Romantic Primitivism Rears Its Head at the UN as Indigenous Canadian Teen Calls for Water to Be Given "Human Rights"

The 13-year-old wants us to accord "human rights" to water. As in H2O. Which is an inanimate substance and not, I repeat, not a person:

It's time to "warrior up," stop polluting the planet and give water the same rights and protections as human beings. That's the message Autumn Peltier, a 13-year-old Canadian, delivered personally to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.

"Many people don't think water is alive or has a spirit," she told the diplomats gathered in New York City in her speech on World Water Day. "My people believe this to be true.

"Our water deserves to be treated as human with human rights. We need to acknowledge our waters with personhood so we can protect our waters," Peltier said, her five-foot frame standing on a stool behind the podium so she could reach the microphone.

The teenager from Manitoulin Island on Georgian Bay was invited as the "representative of civil society," joining UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and other international dignitaries for the launch the UN's International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development.

The campaign by member states aims to better manage and preserve world water resources. 

By all means, let's be good stewards of the planet and pollute it as little as is humanly possible. At the same time, though, let's not succumb to sheer silliness merely because of the age and provenance of the individual who uttered it.