Shannon Biggs, Community Rights Program Director at Global Exchange, shares some holiday reading suggestions for fans of community rights, followed by a few staff picks.

COMMUNITY RIGHTS HOLIDAY READING

• Exclusive! David Korten shares some thoughts on nature and the future of economics: A rights-based economy begins with the biosphere. In 2013 Global Exchange will be looking at how the rights of nature can play a role in shaping a new economy (or more correctly new economies) based on the needs of ecosystems and the human communities they support. What does that look like? Ecological economist, author and YES! Magazine co-founder David Korten gives Global Exchange a sneak peak of a piece he’s working on. For more related to this topic, read David Korten’s article in the latest issue of Yes! Magazine.
• An Inconvenient Truth About Lincoln (That You Won’t Hear from Hollywood): Have you seen the movie Lincoln? I watched it over the Thanksgiving break, and quite enjoyed the romp through the inner workings and backroom political dealings that go on (spoiler alert!) when passing an Amendment to abolish slavery. However much we love to love Lincoln, it’s worth noting that as a former railroad lawyer, he was a huge advocate of corporate personhood, as a means to ensure that the plantation system was replaced by a corporate version. Before you sit down to watch Daniel Day Lewis inhabit our favorite President, this Huffington Post piece is a quick and entertaining read.
• How the Mayan Calendar Works: Next, check this out for a short read before the End of Days.

STAFF PICKS available at your local independent booksellers:

• Community Rights staff suggest reading: Taming Democracy by Terry Bouton. Americans are fond of reflecting upon the noble Founding Fathers, who came together to force out the tyranny of the British and bring democracy. Unfortunately, the Revolutionary elite often seemed as determined to squash democracy after the war as they were to support it before.
• This is what Shannon Biggs is REALLY reading at home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. Bryson takes us on a room-by-room tour through his own house, using each room as a jumping off point into the vast history of the domestic artifacts we take for granted. As he takes us through the history of our modern comforts, Bryson demonstrates that whatever happens in the world eventually ends up in our home, in the paint, the pipes, the pillows, and every item of furniture.
• Executive Director Carleen Pickard is reading: The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts by Louis de Bernières. Set in an impoverished, violent, yet ravishingly beautiful country somewhere in South America. When the haughty Dona Constanza decides to divert a river to fill her swimming pool, the consequences are at once tragic, heroic, and outrageously funny.
• Online Communications Manager, Zarah Patriana is reading: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  A masterpiece that tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family.
• And finally, in case you missed it, check out our most popular community rights blog post (to date), which was also cross-posted on AlterNet. Read it here.

Happy holidays!

2,000 people make a human banner on the beach in Rio. Photo credit: Amazon Watch

With over 50,000 accredited participants registered, Rio+20 was the largest gathering in the history of the UN. And yet, despite the participation of heads of state officials, experts, media, corporate titans and tens of thousands of civil society representatives, the United Nations Rio + 20 Earth Summit was a tragic, if predictable, failure. Get a recap of what was at stake in Rio here.

Predictable because the outcome document was all but written before the heads of state entered the RioCentro compound, a mere 2-hour journey by taxi or shuttle bus from the People’s Summit — itself a 2 mile stretch of bustling action, noise, confusion and speakers tents along the Flamenco beach.

Participants convene at the People’s Space

Tragic because rather than shifting course, the so-called Green Economy strategy unveiled at the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development drives nature further into the global marketplace by defining an economic value on what the Earth “does” for humans, detachedly called “ecosystem services.” Proponents of this scheme of “commoditizing” soil, forests, and fresh water profess that by putting a price on the natural world, it can be ‘saved’. The reckless drive for unlimited growth on a finite planet is itself a legalized Ponzi scheme perpetrated on communities around the globe, future generations and Earth’s biosphere.

The future we want banner at Rio+20

The Future WHO wants?

The official negotiated outcome document was largely an uninspired retread of ideas from the original Earth Summit in 1992, with very little new, other than a commitment to  fulfill the corporate wishlist of commoditizing (pricing) nature’s processes, paving the way for the commodification (selling) of those “services.” As ETC Group’s Neth Daño noted, “Many delegations are genuinely embarrassed by the title of their outcome document, ‘The Future We Want,’ which sets sights on a future that can’t be achieved by the haplessly short-sighted initiatives proposed.”

