If Nature Had Rights

Should the land, water and air be able to exist free from pollution, over-extraction and mismanagement? Should Nature and the Earth we all live and depend on have rights?

Today, in the lead up to Earth Day and in the shadow of the one-year anniversary of the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we are at the United Nations asking member states to consider these very questions. We are asking political leaders from the around the world to find ways to balance humans’ destructive tendencies and counter an economic model that is so based on consumerism that it is tipping the scale against nature as we mine, strip, pollute and destroy in the frantic drive to have more, get more, and consume more.

Our Chairperson, Maude Barlow, is part of an expert delegation for a United Nations dialogue, which is happening today, titled ‘Harmony with Nature.’ She will be speaking to representatives of UN member states from the assembly floor to talk about how we need a new way forward in our fundamental structures of governance, our economy and even our laws. We need to recognize that we need to think about the future of the Earth and its resources and find new ways to ensure the Earth is able to survive – and the only way for it to survive if for humankind to change its ways.

Dr. Vandana Shiva, renowned environmental activist stated it simply in her address to UN delegates: Human rights cannot exist without Earth rights.

By Jan Malek - April 20th, 2011

Link: http://www.canadians.org/activistblog/?p=535