“Chimborazo volcano (Ecuador), the farthest point from the centre of the Earth..Wiki”
Animal and plant species around the world are in terrible trouble.
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Bolivia and Ecuador have taken the threats to our natural world seriously and granted “Law of Rights” to Mother Earth.
“Ecuador rewrote its Constitution in 2007-2008 and it was ratified by referendum by the people of Ecuador in September 2008.” Wiki
Bolivia passed their bill on Earth Day, April 22, 2011.
The earth is not ours to exploit and ruin but to treasure and nurture.
Patricia Randolph’s Madravenspeak: Bolivia and Ecuador show how we should treat animals
“In the 20th century, the glory of the human has become the desolation of the Earth, and now the desolation of the Earth is becoming the destiny of the human.” — Thomas Berry, eco-theologian
Nature is a self-regulating system that knows how to govern herself. This government-organized war on nonhumans must end now to be replaced with a healthy relationship, manifesting love for the natural world.
A paradigm shift is rising from the indigenous people of the Southern hemisphere. Ecuador and Bolivia, both countries suffering severe effects of climate change, have written the rights of nonhumans into law. Such laws also recognize the authority of people and communities to defend those rights. This is explained by Cormac Cullinan, author of “Wild Law.”
Bill and Lynne Twist, who co-founded the Pachamama Alliance in 1995, worked with Ecuador to establish this precedent. Lynn affirms, “It changes the legal paradigm from property where you can do anything you want because you own the earth, to understanding that the earth is a living system, a living being with legal rights. That is a gigantic breakthrough… and now it’s being replicated and we are a secretary for a global movement to give rights to nature all over the world. And it’s clear that this is the future.”
They offer “Awakening the Dream” workshops across the country. One will be held in Racine on Oct. 6. It costs $10. The workshop penetrates pervasive denial to discuss the destruction of the environment and biodiversity, and the crises we face. “The picture is pretty confronting. People move from what I will call denial up to despair. That sounds terrible but it is up. Going from numb to despair means you really start to face the crises you’re living in,” explains Lynne.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources just sent out an alert that their Learn to Hunt efforts last year increased recruitment into killing wildlife by 23 percent, surpassing their goal of 2,000, to teach 2,136, mostly children, to kill animals for fun. Rather than include the wildlife-appreciative public, the DNR is throwing more killing at their funding problems with more sadistic methods. Breaking into the school system to teach bow hunting and trapping, luring kids with a special $4 first kill fee (including unlimited trapping), the hunter-controlled DNR is working aggressively to keep its special-interest power base.
The planned assault on 800 wolves proves again that the DNR, as an extension of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, will harvest Wisconsin to depletion.
Thomas Berry admonishes that the Earth is primary and humans are derivative. Instead of treating the Earth and all nonhuman life as a collection of objects, we must recognize a community of subjects. Human hubris espouses hierarchy and oppression. Exploiting and harming the rest of life is as perverse as if we thought we could enhance one part of our body by destroying the rest. No other species on Earth hoards other species by the billions solely for slaughter, or poisons their food supply, blows up mountains, empties aquifers, destroys the climate, the oceans, and life itself for recreational kill quotas.
“We’ve gone mad, stark raving mad, destroying the planet, but more specifically we’re terminating 65 million years of life development,” laments Berry.
READ MORE:
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Ecuador & Bolivia Grant Mother Earth Strong Constitutional & Legal Rights
http://wakeup-world.com/2011/06/07/ecuador-bolivia-grant-mother-earth/
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The Pachamama Alliance
Transformative Workshops
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Humans driving extinction faster than species can evolve, say experts
Conservationists say rate of new species slower than diversity loss caused by the destruction of habitats and climate change
“The IUCN lists west African giraffes as an endangered species. Conservationists say the rate of new species is slower than diversity loss.”
Photograph: Graeme Robertson
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/07/extinction-species-evolve
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Top Photo: Wiki Commons
Bottom Photo: Graeme Robertson
Posted in: Biodiversity, Activism, Wolf Wars, Animal Rights
Tags: Bolivia, Ecuador, Rights of Nature, The Pachamama Alliance, Transformative Workshops, Sixth great extinction, protecting biodiversity, Wisconsin
Boulder White Clouds Council
Exposing The Big Game
Footloose Montana
Friends of the Clearwater
Lockwood Animal Rescue Center
Louise du Toit
LUPUSLAETUS
Mercy For Animals
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
Predator Friendly®- Because Wildlife Matters
Project Coyote
Project: Wolf
The Nature Conservancy
The Ravensong Group
WildEarth Guardians
Wisconsin Wildlife Ethic-Vote Our Wildlife
Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
Wolf Song of Alaska
Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
WWP's Gray Wolf Page
Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative
I am delighted with that is going on in Bolivia and Ecuador. Frankly, I am also surprised considering that the conservative Catholic Church is so prominent in Latin Amercia, and the Church has never taken a real stand on animal cruelty (I’m an ex-Catholic who tired of the Church never speaking up for the rest of creation). I believe Bolivia also outlawed circuses with animals. Good for them!