Shannon at the People’s March

Over at the Peoples Summit, with its beautifully hectic congestion of platforms—from women’s issues, to economic solidarity, to poverty, to food sovereignty to land grabs and more were unified in protesting the Green Economy and the financialization of nature, and diverse in presenting visions for change—though far from the UN site, speaking truth to power seemed remote, and networking somewhat haphazardous.  The People’s March, though a bit drizzly, was emblematic of both the chaos and harmony of civil society present at Rio. Thousands lined the streets, signing, dancing and chanting in favor of a new world order, however colorfully defined.

At the Indigenous Kari-Oca venue

At the Indigenous Kari-Oca venue, an additional 45 minutes from the official RioCentro space, over 500 grassroots Indigenous Peoples held their own summit, ceremonies, events, press conferences and gatherings, and wrote their own The Declaration of Kari-Oca, condemning the UN agenda: “We see the goals of UNCSD Rio+20, the ‘Green Economy’ and its premise that the world can only ‘save’ nature by commodifying its life-giving capacities as a continuation of the colonialism that Indigenous Peoples and our Mother Earth have faced and resisted for 520 years.” Download the entire declaration here.

• To read the People’s media and updates from Rio visit the Global Justice Ecology Project’s Climate Connections website.

Rights of Nature Presents an Alternative

Global Exchange blogged from Rio about the activities of the various members Global Alliance for Rights of Nature on the ground, including a symbolic signing ceremony of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth and the release of the GX report Rights of Nature: Planting Seeds of Real Change  featuring visionary thinkers such as Maude Barlow, Vandana Shiva, Thomas B.K. Goldtooth, Pablo Solon, Cormac Cullinan, Mari Margil and others who address questions like: What would it look like to truly take on the root causes of climate change and put forward a system of law that places humankind in living balance with the carrying capacity of the Earth’s systems?

• View and download a copy of the report here.

Watch our video blog from Rio+20:

Indigenous groups sign the Universal Declaration on Rights of Mother Earth

The signature campaign gathering  over 120,000 signatures in support of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth was turned over to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-moon, and there was growing synergy with rights of nature advocates and large portions of the civil society.  Strategy meetings with new allies were held, interviews were taken, and some progress was made towards introducing rights of nature language within major groups of the UN, including the Womens Major group, in which GARN member Osprey Orielle Lake and WECC held a special heartfelt and inspiring forum entitled Women Leading the Way.

Altogether our experience was mixed as activists seeking to put forward laws recognizing rights for ecosystems.

Finding Inspiration at Rio + 20

Youth respond to UN outcomes document. Photo Credit: Ben Powless

Somewhere between shuttling back and forth to the Peoples Space and the UN site, frustratingly spotty internet connections and getting my wallet swiped on a public bus, there were moments of exhaustion, exasperation and yes, doubt.  Doubt that as a civil society we will ever be bold enough to leave the comfort zone of summit hopping, critiquing the world as corporate elites designed it, and truly just dig in, work together and just create the world we want. Doubt that we will grab the reigns, and impose the laws that make our ideas real in the world, and defend our right to live within the carrying capacity of the Earth, no matter what the Monsantos, the Exxons and the Pepsi Co’s of the world dictate.

Yet at the Women Leading the Way forum, I was first introduced to a spark of light at Rio 20 —a beautiful, poised 11-year old soul named Ta’Kaiya Blaney. From the stage of the Forum, with Ted Turner in the audience and the likes of movement superstar Dr. Vandana Shiva on stage with her, Ta’Kaiya, a member of the Sliammon First Nation spoke eloquently about the need for a different path—humans recognizing their own existence depends on our growing interconnectedness with the natural world, and the idea that corporations may currently rule, but that the youth of tomorrow have different ideas in mind. Watch Ta’kaiya speak here.

