MOTHER NATURE & FUTURE GENERATIONS
Taking their Seat at the Table
As a business rooted in the beauty of the natural world, we believe it's imperative we hold ourselves to a high level of accountability for our impact on Nature and the quality of life we’re leaving behind for generations to come. We have a responsibility to leave this planet a better place than we currently find it; we are at a pivotal point globally where unless we act now, there will be no turning back.
It’s no longer enough to just be sustainable; we need to restore the natural world.
As humans, we have lost our way, thinking we have ownership over Nature when in fact we are Nature. We have forgotten how to live in kinship with the natural world; we are part of a sacred web of life with all living organisms including plants, animals, rivers, mountains, oceans and their co-created living systems which have equal and inherent rights to exist and thrive.
We are living beyond our planetary boundaries; infinite growth on a finite planet is not possible, and in order to try to stabilise our precious eco-systems, on which we are dependent for our own existence, we need to listen to Nature, and we have a duty to do so. That is why we have made the decision to appoint Mother Nature & Future Generations to our board of directors. In giving a voice to the natural world and the people who will come after us, we can ensure that with every business decision made, we fully consider the future of a liveable, thriving planet for all life on earth.
We are just a part of the movement. As the call for action on Nature Rights gathers momentum, we hope that more businesses give Nature a seat at the table.
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Why are we bringing Nature's voice to the table?
Since our launch in 2011, House of Hackney has been an early pioneer of using business as a force for good. We have learned that being sustainable and merely ‘sustaining’ life is not enough and in early 2023 we started to shift our business towards being restorative and regenerative, meaning that we are working towards restoring the damage that has been done to our collective wellbeing and natural resources by extractive business practices.
We are witnessing a growing Nature Rights movement, where legal personhood has been given to the natural world and landmark cases have seen the attribution of legal rights to rivers and mountains. Realising the potential impact of bringing these Nature Rights into business and inspired by Faith in Nature - who were a world first in legally appointing Nature to their board of directors - we worked with Lawyers for Nature to follow in their footsteps towards a better tomorrow.
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How did we do it?
Lawyers for Nature is a cutting-edge collective who work with those seeking to defend the natural world and the legal representation of non-persons. They worked with us to appoint a legal representative for Mother Nature and Future Generations to House of Hackney’s board of directors. Co-founder of Lawyers for Nature, Brontie Ansell, who guided us in this pivotal move, has been appointed to represent both Mother Nature and Future Generations.
But what does this mean in practice?
It means that at House of Hackney, Mother Nature and Future Generations have been given legal personhood on our board, as directors. This means a non-partisan person, independent of our business, will have a voice to ensure that in every decision made across all departments, we fully consider the future of a liveable, thriving planet for all life on earth.
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Our definitions
In order to give Mother Nature and Future Generations legal personhood, they first needed to be defined.
House of Hackney defines these two parties as:
Mother Nature
A personification of nature, all the animals, plants, ecosystems and other things in the world that are not made by humans, and all the events and processes that are not caused by humans. Nature includes humans themselves. Considering that we are Nature and our business would not exist without Nature, we see every decision made across all business functions as potentially impacting her and in turn, Future Generations.
Future Generations
Generations of humans, plants and animals on earth from today’s date. Learning from Indigenous People’s wisdom and the 7th Generation principle of considering the impact of decisions on future generations, we intend to use this board appointment to ensure that decisions we make today result in a liveable, thriving world for tomorrow.
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We have an opportunity to drive change
In the UK and US, the two main markets where we operate, over 99% of private sector businesses are small to medium enterprises (SME’s), including House of Hackney.
We hope that by using this legal tool to fast track progress in our own business, we can share the blueprint for how we work with other businesses and speed up the restoration and regeneration of our collective wellbeing and environmental health.
Collectively as SME’s, we have more power to shift business practice than we realise. By advocating for Nature from the core of our business, we hope to create a ripple of change across our industry and beyond.
We believe in progress over perfection and doing the most we can with what is within our means to do.
