Should trees have rights like humans?
This town thinks so
Today’s snapshot👇🏽
Should trees have rights like humans? This town thinks so
Using mushrooms to recycle construction waste
Quiz of the Week
Sustainable brands that I recently discovered
News that made me feel good
🌳Should trees have rights like humans? This town thinks so
The Canadian town of Terrasse-Vaudreuil is located 40 miles west of Montreal, Quebec. In June 2026, its municipality declared that as living beings, trees should have their own rights, including “the right to life, to natural growth, to integrity and regeneration”.
The community of around 2000 residents was inspired by Quebec filmmaker André Desrocher’s film Des arbres et des arts. The movie convinced them that trees are living entities that breathe and can communicate with each other through their root systems.
This is not the first time that living bodies apart from humans have been given rights. In the past, we have seen rights being given to rivers and other natural areas.
And makes sense to me! If businesses and companies without any life can have legal rights to protect themselves, why not trees that essentially keep us alive and are our allies in fighting climate change?
🍄 Using mushrooms to recycle construction waste
Backstory…Every year, construction and demolition projects generate hundreds of millions of tons of waste. Most of it ends up in landfills. Materials like drywall, carpet, insulation, and mixed debris are hard to recycle. They are often contaminated, layered, or chemically treated, which makes traditional recycling almost impossible. So we bury it.
And and and…Construction waste is one of the largest waste streams in the world. Landfills release methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Also, producing virgin construction materials requires enormous energy and resources
Grow its way back…Mycocycle uses mycelium (the root structure of mushrooms) to break down construction waste. Instead of burning waste or sending it to landfill, they biologically transform it. Here’s how it works:
They collect hard-to-recycle construction materials
They inoculate the waste with carefully selected fungi
The mycelium grows through the material and digests harmful components
The result is a cleaner, reusable raw material
We had it all this time…Nature has been decomposing complex materials for millions of years. They’re simply applying that logic to modern waste streams. And the output isn’t just compost. The processed materials can be reintegrated into manufacturing, creating a circular system where buildings don’t just get demolished. They get reborn.
⌛ Quiz of the week
Note: Answer at the end of the newsletter. No one (including me) can see your response, so feel free to vote. 😉
👏 Sustainable brands that I recently discovered
🇺🇸 AirJoule: Produces pure distilled water from air.
🇦🇺 Samsara Eco: Tackles hard-to-recycle plastics and textiles to keep more out of landfill and in circulation.
🇩🇪 Aampere: A platform for used EVs in Europe.
🇺🇸 Returnity: A reusable shipping box that replaces 40+ cardboard boxes.
🇬🇧 Magical Mushroom Company: Uses agricultural leftovers and mycelium to produce compostable packaging.
🙌 News that made me feel good
🐋 Swim free…Rescuers in Alaska freed a young humpback whale from a death trap.
🐅 Back home…Bangladesh is preparing to release a tiger back into the wild after it was rescued from a poacher’s trap.
☀️ Stay bright…Small and medium businesses in Cuba have found light in solar power during the energy crisis.
🐮 Cars go moo…As energy prices surge, India is turning cattle waste into car fuel.
🐢 Time to hatch…Thousands of baby green sea turtles head to sea after a successful egg relocation project in Australia.
Quiz answer: Switzerland
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I agree 100 percent that trees and all other life forms should have rights so that corporations do not abuse them However I don’t see governments jumping at this