Ysgol Arbrofol At Ein Coed - Treesense Experimental School @ Pontio

Cylch 5:
CYFIAWNDER / JUSTICE + MERCHED Y TIR

Croeso i Gylch 5: Welcome to Cylch 5!

[english below]

Yn ystod y ddwy wythnos yma yn yr Ysgol Arbrofol At Ein Coed, byddwn yn archwilio:

“Sut allwn ni ail-ddychmygu ein perthynas gyda thir a choed ar gyfer cyfiawnder cymdeithasol, amgylcheddol ac atgenhedlol?”

Dan ni’n eich gwahodd chi i

Meddwl yn wahanol am hawliau a chyfiawnder i goed

Mae rhai ‘hawliau’ neu ‘mesurau i ddiogelu’ coed yn adnabyddus, er enghraifft efallai bod gan goeden Orchymyn Cadwraeth Coed. Ond rydyn ni’n eich gwahodd chi i feddwl yn ehangach, gan ddechrau dychmygu sut byddai/gallai goed gael hawliau (gweler yr adnoddau isod), a sut byddai meddwl fel hyn yn newid sut rydych yn uniaethu a choed.

2. Sylwch pa goed yn eich milltir sgwar chi sydd gan hawliau o bosib.

Ewch am dro, gan sylwi ar goed fel pobl a dychmygu bod ganddynt yr holl ‘hawliau’ dynol, a pha gyfiawnder byddai’r coed ei eisiau. Er enghraifft, mae hi’n gyfnod da o’r flwyddyn i sylwi ar goed bach sydd wedi hunan-hadu dyfu. Sut allwch chi greu amgylchedd a fyddai yn eu cefnogi i ffynnu? Sut fyddech chi’n parchu eu hawliau os ydyn nhw’n tyfu ble dydych chi ddim eisiau iddyn nhw dyfu? Ydyn nhw’n goed hynafol a allai fod gyda Gorchymyn Cadwraeth Coed? Neu allwch chi ‘ddeddfu’ i’r coed ar eich tir chi berchnogi eu hunain?

During these two weeks of the Experimental Treesense School, we will be exploring:

“How can we re-imagine our relationships with land and trees for social, environmental and reproductive justice?”

We invite you to:

1. Thinking differently about rights and justice for trees

Some tree ‘rights’ or ‘protections’ are well known, for example a tree might have a Tree Preservation Order. But we invite you to think more broadly, starting to imagine how trees might or could have rights of personhood (see resources below), and how thinking in this way changes how you relate to trees.

2. Notice what trees in your milltir sgwar (square mile) might have rights.

Go for a wander, noticing trees as people and imagining they have all the ‘rights’ of a person, and what justice might trees want. For example, this is a good time of year to spot tiny self-seeding tree-lets growing. How might you create an environment that supports their thriving? How might you respect their rights if they are growing where you don’t want them? Are there ancient or big trees that could have a Tree Preservation Order? Or might you ‘deed’ ownership of themselves to trees on your land (see right)?

You might like to make an imaginary map of tree justice in your milltir sgwar.

Share the results of your homework on our Padlet!

Audio version of the text below

Share your homework on our padlet!

Siarter y Coed - Charter of the Trees

Adnoddau/Resources

Dyma rai dolenni i feddwl am gyfiawnder ac hawliau a allai eich hysbrydoli chi ar gyfer y Cylch hwn. Byddwn yn gweithio trwy rhai o’r rhain yn ein digwyddiadau, ond efallai hoffech chi eu defnyddio nhw ar gyfer gweithio ar y Cylch hwn o adref.

Here are some links to thinking about justice and rights that might inspire you for this Cylch. We will be working with some of these at our events, but you might also want to use them for working on this Cylch at home.

Protected Trees: How to know which trees are protected by the woodland trust

The Honourable Harvest by Robin Wall Kimmerer

“The canon of indigenous principles that govern the exchange of life for life is known as the Honorable Harvest. They are “rules” of sorts that govern our taking, so that the world is as rich for the seventh generation as it is for us.

The Honorable Harvest, a practice both ancient and urgent, applies to every exchange between people and the Earth. Its protocol is not written down, but if it were, it would look something like this:

Ask permission of the ones whose lives you seek. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last.
Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Take only what you need and leave some for others.
Use everything that you take.
Take only that which is given to you.
Share it, as the Earth has shared with you.
Be grateful.
Reciprocate the gift.
Sustain the ones who sustain you, and the Earth will last forever.”

While these principles are often associated with the individual, they may also be applied to the decision-making processes of large businesses and in shaping government policy.

Should Trees have Standing? Christopher Stone (1972) - a .pdf (this one is quite complex, approach with caution!!)

“The fact is, that each time there is a movement to confer rights onto some new ‘entity’, the proposal is bound to sound odd or frightening or laughable. This is partly because until the rightless thing receives its rights, we cannot see it as anything but a thing for the use of ‘us’ – those who are holding rights at the time”.

The Legal rights of the natural world – beyond personhood (easy read article)

What does it mean to be a person, legally? Aren't people persons? Yes. But, are only people persons? Most definitely not. A human being is considered a "natural" person under the law, whereas certain other entities, including corporations and ships, are considered "legal" or "artificial" persons. Black's Law Dictionary defines a legal person as an entity with "its own rights and duties.” The rights of nature represents necessary legal and cultural shifts in which we understand ourselves as part of nature, and not, as Colombia's Constitutional Court explained, "a ruler of nature."

Giving legal rights to animals, trees and rivers (easy read article in the Guardian)

Reproductive justice – Sister Song

SisterSong defines Reproductive Justice as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. How might this apply to trees? How might it apply to tree planting (and is this a violation of tree reproductive justice?)

See Lindsey Colbourne’s Corlan Y Coed Treefold project, reproductive justice for trees on y Ffridd - a ‘Third Way’ in radical alliance with trees (an alternative to tree planting and rewilding)

The Earth Charter

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights