water, forests, and biodiversity, highlighting why protecting the commons is essential to safeguarding our shared future.
Maude reminded us that, from an Integral Ecology perspective, human rights and the rights of nature are inseparable, each depends on the other for true justice and sustainability. She spoke of promising legal developments, where rivers, forests, and ecosystems have been granted legal personhood and recognized as rights-bearing entities, like the Mag Pie river in Canada. These “rights of nature” affirm that ecosystems have the inherent right to exist, regenerate, and evolve.
One of the highlights of the discussion was Maude’s observation about the striking need to pay attention to the recent release of Canada’s Nature Strategy. The Strategy’s framing raises deep concerns about the potential financialization of nature in Canada and the loosening of environmental protections.
Maude’s reflections underscored the importance of beginning a deeper dialogue in Canada about how the principles presented in the book might inform our own environmental and moral commitments. As Maude reminded us so poignantly, “we owe it to our kids” to ensure that the natural world they inherit is not commodified, but cherished and protected as part of our shared home.