Ta’Kaiya Blaney tearing up the UN outcomes document. Photo credit: Ben Powless

As the youth gathered to pronounce the failure of the Rio + 20 outcomes document, it was Ta’Kaiya, hoisted on the shoulders of her First Nations brother Clayton Thomas Muller and sister  Kandi Mosset from IEN that spoke most clearly, for me, and for thousands of others gathered in the moment of anger and seeking solace in solidarity. “Join me in Earth Revolution,” she beckoned. Indeed those five little words, if we hold true to them in our hearts and our actions, are our way forward.

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‘When we speak of ecosystems as ‘resources’ — it is as if we are saying the Earth is in the business of liquidating itself.”
– Randy Kapashesit of the Cree Nation

The sacred fire was lit as over 100 primarily Indigenous peoples gathered—and hundreds more participated online—for the RIGHTS OF MOTHER EARTH: RESTORING INDIGENOUS LIFE WAYS OF RESPONSIBILITY AND RESPECT International Indigenous Conference APRIL 4 – 6, 2012 at Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence Kansas.

As Renee Gurneau of the Chippewa Nation explained, the fire is an important spiritual tradition acknowledging our relationship with the rest of creation in all things we do, and part of “getting into our ‘right Indigenous mind.’ As she said, “We must always give before we can take, and the fire reminds us of our Original Instructions and helps us wake up to our own knowledge.”

The Sacred Fire

Each day as we walked by the fire circle right outside the auditorium where the conference was held, we felt very grateful and honored to participate in this historic gathering to hold a discourse about Rights of Nature / Rights of Mother Earth with Indigenous leaders and activists from the Global North and South.

Conference organizers, Tom BK Goldtooth (Indigenous Environmental Network) and Dan Wildcat (Haskell University) stated, “This is the greatest challenge facing humanity in the 21st Century. How do we re-orientate the dominant industrialized societies so that they pursue human well-being in a manner that contributes to the health of our Mother Earth instead of undermining it? In other words – how do we live in harmony with Nature?”

Buen Vivir
In part, the gathering was a response to the Cochabamba World People’s Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth conference called forth by President Evo Morales of Bolivia who proposed that the United Nations adopt a declaration that recognizes that Nature or “Mother Earth” is an indivisible living community of interdependent beings with inherent rights, and that as human societies we have responsibilities to follow the true laws of nature, and to live within the carrying capacity of the planet.

Marlon Santi and Patricia Gualinga Montalvo of the Sarayaku Tribe with Shannon Biggs and Ben Price

In the Kichwa  language of the Indigenous people of Ecuador it is called “sumak kawsay,” in Spanish it is “Buen Vivir” — decolonial concepts that mean ‘living well’, as opposed to consumer-driven notions of living more.  But how do we get there? Starting from where we are now, can we really envisage a future other than that which has come from enslaving nature, and treating all other life as mere “resources” for exploitation?

The conference focused on a system of earth jurisprudence (rights of nature) that views the natural world, Mother Earth, not as property to be destroyed at will, but as a rights bearing entity with legal standing in a court of law. The intent of the gathering was to bring primarily Indigenous people together with some non-Indigenous allies to explore questions about how the rights of nature legal framework could re-direct the dominant industrialized society to one of living in respect of natural laws.

The Trail of Tears

The Trail of Tears, which refers to the forced resettlement of Native Americans from their homelands and spiritual sites to far-away encampments remains present in the stories of modern colonization, theft and destruction of lands throughout Indian country. It was quite humbling and heartbreaking to realize how little we learn in our conventional school systems about the history of Native American peoples, their brutal struggles, and their outstanding resilience to hundreds of years of ongoing assaults.

Modern stories of broken promises from government officials, corporations, speculators and lawyers have created a wariness among Native leaders to partner with outsiders, and for those of us “non-native allies” present, it was a constant learning of how to engage with love and humility in a space that was first and foremost—Indigenous. Tom Goldtooth spoke at the conference on the idea of Indigenous leaders partnering with non-native allies to promote Rights for Nature:

Although not everyone saw eye-to-eye throughout the 3-day event, it was clear to all in attendance that the basic tenants proposed by the rights of nature framework, while new to western legal systems, are actually based on”original instructions” — Indigenous worldviews and philosophies that uphold the essential interrelatedness of all life and our human responsibility to respect and protect the natural world that we are part and particle of. This basic unifying principle has the potential to create new alliances and protections for every community as we face the challenging years ahead.

