Trees Have Rights Too Campaign Branches Out on Facebook
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York 
on 12.27.08
Image courtesy of the Sietch
In the first week of its existence, the Facebook group Trees Have Rights Too has apparently attracted some 2,100 new members—all who share the ambition of urging the United Nations to create a Bill of Planetary Rights. We’ve hit on Polly Higgins’s general Trees Have Rights Campaign as a worthy cause and it appears the Facebook component has taken root (ahem) with equal success.
The group points to the fact that every Christmas season, around 6 million Christmas trees are disposed of—some that are recycled, and most that hit the landfill—in order to highlight a seasonal relevancy to their mission.
As noted in the earlier post, Trees Have Rights Too was found not coincidentally on the 60th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights in an effort to produce a similar declaration that calls for a global effort to protect environments around the world. And this is no radical, all-talk environmental activism outlet—Polly Higgins was asked to speak at the UN about this particular prospect.
It’s encouraging that there’s been such a rapid, concerted, and positive response to the Facebook group—the Facebook era sure beats out the messenger pigeon days when it comes to mass organization. And the membership is continuing to grow. So let’s hope all those social networkers and their digital voices get heard, and the UN considers the Planetary Rights prospect.
Log onto the Trees Have Rights Too Facebook page to join the planetary right supportin’ online effort.
More on Trees' Rights:
Blog Love: Trees Have Rights Too
Only in America: Billboards Have Rights, Trees Don't
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
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I love Facebook and Social Networking. Now Fox News and traditional Conservative media can't just blow off liberal causes and say that it's just a small group of radicals. 17,000 people joining an organization in just under a week is not a small group of radicals.