Environmentalism is growing increasingly radical and irrational, epitomized by the “nature rights” movement that seeks to declare geological features, flora, and fauna to be rights-bearing beings.

Nature rights activists proselytize neoearth religion. Advocates often invoke mystical beliefs of indigenous peoples as justifications for their advocacy, including the invocation of “Pachamama,” the Incan earth goddess. Some activists even claim that the earth is alive.

Now, an article in the environmental journal PLOS Climate claims that “glaciers are more than human beings” — what I guess we could call glacier exceptionalism:

In the context of accelerating climate change and widespread ecological degradation, there is growing academic and legal interest in reframing natural entities—such as glaciers—as more-than-human beings. This conceptual turn challenges anthropocentric ontologies by recognizing that ecosystems possess intrinsic value and agency beyond their utility to human interests. [Citations omitted.]

In the context of accelerating climate change and widespread ecological degradation, there is growing academic and legal interest in reframing natural entities—such as glaciers—as more-than-human beings. This conceptual turn challenges anthropocentric ontologies by recognizing that ecosystems possess intrinsic value and agency beyond their utility to human interests. [Citations omitted.]

This is nonsensical. Glaciers are made up of snow that over millennia compacted into ice. They grow or shrink based on climate. They are geological features.

Glaciers, in particular,........

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