The Earth Law Center is a legal advocacy organization that pushes environmentalism by supporting law treating “nature as an [legal] entity” through education and policy advocacy. It works with communities, governments, and other environmental organizations to “mitigate the effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, and degradation of ecosystems.” ¹

It is funded by several left-of-center philanthropies and grantmaking organizations including the Threshold Foundation and the Lawrence Foundation. ²

Background

The Earth Law Center is an environmental law group that advocates for “earth law,” which recognizes nature as a legal entity. It works to “mitigate the effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, and degradation of ecosystems” through education and advocacy for legislative change. ¹

The Earth Law Center was founded in 2008 by Patricia Sieman, a lawyer and Dominican nun who argued that “protecting the planet was a sacred duty.” It was initially funded by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. ^{3 4}

It established its main office in Durango, Colorado in September 2024. ⁵ Its team is based in Mexico, Chile, Canada, France, and Nigeria as well as the United States. It also works in Latin America. ⁶  The Earth Law Center has twenty staff members along with interns and volunteers. ^{7 1}

The Earth Law Center works with communities and governments to educate and advocate for environmental laws and policies that recognize nature’s rights as a legal entity. ⁸ It advances the concept of “Rights of Nature” and has expanded into other similar legal movements. ¹

Rights of Nature is a movement that would have the law treat nature as a rights-bearing entity and not as mere property. Through this concept, the ecosystem itself can be named as an injured party, with its own legal standing. ⁹ In support of Rights of Nature, the Earth Law Center developed the concept of a board seat for “Nature,” with a person identified to serve as a nature proxy on corporate boards. At least one company in the United Kingdom had implemented this practice as of 2025. ⁴

Work Areas

The Earth Law Center’s advocacy work is typically accomplished through campaigns with regional communities and governments. One of its goals is to incorporate Rights of Nature law and policies into local and national legislation. ¹

As of 2025, it had active campaigns in North America, Latin America, Africa, and with the United Nations including the protection of forests in the Elwha River Watershed area in Washington, the passage of the National Rights of Nature law in Panama, the development of a Universal Declaration of River Rights on an international scale, and participation in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. ¹⁰

Its education and practice development work includes presentations and the publication of blogs and newsletters. The Earth Law Center conducts courses on earth law to legal practitioners. It developed a coursebook entitled Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law–A Practitioners Guide¹¹  which was being used in several law schools and universities in the United States and in several other countries as of 2025. ¹¹ The Center has developed an Earth Law Portal that provides earth law templates and links to content related to earth law. ¹

Affiliations

The Earth Law Center is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a membership-based environmental coalition that claims to be the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network and “the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.” ^{6 12}

It is also a member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN), a network of organizations and individuals that support Rights of Nature, a concept that nature itself has legal rights as an entity, similar to those of humans. ¹³

Other institutions and programs that the Earth Law Center collaborates with include several United Nations programs such as the Environmental Programme, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Ecological Law and Governance Association. ¹

Funding

Donors to the Earth Law Center include the Threshold Foundation, the Lawrence Foundation, the Orange County Community Foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the GS Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management, the National Philanthropic Trust, the American Endowment Foundation, and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. ²

The Threshold Foundation is a membership organization that funds left-of-center causes such as the Coalition for Good Governance, Doc Society, OneVoice Movement, and Our Children’s Earth Foundation. ¹⁴

The Lawrence Foundation is a private foundation that donates to left-of-center environmental causes such as 350 Colorado, Defenders of Wildlife, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and The Nature Conservancy. ¹⁵

Leadership

As of 2025, Grant Wilson was the Earth Law Center’s executive director. He graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in environmental policy and earned a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School with a focus on environmental and international law. He worked at many environmental organizations before joining Earth Law Center as interim executive director in 2013 and becoming its executive director in 2017. He is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law and an expert for the United Nations Harmony with Nature Initiative. ^{16 17}

Linda Sheehan was the founding executive director of Earth Law Center. Sheehan worked at the Ocean Conservancy and the California Coastkeeper Alliance before co-founding the Earth Law Center. After leaving Earth Law Center in 2013 she joined the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation as senior counsel. As of 2025, she was the executive director of Environment Now. ¹⁸

Missy Lahren was the Earth Law Center’s board chair as of 2025. She is an activist and public interest attorney in the San Francisco Bay area. She was a co-founder of Planetary Advocates, a media organization that made educational content on social justice and the environment and as of 2025 was sitting on its executive committee. ¹⁹

1. “Earth Law Center Strategic Plan 2024 – 2028.” Accessed July 19, 2025. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55914fd1e4b01fb0b851a814/t/6751d4b9bab6ec3d876144e6/1733416151431/Strategic+Plan+2024-2028.pdf
2. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer search. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?sort=best&form%5B%5D=IRS990ScheduleI&year%5B%5D=2023&year%5B%5D=2022&year%5B%5D=2021&year%5B%5D=2024&q=32-0258388&submit=Apply
3. Marya Pasha. “How earth lawyers are making nature’s rights legally binding.” TEDx London podcast. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://tedxlondon.com/podcasts/how-earth-lawyers-are-making-natures-rights-legally-binding/
4. Selva Ozelli. “Interview: Tony Zelle, General Counsel, Earth Law Center.” TRVST. November 6, 2023. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.trvst.world/environment/interview-tony-zelle-elc/
5. Christian Burney. “Nature’s legal advocate headquarters in Durango.” Durango Herald. November 1, 2024. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/natures-legal-advocate-headquarters-in-durango/
6. Earth Law Center homepage. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.earthlawcenter.org/
7. “We are global.” Earth Law Center. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.earthlawcenter.org/
8. “Frequently Asked Questions.” Earth Law Center. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.earthlawcenter.org/faq
9. “What Are the Rights of Nature?” GARN Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.garn.org/rights-of-nature/
10. “Explore Our Campaigns by Region.” Earth Law Center. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.earthlawcenter.org/regions
12. “About IUCN.” IUCN. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://iucn.org/about-iucn
13. “Who we are.” GARN Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.garn.org/about-garn/
14. The Threshold Foundation. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990 – Schedule I). 2023.
15. “2024 Grantees.” The Lawrence Foundation. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://thelawrencefoundation.org/2024-grantees
16. “Grant Wilson, Executive Director.” Earth Law Center. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.earthlawcenter.org/grant-wilson
17. LinkedIn – Grant Wilson. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-s-wilson/
18. “Linda Sheehan.” Linda Sheehan – About. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://lindasheehan.com/linda-sheehan-about/
19. LinkedIn – Missy Lahren. Accessed July 19, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/missy-lahren-earthlawyer/