Shannon Biggs and Clayton Thomas-Muller, Tar Sands Campaign Director for IEN enjoy some traditional eats

Almost all of the speakers at the conference were Indigenous—from as far away as Hawaii, Ecuador and Canada.  Shannon Biggs of Global Exchange (co-author of this blog) and Ben Price from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund had the honor and opportunity to present the work we do with communities confronted by unwanted and dangerous projects to write new laws to recognize legal rights for communities and ecosystems.

•    Watch a video of Shannon and Ben present on Community and Nature’s Rights.

•    For video and audio archive of the conference, go here.

Rights and Responsibilities to Future Generations

Representing Global Exchange and the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus as well as our shared collaboration with the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, we listened and learned a great deal from Indigenous leaders exploring concerns about rights of nature and how they might interface or interfere with existing Indian Native and First Nations laws.  We have much to learn about how Indigenous communities define responsibilities as much as rights, and that the rights of future generations—not just of human but all species—is critical to building a bridge toward common understanding in the shared work that we do.

Renee Gurneau at the Harvest Banquet  hosted by the Osage Nation

The call for environmental justice in Indigenous communities on the frontlines of uranium mining, tar sands extractions, water takings and more are all potential opportunities for rights of nature and community rights to come into action.

We look forward to further alliance building with Indigenous communities and offering all that we can as we look towards the Rio + 20 Earth Summit and beyond and how we can create broad support for the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth and care for all of our communities and bioregions in a truly just and respectful manner. As Tom Goldtooth said at the conference,

“We cannot flourish breaking the laws of nature. Rights of Nature is a human recognition that we are part of a larger Earth community and if we want to continue we must recognize the laws of that community; the true system governing our own well being.”

Further resources/links

• Watch videos of Tom Goldtooth and Shannon Biggs discussing the Rights of Nature on the Council of Canadians’ ‘System Change, Not Climate Change’ website.

• Hawaiian Rev. M. Kalani Souza, storyteller, songwriter, musician, poet, 
philosopher, priest, political satirist, and peacemaker joins a banjo playing friend impromptu 
for a song on the grass at Haskell College.

• Shannon Biggs and Osprey Orielle Lake are offering  Rights of Nature Trainings through the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus and if interested, please contact Wyolah Garden (wgarden@ix.netcom.com). Also if you are interested in hosting a Rights of Nature Training in your community please contact Wyolah Garden.

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Shannon and Osprey at the conference

Shannon Biggs is the Director of the Community Rights program at Global Exchange. She recently co-authored a book, Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grass Roots  (PoliPoint Press). Her current work focuses on assisting communities confronted by corporate harms to enact binding laws that place the rights of communities and nature above the claimed legal “rights” of corporations.

Osprey Orielle Lake is a lifelong advocate of environmental justice and societal transformation. She is the Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus (WECC) and an International Advocate for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Her book, Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature (White Cloud Press) is a 2011 Nautilus Book Award winner.

The stakes are high in Rio. As Via Campesina points out, “Twenty years later, governments should have reconvened to review their commitments and progress, but in reality the issue to debate will be the “green economy” led development, propagating the same capitalist model that caused climate chaos and other deep social and environmental crises.”

Critiquing the focus on corporate ‘Green Economy’ evident in the march to Rio documents and planning, Via states:

“Today the “greening of the economy” pushed forward in the run-up to Rio+20 is based on the same logic and mechanisms that are destroying the planet and keeping people hungry. For instance, it seeks to incorporate aspects of the failed “green revolution” in a broader manner in order to ensure the needs of the industrial sectors of production, such as promoting the uniformity of seeds, patented seeds by corporation, genetically modified seeds, etc.

The capitalist economy, based on the over-exploitation of natural resources and human beings, will never become “green.” It is based on limitless growth in a planet that has reached its limits and on the commoditization of the remaining natural resources that have until now remained un-priced or in control of the public sector.

In this period of financial crisis, global capitalism seeks new forms of accumulation. It is during these periods of crisis in which capitalism can most accumulate. Today, it is the territories and the commons which are the main target of capital. As such, the green economy is nothing more than a green mask for capitalism. It is also a new mechanism to appropriate our forests, rivers, land… of our territories!

