About the MOTH
Program

For too long, the dominant culture has cleaved humans from the web of life, insisting upon human separation from and superiority to the larger living world. That assumption has been translated into law, governance, and other realms of practice, justifying the treatment of nonhumans and nature as treasure troves for endless exploitation. However, the grip of this mode of thinking is beginning to ease, leaving space for new ideas and actions to sprout through.

Within this context, and with an understanding that the time has come for systematically rethinking human relations with the living world, the More-Than-Human Life (MOTH) Program was born.

MOTH is an interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to the advancement of rights and well-being for humans, nonhumans, and the web of life that sustains us all. The Program has two primary goals. First, using the tools of the law, MOTH offers answers to key questions raised by a host of disciplines concerning human relationships—institutional, political, legal, and cultural—with the natural world, including in the context of pressing ecological challenges. These questions include:

1. How can the sciences—from mycology to botany and ecology to marine biology—be translated into and transform the law to better protect life on Earth? How can Indigenous and Western sciences join forces to create and transform legal protections for the more-than-human world?
2. How can we strengthen the implementation of the growing number of rights of nature rulings and laws to ensure they have material impact?
3. How do we give back to nature for its contributions to human activities and endeavors?
4. How can we bridge concern for humans and nonhumans as we ratchet up decisive actions to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies? How can a holistic approach to these and other ecological challenges contribute to reducing societal polarization as well as individual and species loneliness?
5. How can we best use technology—and guard against its excesses—to better understand and relate to nonhumans and nature more generally?

The answers—developed through MOTH actions—aim to protect the living world and its many beings while achieving more-than-human rights in practice.

Second, MOTH nurtures and consolidates the field of practice and inquiry dedicated to more-than-human rights and related topics. In particular, MOTH builds bridges between disciplines and nurtures intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration and ideation.

The MOTH Program is an initiative of Earth Rights Research and Action (TERRA), a program based at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law.

To realize these goals, MOTH makes use of several approaches—in other words, “the how.” These include:

1. Advocacy and Legal Actions
2. Applied Research
3. Education
4. Gatherings
5. Storytelling & the Arts