This conception is far saner than other "rights to natrual entity" schemes and I must praise for being theoretically workable and fully consistent with other intangibles in property rights - those can be taken too far but there is a valid purpose to them.
Prior "ecological entity rite" proposals I heard were emotional appeals from true believers which sounded superficially good on the surface but made no damn sense. Who exactly can speak for the river with any authority? You say the river wants to be clean and unfished? I say it wants to be pretty and colorful with mine run-off! Those being affected by it have a perfectly solid claim to damages ahead of time and can help bring many parties to the table for nuance.
Prior "ecological entity rite" proposals I heard were emotional appeals from true believers which sounded superficially good on the surface but made no damn sense. Who exactly can speak for the river with any authority? You say the river wants to be clean and unfished? I say it wants to be pretty and colorful with mine run-off! Those being affected by it have a perfectly solid claim to damages ahead of time and can help bring many parties to the table for nuance.