Since last year’s preparatory meetings towards Rio+20, agriculture has been cited as one of the causes of climate change. Yet no distinction is made in the official negotiations between industrial and peasant agriculture, and no explicit difference between their effects on poverty, climate and other social issues we face.

The “green economy” is marketed as a way to implement sustainable development for those countries which continue to experience high and disproportionate levels of poverty, hunger and misery. In reality, what is proposed is another phase of what we identify as “green structural adjustment programs” which seek to align and re-order the national markets and regulations to submit to the fast incoming “green capitalism”.

Investment capital now seeks new markets through the “green economy”; securing the natural resources of the world as primary inputs and commodities for industrial production, as carbon sinks or even for speculation. This is being demonstrated by increasing land grabs globally, for crop production for both export and agrofuels. New proposals such as “climate smart” agriculture, which calls for the “sustainable intensification” of agriculture, also embody the goal of corporations and agri-business to over exploit the earth while labeling it “green”, and making peasants dependent on high-cost seeds and inputs. New generations of polluting permits are issued for the industrial sector, especially those found in developed countries, such as what is expected from programs such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD++) and other environmental services schemes.

The green economy seeks to ensure that the ecological and biological systems of our planet remain at the service of capitalism, by the intense use of various forms of biotechnologies, synthetic technologies and geo-engineering. GMO’s and biotechnology are key parts of the industrial agriculture promoted within the framework of “green economy”.

The promotion of the green economy includes calls for the full implementation of the WTO Doha Round, the elimination of all trade barriers to incoming “green solutions,” the financing and support of financial institutions such as the World Bank and projects such as US-AID programs, and the continued legitimization of the international institutions that serve to perpetuate and promote global capitalism.

In April 2011 Global Exchange, in collaboration with the Council of Canadians and Fundacion Pachamama, released a book called The Rights of Nature: The Case for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, which featured a chapter by then-Ambassador to the UN for Bolivia, Pablo Solon, titled ‘The Green Economy Versus the Rights of Mother Earth’. In it, he states,

“…From the point of view of these proponents of the green economy, in order to re-establish equilibrium with Nature, we must assign an economic value to the environmental “services” nature provides. An underlying assumption is only that which can be owned and profited from deserves stewardship.”

“…We are facing a debate in the United Nations among those that believe we need to strengthen the capitalist logic as it related to Nature, and others that suggest we should recognize the Rights of Nature. These are two very different conceptions. One advocates the path of the market, and the other the past of recognizing and respecting the larger system of the planet Earth on which we all live. The future of humans and Nature depends on the path humanity chooses.”

Global Exchange will be on the ground in Rio – promoting the Rights of Nature. Read more about the Community Rights Campaign here and join Via Campesina in the Call to Action. They:

… declare the week of June 5th, as a major world week in defense of the environment and against transnational corporations and invite everyone across the world to mobilize:

•    Defend sustainable peasant agriculture;
•    Occupy land for the production of agroecological and non-market dominated food;
•    Reclaim and exchange native seeds;
•    Protest against Exchange and Marketing Board offices and call for an end to speculative markets on commodities and land;
•    Hold local assemblies of People Affected by Capitalism;
•    Dream of a different world and create it!!

Global Exchange stands with Via Campesina to ‘GLOBALIZE THE STRUGGLE!! GLOBALIZE HOPE!!!’

• Live in the Bay Area and want to learn more about the call for the Rights of Mother Earth at Rio+20? Attend the upcoming Rights of Nature seminar hosted by the Women’s Earth and Climate Caucus in Marin County April 13th-14th.

photo: project survival media

By Pablo Solon

After 9 days of negotiations there is no doubt that we saw this movie before. It is the third remake of Copenhagen and Cancun. Same actors. Same script. The documents are produced outside the formal negotiating scenario . In private meetings, dinners which the 193 member states do not attend. The result of these meetings is known only on the last day.

