Defending the Rights of Nature

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz argued passionately for women's intellectual rights and human dignity against institutional oppression. Her justice tradition extends naturally to defending non-human entities: if systems can deny rights to marginalized humans, they can exploit nature without restraint. The Rights of Nature framework—legally recognizing ecosystems, rivers, and forests as entities deserving protection—mirrors her insistence that all beings deserve consideration beyond utility. This philosophy challenges colonial extraction that treats Earth as property. In climate justice, Rights of Nature approaches center indigenous wisdom that never separated human welfare from ecological health. By granting legal standing to nature itself, we overturn the logic that enabled both patriarchal domination and environmental destruction. Sor Juana's legacy illuminates how justice requires recognizing the rights and dignity of all beings, not merely human interests.