Thomas Berry Law Library, SOEL, Autocosmology, and more!

The past month has brought several developments in the Ecozoic community, including the launch of the Thomas Berry Law Library in Durango, Colorado; new initiatives from the Society for Earth Law; our ongoing Human Prospect Study Group; and an invitation for submissions from our friends at Starborne: The Journal of Autocosmology. Details are included below!

Earth Law Center Opens the Thomas Berry Law Library

CES founder Herman Greene was in Durango, Colorado last month for the opening of the Thomas Berry Law Library in the newly renovated headquarters of Earth Law Center (ELC), an international non-profit dedicated to giving Nature a voice in the legal system. Speaking at the event were Grant Wilson, Executive Director of ELC; Herman, who also serves as Thomas Berry Scholar-in-Residence of ELC; Rebecca Clausen, professor of environmental sociology at Fort Lewis College; Bill Plotkin and Geneen Marie Haugen of the Animas Valley Institute; and Rebecca Zeller, community supporter of ELC.

The library will be a gathering space for Earth jurisprudence scholars, practitioners, and students from across the globe. It features works relating to law, jurisprudence, ethics, religion, and Indigenous wisdom that are foundational to the field of Earth law. A full index of the library’s collection is available here. Members of the public may visit the Thomas Berry Law Library by appointment. They may also propose or donate additional books for the library. To do either, email ELC: info@earthlaw.org

The library is named after and dedicated to the legacy of Thomas Berry, whose visionary work laid the philosophical foundation for the Rights of Nature movement and the work of Earth Law Center. Herman’s dedicatory remarks highlighting the connection between Berry and ELC are included at the end of the full news update on Substack.

Earth Law Center provides guidance to governments, Indigenous leaders, grassroots advocates, and businesses transitioning to Earth-centered governance. It now has more than twenty staff members supporting legal innovation in more than thirty countries. The organization has deep expertise in legal frameworks recognizing rivers, forests, animals, and ecosystems as living entities deserving of legal rights, guardianship, and representation in decision-making. Visit Earth Law Center’s website to learn more.

Society for Earth Law

Speaking of Earth Law, our partner organization Society for Earth Law (SOEL) has plenty of news to share, as evidenced by their inaugural newsletter. Here’s a little about SOEL from Executive Director Linda Wendling:

Today, we are at a crossroads. We are failing to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and the health of our forests, oceans, rivers, and soils. The Society for Earth Law (SOEL) seeks to operate at a transformative scale—not merely addressing the symptoms of environmental and social degradation but also developing a transformative new paradigm for overall health & well-being. Guided by the core pillars of Relationality, Reciprocity, and Responsibility, we are working to cultivate Earth Jurisprudence—a framework where human laws align with the natural laws of the living Earth. For more details about our three “R”s, please refer to our Statement of Mission and Purpose linked here.

If you’re interested in participating in SOEL’s work, take a look at the newsletter linked above for details on how to become a team member, a collaborator, or a general member. Linda and the team are currently working on SOEL’s Mighty Network community (you’re invited to join!), partnerships and alliances, university chapters and regional hubs, and a student symposium for Climate Week in NYC titled “Our Future: Moving Society From Ego-Centrism to Eco-Centrism.” Learn more on the SOEL website, where you can also join their mailing list to stay informed. Linda can be contacted at linda@societyforearthlaw.org

Human Prospect Study Group

You may recall invitations earlier this year to join CES’s Human Prospect Study Group. We’ve now entered the final month of our weekly Zoom calls, which have seen stellar presentations from scholars, writers, and innovators on topics such as Territories of Life, Dream of the Earth Village, The Truth Quest, Logarithmic Regression of Human-System Development, Ecologically-Based Economies: Bioregional Coherence Project, and The Inner Life of Considering the Human Prospect. Later in the year, we hope to share excerpts from some of these rich presentations.

Starborne: The Journal of Autocosmology

Our friends at Starborne: The Journal of Autocosmology are doing some incredible work catalyzing awareness around the inspiring and invaluable perspectives of autocosmology. Some wonderful authors have already submitted contributions to Starborne’s upcoming second issue — and it turns out that you might be able to join them: further submissions are still being accepted until the end of July! Further details from the Starborne editors are included below.

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An invitation from Starborne

Dear Earthlings,

It has been almost exactly one year since we released the first issue of Starborne: The Journal of Autocosmology. The term autocosmology points toward an emerging literary and artistic orientation rooted in a simple yet awe-inspiring realization: we are not separate from the universe—observing it from afar—but rather, we are localized expressions of the entire cosmic process. Autocosmological work explores what it means to inhabit this realization not merely as an abstract idea, but as a lived creative, emotional, and existential reality. This approach asks how writing, image-making, and artistic practice might change when we begin to understand ourselves as participants within a 13.8-billion-year unfolding process.

The response to our first issue was deeply heartening, and it affirmed that this conversation is only just beginning. So, we are thrilled to announce that we are officially opening the Call for Submissions for the second issue of Starborne!

What We Are Seeking:

• Prose, poetry, visual art, and other forms of electronic media that reflect the autocosmological perspective: expressions that are both about and of the cosmos. Works that creatively meld personal narrative with broader cosmological themes, offering insights into the interplay between individual lives and cosmological forces.
• Theoretical and scholarly work on the concept of autocosmology.
• Critical/analytical writing that explores existing works of literature and art through an autocosmological lens.

Submission Guidelines:

• We accept fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and other works that have not been previously published elsewhere.
• Written submissions should be sent in PDF or Word format (.docx). Images should be submitted in .jpeg format. File types for other forms of media will be decided on a case by case basis.
• Word limit: a maximum of 3,000 words double-spaced. For poetry, up to 5 poems. For visual art, up to 5 pieces. Limits for other forms of media will be decided on a case by case basis.
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but if your piece is accepted elsewhere, we ask that you notify us immediately.
• You MUST submit your work using THIS FORM.
• Submission deadline: At this point, we do not have a hard deadline. We will accept submissions until we have an adequate amount of work for this next issue.

To get a sense for what might be considered autocosmological, please review the first issue of Starborne. We acknowledge that the concept of autocosmology is still emerging, so we encourage you to contribute your original thought and creativity to this ongoing conversation.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at autocosmological@gmail.com.

We look forward to your unique and thought-provoking contributions!

With humility and excitement,

Ari Makridakis and Ezekiel Fugate