In the case of Copenhagen it was at two in the morning after the event should have already ended. In Cancun, the draft decision just appeared at 5 p.m. on the last day and was not opened for negotiation, not even to correct a comma. Bolivia stood firm on both occasions. The reason: the very low emission reduction commitments of industrialized countries that would lead to an increase in average global temperatures of more than 4° Celsius. In Cancun, Bolivia stood alone. I could not do otherwise. How could we accept the same document that was rejected in Copenhagen, knowing that 350,000 people die each year due to natural disasters caused by climate change? To remain silent is to be complicit in genocide and ecocide. To accept a disastrous document in order not to be left alone is cowardly diplomacy. Even more so when one trumpets the “people’s diplomacy” and has pledged to defend the “People’s Agreement” of the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth held in Bolivia last year.

Durban will be worse than Copenhagen and Cancun. Two days before the close of the meetings, the true text that is being negotiated is not yet known. Everyone knows that the actual 131-page document is just a compilation of proposals that were already on the table in Panama two months ago. The formal negotiations have barely advanced. The real document will appear toward the end of COP17.

But more importantly, the substance of the negotiations remains unchanged from Copenhagen. The emission reduction pledges by developed countries are still 13% to 17% based on 1990 levels. Everyone knows that this is a catastrophe. But instead of becoming outraged, they attempt to sweeten the poison. The wrapper of this package will be the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and a mandate for a new binding agreement. The substance of the package will be the same as in Copenhagen and Cancun: do virtually nothing during this decade in terms of reducing emissions, and get a mandate to negotiate an agreement that will be even weaker than the Kyoto Protocol and that will replace it in 2020. “The Great Escape III” is the name of this movie, and it tells the story of how the governments of rich countries along with transnational corporations are looking to escape their responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Instead of becoming stronger, the fight against climate change is becoming more soft and flexible, with voluntary commitments to reduce emissions. The question is, who will step up this time to denounce the fraud to the end? Or could it be that this time, everyone will accept the remake of Copenhagen and Cancun?

The truth is that beyond the setting and the last scene, the end of this film will be the same as in Copenhagen and Cancun: humanity and mother earth will be the victims of a rise in temperature not seen in 800,000 years.

Pablo Solon is an international analyst and social activist. He was chief negotiator for climate change and United Nations Ambassador of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (2009-June 2011). http://pablosolon.wordpress.com/

Tungarajua Volcano

From the Galapagos Islands to the icy peaks of the Andes to the lush tropical forests of the Amazon, with a population comprised of 25% Indigenous people (and another 65% Mestizo), Ecuador is one of the most culturally and bio-diverse places on Earth.

Perhaps it is no surprise then, that it is the first country to constitutionally recognize that nature—or Pachamama—where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to “exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”

Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature

Two years ago I journeyed to this place, and in the shadow of the ever-churning Tungurahua volcano, I joined activists from four continents and Indigenous leaders to explore ways to work together to expand the concept of Rights of Nature and build a grassroots movement to make it real—and together we created the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.

Shannon Biggs

It was a life-changing journey, and now I’m inviting you to join me and Global Exchange co-founder Kevin Danaher to witness firsthand the beauty of this place, and to witness firsthand the revolutionary steps Ecuador is taking to protect the people and the planet. 

Kevin Danaher

This very special GAIA Reality Tour, January 13-22, 2012, is for those who want to explore the breathtaking natural beauty and culture of Ecuador and learn what this country has to teach the world about living in harmony with nature—at a peaceful pace and a high level of comfort.

Rights of Nature healer ceremony during Ecuador trip 2 years ago.

On this trip we will:

• Meet with Indigenous leaders and healers from the Amazon
• Visit oil-impacted communities
• Meet key governmental leaders changing the law to reflect a new balance with the natural world
• and so much more! 

It is sure to be the trip of a lifetime, and I hope you will join us.

As Kevin says:

When the history gets written about how the human race finally woke up and decided to stop destroying Mother Nature, Ecuador, and its commitment to the Rights of Nature, will feature prominently in that historical record. Join Shannon and I to witness first-hand the birth of this ‘ECO-zoic’ Era on a special Global Exchange GAIA Reality Tour. It will be a trip you will never forget.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Musicians in Ecuador

YOU can go to the Amazon! Apply now for this tour of Ecuador with Global Exchange and Green Festival Co-founder Kevin Danaher & Rights of Nature expert Shannon Biggs.

