Pace Environmental Law Review Volume 25 Article 1 Issue 2 Summer 2008 June 2008 Earth Jurisprudence: The orM al Value of Nature Judith E. Koons Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr Recommended Citation Judith E. Koons, Earth Jurisprudence: The Moral Value of Nature, 25 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 263 (2008) Available at: http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol25/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at DigitalCommons@Pace. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pace Environmental Law Review by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Pace. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. PACE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW Volume 25 Summer 2008 Number 2 ARTICLES Earth Jurisprudence: The Moral Value of Nature JUDITH E. KOONS* There are times in our lives, particularlyas we grow older, when the long arm of the horizon becomes our teacher.1 I. INTRODUCTION Earth Jurisprudence is an emerging field of law that calls us to pause as we enter the twenty-first century to consider the ground under our feet and the teachings bearing down on us from the horizon. 2 As planetary environmental crises advance toward * Associate Professor of Law, Barry University School of Law, Orlando, Florida. B.A., J.D., University of Florida, M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School. Copyright, Judith E. Koons, 2007. I offer my gratitude to Thomas Berry for his long life of soulful work and natural wisdom; to Sr. Pat Siemen, O.P., J.D., for her devotion to the call to "wear out rather than rust out"; to Julie Perry for her passionate and talented research assistance; to Pat Tolan and Eric Hull for their helpful comments; to the many ear- nest thinkers whose work graces this article; and to Earth for continuing to count us among her own.