In this influential work, Stone argues that special guardians be empowered to speak for the "voiceless" elements in nature, in effect, to give legal standing in the court of law to endangered species and threatened forests.

The 25th anniversary edition features an additional collection of his most influential writings:

How to Heal the Planet

The Convention on Biological Diversity

Should We Establish a Guardian to Speak for Future Generations?

An Environmental Ethic for the 21st Century

A new Introduction and Epilogue, "Trees" at Twenty-Five, narrate the reception of the Should Trees Have Standing? thesis in various countries, and appraise the present state of the environmental movement.

"A highly influential piece of work...Stone displays a strong commitment to global environmental laws, outlooks and obligations. Stone has a wonderful ability to situate environmental philosophy in the context of everyday socioeconomic, political and legal realities. Moreover, embedded within his rational arguments and his logical vistas is a colourful affinity for the natural world. Indeed, Stone's book is decidedly ecocentric in nature. All in all, this twenty-fifth anniversary commemorative publication is an indispensable, superb and impressive contribution to the general field of environmental studies. Every environmental lawyer, policy-maker, professor, student, journalist and legislator should have a copy of this book. Indeed, environmental and human rights activists, the world over, will find this book of great interest."

Tim Boston

Department of Environment and Resource Studies, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario, CAN

"In "Should Trees Have Standing?" (1972) Chris Stone made the original, and arguably still the most cogent case, for granting legal standing to natural objects. A quarter century later he evaluates the outcome of his thesis in another masterly piece: "Trees at Twenty Five." This book illuminates our thinking about many critical, national and international conceptual issues of the twenty first century."

Lakshman Guruswamy

University of Tulsa College of Law

National Energy LawandPolicy Institute, Tulsa, OK

"Stone is a guiding intellectual beacon for those interested in legal and policy aspects of environmental protection, whether at the domestic or international level. This collection is a timely and welcome reminder that much work remains to be done on many of the critical issues he addresses. The thinking is as lively, fresh and insightful as when it first emerged, testimony to the fact that the move from the local to the global touches many common themes."

Philippe Sands

King's College of London, UK

"It is impossible to over-emphasize the significance of this graceful and elegant essay...The essay's re-issue demonstrates Stone's uncanny ability to anticipate crucial philisophical debates...(the essays are) required reading for all students of any age of environmental philosophy and policy."

Eric Katz

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ

"Any serious student of environmental ethics should study this piece."

Arthur Westing, Westing Assoc., Putney, VT, Environment