Earth Law Center Opens Thomas Berry Law Library in Durango, Colorado
Contact: Grant Wilson, Earth Law Center - gwilson@earthlaw.org, +1-510-566-1063
Durango, Colorado: On June 1st, 2026, Earth Law Center (ELC) opened the Thomas Berry Law Library in its newly renovated headquarters. The opening, which coincided with the 17th anniversary of Berry's passing, gathered community members, scholars, and supporters to dedicate a new home for Earth-centered legal theory and practice. ELC, an environmental law nonprofit founded in 2008, operates internationally to give Nature a voice in the legal system.
The library will be a gathering space for Earth jurisprudence scholars, practitioners, and students from across the globe. It contains books relating to law, philosophy, ethics, religion, and Indigenous wisdom foundational to Earth law. A running index of the current collection (still growing) is accessible here.
The library is named after Thomas Berry, a cultural historian and self-described “geologian” who spent his life teaching that the Earth is not a collection of objects but a communion of subjects. His visionary work laid the philosophical foundation for the Rights of Nature movement and the work of Earth Law Center. Dedicatory remarks by Herman Greene, ELC's Thomas Berry Scholar-in-Residence, highlighting the connection between Berry and ELC are available here. A history of the Earth law movement is available here.
The law shelf of the Thomas Berry Library
Beverly Capelin, Herman Greene, and Jessica Zeller during the ribbon cutting ceremony
“We are honored to dedicate this law library to the legacy of Thomas Berry. His work is foundational to our efforts to bring human legal systems into harmony with the natural world,” said Grant Wilson, Executive Director of Earth Law Center. “Berry saw our loss of connection to place as a root cause of ecological destruction. In Durango and the Southwest, that connection to place is stronger than anywhere I have known. Hosting the library in this community gives our team the insight, clarity, and inspiration that drives our work around the globe.”
Missy Lahren, a lawyer and Board Member of ELC’s US and UK branches, said, “I think Thomas Berry would have appreciated the beloved landscape surrounding this library, with its view of the spectacular San Juan Mountains and its glimpse of Dibé Nitsaa (Hesperus Mountain) to the North, long revered by the Diné (Navajo) People. The library also sits across the street from the free-flowing Animas River, sacred to the Ute and a river whose rights have now been recognized by City resolution.”
ELC law school and undergraduate interns working in the Thomas Berry Law Library shortly after its opening
ELC provides guidance to governments, Indigenous leaders, grassroots advocates, and businesses transitioning to Earth-centered law and governance. It now has more than twenty staff members supporting legal innovation in more than thirty countries. ELC authored the leading law school coursebook on Earth law.
At the opening, Wilson acknowledged the original stewards of the region’s lands—the Ute, Apache, Pueblos of New Mexico, Hopi, and Navajo Nations—and noted that the library includes a dedicated Indigenous collection, reflecting ELC’s ongoing focus on Indigenous rights.
In addition to Wilson and Greene, speakers at the event included Rebecca Clausen, professor of environmental sociology at Fort Lewis College; Bill Plotkin and Geneen Marie Haugen of the Animas Valley Institute; and Jessica Zeller, President, Natural Pathways Foundation and contributor to the vision of the Thomas Berry Law Library (read her benediction here).
Members of the public may visit the Thomas Berry Law Library by appointment and may propose or donate books for the collection by emailing info@earthlaw.org.
Inaugural financial gifts to the library are matched dollar for dollar on this page through June 30, 2026 (please type “law library” in the memo). Donations beyond June are still much appreciated and can be made here. Donations of $500 or more will receive special mention in the library by name.
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Earth Law Center extends special thanks to the supporters who made the library possible: Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grim, and the Thomas Berry Foundation; Jessica Zeller and the Natural Pathways Foundation; Beverley and Doug Capelin; Robert McDermott for his generous donation of books, (and Max DeArmon for facilitating that donation); ELC founder Sister Patricia Siemen; Tricia Mukti Karpfen; ELC team members Missy Lahren, Herman Greene, Heather Robertson, and Matthew Zepelin; and the interns who helped create the space.
