In water the world is narrated by the current. The current is visible. Fish swim like birds in murmurations. So waves sync our bodies to the rhythm of Earth.
Water teaches us how to move, how to listen, how to connect. It reminds us that the Earth is not fixed, but always in motion ~ shifting, swelling, circulating life.
From marshland restoration to the legal personhood of rivers and oceans, this conversation explores what it means to see water not as a resource, but as a living system with agency, memory, and rights.
We are honoured to welcome three visionary voices whose work reimagines our relationship with the aquatic world:
Dr Erin O’Donnell, water law scholar and global pioneer in the movement to grant legal rights to rivers, brings insight into how law can evolve to recognise water as a living entity rather than a commodity.
Dr Grace Cott, ecologist and expert in wetland carbon dynamics, reveals the delicate and powerful role of marshes and peatlands in regulating climate, biodiversity, and water quality ~ landscapes where life and death cycle visibly in the tide.
Pella Thiel, ecophilosopher and co-founder of the Rights of Nature Sweden, advocates for ecocentric governance and Earth jurisprudence, inviting us to imagine legal systems built not on dominion, but on reciprocity and respect.
Together, they will guide us in asking: What does water know that we have forgotten? The role of wetlands in climate conversation? And how might recognising the rights of water change our future?
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