Bolivia and Ecuador Grant “Rights Of Nature” To Mother Earth…

“Chimborazo volcano (Ecuador), the farthest point from the centre of the Earth..Wiki”

Animal and plant species around the world are in terrible trouble.

“For the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve, one of the world’s experts on biodiversity has warned.

Conservation experts have already signalled that the world is in the grip of the “sixth great extinction” of species, driven by the destruction of natural habitats, hunting, the spread of alien predators and disease, and climate change.”

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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.

“Rights of Nature is the recognition and honoring that Nature has rights.  It is the recognition that trees, oceans, animals, mountains have rights just as human beings have rights. Rights of Nature is about balancing what is good for human beings against what is good for other species, what is good for the planet as a world.  It is the holistic recognition that all life, all ecosystems on our planet are deeply intertwined. “

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:

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/patricia-randolph-s-madravenspeak-bolivia-and-ecuador-show-how-we/article_082d1478-e8db-11e1-9206-0019bb2963f4.html

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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

http://www.pachamama.org/

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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