I’m so disgusted with this country and its backward positions on animals and the environment. Teaching kids to trap and bow hunt is particularly egregious. What a thing to be proud of–turning the youngest members of society into heartless killers. I hope the weapons manufacturers are proud of themselves. More victories for greed.
This is wonderful. Thank you Bolivia and Ecuador!
It’s our culture here – we interprest freedom to mean no responsibility and no restraint on our activities, even if it interferes with the rights of others.
So amazing!! I am so excited that two countries have acknowledged that nature has rights!!! WOW “Rights of Nature” Legal Rights Constitutonal Rights Yay! This is a great new beginning that I hope the world will follow.
Thanks for the post
Hooray for Bolivia and Ecuador!!! Hooray for the Earth!!! There are mature and intelligent countries after all. This has to spread across the world!
A move in the right direction.
So depressing that our little brothers and sisters are suffering so. Rachel Carson was so right with Silent Spring.
It will be a horrible planet.
I never thought I would live to see rights granted to nature. What an accomplishment. This is change, from this moment on, every voice that told you “you can’t”, is silenced. Every reason that tells you “things will never change”, dissapears. I want people to think that, everyday they live.
Dwayne, this is wonderful, especially if they follow through with it, in reality. If you haven’t read “The Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold, get a copy and read it. Leopold made this proposal in a most eloquent way in the 1930′s and 1940′s. It is an inspirational and beautiful collection of nature writing, including magical essays on protecting land and wildlife. Aldo Leopold must be sitting next to the Great Spirit in heaven comforting the wolves and cheering for our side.
Great news from Bolivia and Ecuador its too bad the US and other countries won’t do the same. Thank You so much
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Do the conclusions drawn in this article truly surprise any of you who subscribe to this list. Everyone should have seen this coming from the beginning of the 1970′s!!!
Rights of Nature… what a wonderful thing. And we here in the US are supposedly better off! More educated! No way. We have a lot to learn about nature and the horrors of trophy killing that we do… from our South American friends. At least they are on the right track. We here are going backwards at such an enormous speed.
Third world nations as Ecuador and Bolivia are the only aware of what the Mother Earth means for all mankind, of course ignorance and shame for the great powers of this world USA has the first shame…
Kudos to Bolivia and Ecuador! It feels so good to know that a few countries are finally recognizing nature for what it is: a complex living system that was not created for humans to exploit. This certainly provides hope for the future of the environment and all of life! I really hope that other countries soon follow in the footsteps of these two South American countries and establish the “Rights of Nature” into their practices, laws, and constitutions.
THEY SURELY MUST OR CHANGE THEIR ATTITUDE DRASTICALLY. IF WE ARE NOT SAVED FROM OURSELVES WE SHALL CAUSE OUR OUR DEMISE. FORTUNATELY I BELIEVE THERE IS A GREAT CHANGE AHEAD. THE WOLVES AND THE REST OF NATURE IN DIRE STRAIGHTS MUST HOLD STRONG FOR A FEW MONTHS LONGER. IN THE MEANTIME WE ALL MUST KEEP ON LOUDLY PREVENT THE MASSACRE OF WOLVES IN THE USA AND CANADA.
Yes, Vida, if we can fight and fight for wolves NOW, positive change will come. It is coming. The supposed political leaders are the last to change, as they support the status quo until the last minute. Until the majority just won’t take their special interest bullsh-t any longer. Please sign my Protect America’s Wolves! petition at: http://signon
Yes, Vida, if we can fight and fight for wolves NOW, positive change will come. It is coming. The supposed political leaders are the last to change, as they support the status quo until the last minute. Until the majority just won’t take their special interest bullsh-t any longer. Please sign my Protect America’s Wolves! petition at: http://signon.org/sign/protect-americas
Yes, Vida, if we can fight and fight for wolves NOW, positive change will come. It is coming. The supposed political leaders are the last to change, as they support the status quo until the last minute. Until the majority just won’t take their special interest bullsh-t any longer. Please sign my Protect America’s Wolves! petition at: http://signon.org/sign/protect-americas-wolves
And spread the word! I put the petition signers to work, defending and protecting America’s wolves!!
They have murdered one wolf and are about to murder 4 more in a tiny population of 5-7 from the Wedge Pack in NE WA state. And this while supposedly under state protection, as there are less than 5 functioning packs IN THE ENTIRE STATE!