Interested in finding out more about this upcoming trip to Ecuador? All the info you need is right here.

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This week, at the apex of the anniversary of the Gulf oil disaster and Earth Day, a bold question is being asked at the United Nations for the very first time: What if nature had rights?

How different would our world look if Mother Nature could hire a lawyer and take polluters to court for full restoration of damaged ecosystems? Under current law, nature is nothing more that human property, like a slave. Property can’t have rights, and only rights-holders can sue for damages.

From major cities like Pittsburgh, PA to the politically conservative rural heartland, where nearly two-dozen US communities have passed local laws recognizing nature’s rights to “exist, flourish and evolve”, the movement for nature’s rights is growing. And of course its not just bold US municipalities seeking to protect their local ecosystems (and by extension, their own health safety and welfare.) The nations of Ecuador and now Bolivia have passed laws recognizing nature’s rights.

Wednesday, April 20 marks the United Nations debate on nature’s rights, put forward by Bolivia, and is the first step toward what many believe will culminate in the adoption of the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth in the months to come. A companion piece for the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, this emerging Declaration — backed by enforceable laws around the world — seeks to wholly redefine our human relationship with all other species from one of dominance to one of harmony.

Pablo Solon, Bolivian Ambassador to the United Nations

Speakers in this historic debate include:

• Vandana Shiva
• Martin Khor
• Cormac Cullinan
• Pablo Solon Bolivian Ambassador to the United Nations (and 2011 GX Human Rights Award winner)

Global Exchange will be at the United Nations to blog live on the happenings, and along with our esteemed colleagues Vandana, Cormac, Pablo Solon and Maude Barlow, will be discussing the Rights of Nature, the United Nations debate as well as launching our new book, aptly called Rights of Nature: The Case for the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth.

Global Exchange is excited for the release of a new book next week, Rights of Nature: Making a Case for the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, co-developed by Global Exchange, the Council of Canadians, and Fundacion Pachamama. This revolutionary new book reveals the path of a movement that is driving the cultural and legal shift that is necessary to transform our human relationship with nature away from being property-based and towards a rights-based model of balance. The book gathers the unique wisdom of indigenous cultures, scientists, environmental activists, lawyers, and small farmers to make a case for how and why humans must work to change our current structures of law to recognize that nature has inherent rights.

New Book: Rights of Nature

The question of Rights for Mother Earth will be introduced to the United Nations on April 20^th in New York during a session on ‘Harmony with Nature’.  Put forward by Bolivia, it is the first step toward what many believe will culminate in the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth in the months to come. At the U.N., Speakers including Dr. Vandana Shiva, Maude Barlow, Cormac Cullinan, Martin Kohr, Ambassador Pablo Solon, among others, will be making a case for nature’s rights. A companion piece for the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, this emerging Declaration – backed by enforceable laws around the world – seeks to wholly redefine our human relationship with all other species from one of dominance to one of harmony.

Please join us for two very special book launch events around the Rights of Nature coming up this month, in New York and in San Francisco. Both events will also feature the launch of the 2^nd edition of Cormac Cullinan’s cutting-edge book, Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice. Join esteemed environmental activists and co-authors of the book including Maude Barlow, Bill Twist, Pablo Salon, Vandana Shiva, Cormac Cullinan, and Shannon Biggs for a conversation around the emerging Rights of Nature movement at these East and West coast launches:

New York book launch: Nature Has Rights

• When: Wednesday, April 21^st 6:30-8 p.m.
• Where: CUNY Graduate Center, Proshansky Auditorium, 656 5^th Ave (corner of 34^th street) New York, NY.

San Francisco book launch: Nature Has Rights

• When: Wednesday, April 27th 7:00-9:00 p.m.
• Where: The First Unitarian Universalist Church – located at 1187 Franklin Street (at Geary) San Francisco, CA

Both events are free and open to the public.

For more information or to order a copy of the book:

Contact Kylie Nealis – kylie@globalexchange.org. The book price is $15 including shipping within the US. For international orders email Kylie Nealis – kylie@globalexchange.org for shipping price.

