Inalienable Obligations – the Path to Adoption

By Timothy B. Higginson — August 1, 2026

Inalienable obligations are not intended as an academic exercise. They are intended to be implemented, starting immediately. There is an existential imperative to achieve this goal, driven by the global catastrophe that is accelerating brought on by climate change, with a doubling of this urgency by the failure of rights-based frameworks to provide for fair and just societies.

The most important is: discuss the idea of inalienable obligations with your friends.

There are multiple prongs to a roll-out, including:

(1) Everyone: Learn and Think Critically

• Read this website/book
• Read the associated essays on Medium
• Learn about climate change from the scientists who are expert in the field, including peer-reviewed studies published in well-run scientific journals.
• Learn about the failures of rights-based regimes
• Think about what world you want to live in, and what world you want your children and grandchildren (and future generations, whether yours or not) to live in (and even have a fighting chance of living in)

(2) Individuals

• Word-of-mouth with friends, in book clubs, in groups they belong to, on social media, etc (The Instagram account for inalienable obligations is https://www.instagram.com/inalienableobligations (@inalienableobligations).)
• Read about the Church of Time United (www.churchoftimeunited.com). Read its suggested readings. Consider joining and/or adopting some or more of its daily practices and recitals.  Driving change of the order of magnitude required and in the very short time frame we have left to alter the trajectory to the worst case climate change scenario requires an aggressive, motivated, global movement.
• Don’t buy into the story that rights-based frameworks are the only path forward
• Advocate at local and state levels for changes consistent with inalienable obligations
• Advocate in schools at all levels that they teach about inalienable obligations
• Try the "Biodiversity Diet" described in my essay at https://medium.com/@t.higginson/the-biodiversity-diet-f224e86ea820. The intent of the diet is to choose foods that increase biodiversity. This means moving away from foods created from monocultures, and moving towards foods grown uniquely by individual, independent farms that grow and offer unique, biodiverse foods.
• Get Inalienable Obligations merchandise, such as stickers and coffee cups. The book is free. Purchases help us spread the word, and using your merchandise helps spread the word. [URL for merchandise will go [here] when it is ready.]

(3) Judges and the Legal Professions (globally)

• Judges: use the jurisprudence of harmonious biodiversity in deciding cases and writing decisions, discuss harmonious biodiversity with colleagues and at judicial meetings and conferences, and include in speeches and conferences
• Lawyers: use the jurisprudence of harmonious biodiversity in writing briefs, meetings with clients, discussing at bar associations
• Bar Associations (State, Local, International): same as above
• Law Schools: teach harmonious biodiversity as a jurisprudence, and inalienable obligations as a counterpoint to right-based frameworks
• Law Students: include harmonious biodiversity and inalienable obligations in law review and other articles, demand your law school teach about them, and discuss them with your fellow students

(4) State Lawmakers

• Implement harmonious biodiversity as part of the required charters for legal entities formed or doing business in the state (including, corporations, partnerships, LLCs, etc)
• Provide for a right of shareholders to demand their corporations act in accordance with harmonious biodiversity
• Provide a private right of action to residents of the state to litigate against legal entities who do not comply with harmonious biodiversity
• Add tax code changes for resident corporations (and other legal entities) such that they loose any preferred tax status and/or tax shelters provided by the state

(5) Countries

• Same as States
• Negotiate new treaties, and amend existing treaties, to incorporate harmonious biodiversity as a mandatory aspect of treaty obligations and compliance, together with an enforcement mechanism and automatic penalties.

(6) International Organizations

• Incorporate harmonious biodiversity and inalienable obligations into charters and throughout their organizations as the single highest direction for choosing priorities, agendas and activities.

(7) Lobbyists and Industry Groups

• Recognize the imperatives behind inalienable obligations and harmonious biodiversity (and the mirror image already lit short-fuse and accelerating disaster for their members of catastrophic climate)
• Act accordingly

(8) Teachers

• This applies to any kind, whether in public or private educational institutions at any level, or any other role of teacher and mentor)
• Learn and teach about harmonious biodiversity and inalienable obligations, in their own right and in relation to teaching about human rights, fair societies, climate change, critical thinking skills and open minds, etc.

(9) Many other paths

• Extrapolate from the above to any context, and advocate for the adoption of harmonious biodiversity and inalienable obligations.