For the final episode of GARN’s podcast Conversations with Mother Nature, host Lucy Gavaghan meets Paul Powlesland by the River Roding in London: a barrister, environmental advocate, and founder of Lawyers for Nature, whose life and work embody a profound truth; that law and love for Nature can flow together.
Living aboard a narrowboat nestled among reeds and rushes, Paul speaks of joy, resilience, and his mission to bring the Rights of Nature into the UK’s legal and cultural landscape. From climbing trees to prevent their destruction, to drafting legal frameworks that imagine rivers owning themselves, Paul’s vision challenges centuries of separation between humans and the natural world.
In this conversation, Paul reflects on the formation of the UK Rights of Nature Network, the “ecosystem of interventions” growing across communities, and the importance of both local and global approaches to Earth law. His work: blending activism, philosophy, and practical ecology, invites us to imagine a system rooted not in ownership, but in guardianship.
As the series closes, this episode offers both a celebration and an invitation: to act, to imagine, and to continue the dialogue between humanity and the living Earth.
🎧 Listen to the final episode here: garn.org/conversations-with-mother-nature.