From this new paradigm questions are emerging before us: can we envisage for ourselves a future based not on exploiting nature but instead recognizing that nature has inherent rights to exist, thrive, and flourish? How different would our human societies, economies, and structures of law look as part of a connected, earth-centered community? And, how do we get there?

Global Exchange is pleased to announce the upcoming release on April 21^st of a new book that explores these questions and more.  Co-developed by Global Exchange, Council of Canadians and Fundacion Pachamama, the book titled Rights of Nature: Making a Case for the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, begins to reveal the path of a movement that is driving the cultural and legal shift that is necessary to transform our human relationship with nature away from being property-based and towards a rights-based model of balance.

The book gathers the unique wisdom of indigenous cultures, scientists, environmental activists, lawyers, and small farmers in order to make a case for how and why humans must work to change our current structures of law to recognize that nature has inherent rights.  It includes essays and interviews from esteemed thought leaders such as Maude Barlow, Vandana Shiva, Desmond Tutu, Cormac Cullinan, Edwardo Galleano, Nimo Bassey, Thomas Goldtooth, and Shannon Biggs.

The proposed Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth (a companion to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) around which the book is written will be presented to the UN General Assembly by the Bolivian Ambassador to the UN, during a session on creating ‘harmony with nature’ on April 20^th in New York.

Julianne (left) with Global Exchange's Community Rights Director Shannon Biggs

The following post was written by Global Exchange intern Julianne Stelmaszyk:

As one of the many interns who has passed through the doors of Global Exchange, I experienced more than I expected while working there.

I had the opportunity to work on an upcoming book about the Rights of Nature with leaders and activists from around the world, calling for a completely new paradigm in humankind’s relationship with nature.

I was able to read, edit, and write about this concept and when my colleagues invited me to join them in Cancun for the COP16 UN climate negotiations, I was excited to be a part of the movement for climate justice and the Rights of Mother Earth.

As a student of Environmental Studies, in class we talk a lot about solutions to climate change, particularly the United Nations and its ability to bring collective action to problems and crisis’ at the global level.  Being someone who has only learned about the “problems of the world” when I got to college, the past few years have been a wake-up call for me.  I began to think about working with an international NGO or government where I could make a change.

Working at Global Exchange opened my eyes to another side of the environmental movement that is more than just carbon trading and buying green. Going to Cancun for the climate negotiations allowed me to make deeper connections to the work I have been doing in the office.

Panel during COP16

Before Cancun, I saw these conferences as a viable solution to climate change, but after being there I’m not so sure.  The Moon Palace, where the negotiations took place, was a good 30 minute drive away from the side events held for grassroots organizations. In Cancun, we split our time between two spaces that held panels and workshops on everything from indigenous women’s rights to the truths about REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).  The negotiations were spread out all over Cancun which hindered the potential opportunity for progress.

Activists marching in Cancun

There I was, amongst the world’s top activists who are making change in communities across the globe;  Maude Barlow, Tom Goldtooth, Bill McKibben, and thousands of informed indigenous people who know what is best for their land, but because the events were so sprawled out it was challenging for activists to fully participate.  Informative panels were held at the exact same time a few blocks away from each other. So many people came bursting with ideas and solutions, yet no one could participate in them, let alone those at the Moon Palace.

Aside from the disorganization, there was still a positive outcome in the fact that activists from around the world were gathering for a united cause.  On the day before I flew home, we all marched in solidarity with thousands of activists and indigenous people towards the Moon Palace and were greeted with a wall of Federales.  Then we gathered to hear people speaking on the change that needs to be made inside the negotiations and how the indigenous voices must be heard.  It was inspirational to be walking along side people from all over the world for the same cause.

My experience at the conference made me realize how the environmental movement is actually being capitalized…how carbon markets like REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) only serve as another means to profit, another market to buy and sell while fueling the effects of climate change on vulnerable communities.  I am grateful that I was able to participate in such a movement and to stand alongside people from all walks of life in solidarity to demand change. I look forward to sharing my newly gained knowledge from my time at Global Exchange and the Cancun negotiations at my university back in Boston.