http://www.canada.com/news/world/document+would+give+Mother+Earth+same+rights+humans/4597840/story.html

UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.

The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to "dominate and exploit" — to the point that the "well-being and existence of many beings" is now threatened.

The wording may yet evolve, but the general structure is meant to mirror Bolivia's Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, which Bolivian President Evo Morales enacted in January.

That document speaks of the country's natural resources as "blessings," and grants the Earth a series of specific rights that include rights to life, water and clean air; the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities; and the right to be free from pollution.

It also establishes a Ministry of Mother Earth, and provides the planet with an ombudsman whose job is to hear nature's complaints as voiced by activist and other groups, including the state.

Most politicians and government bureaucrats have WAY too much time on their hands.

Native American Indians were doing this long before the UN was even a dream. They didn't want telegraph lines built across their land because digging the holes hurt Mother Earth. So, not exactly a new concept.

Most politicians and government bureaucrats have WAY too much time on their hands.

I fully agree with that statement, but.

Are you are OK with big corporations exploiting the worlds natural resources and (In many cases)leave behind an ecological disaster?

http://www.lastdaysoftheincas.com/wordpress/?p=365

I know, I am as guilty as we all are, but at least South America and some of their leaders are showing us the right direction.

:)

This is just another scam for politicians and lawyers to pocket money in the interest of "Mother Earth".

Homogenous Universal Nations. Where everything is the same {as long as everything is by our standard} - thought process, perspective, logic and reasoning, agenda, etc. How simply lovely.....

Native American Indians were doing this long before the UN was even a dream. They didn't want telegraph lines built across their land because digging the holes hurt Mother Earth. So, not exactly a new concept.

Though, the Noble Savage perspective might be true as to the workings of Native Americans - they were well-in tune towards "landscaping" and organizing their surroundings. But it would be a disservice to reality to suggest that the indigenous populations of the Western Hemisphere were anything but destructive on their immediate environment. The myths become repeated over and again.

Most politicians and government bureaucrats have WAY too much time on their hands.

I fully agree with that statement, but.

Are you are OK with big corporations exploiting the worlds natural resources and (In many cases)leave behind an ecological disaster?

http://www.lastdaysoftheincas.com/wordpress/?p=365

I know, I am as guilty as we all are, but at least South America and some of their leaders are showing us the right direction.

:)

Darryl Hannah says it is so, so it must be so.

However, there are often two sides of any issue. Darryl's side and the defendant's side.

________________________________________________________

Evidence of fraud mounts in Ecuadorian suit against Chevron

by Roger Parloff, legal analystSeptember 13, 2010: 10:43 AM ET

FORTUNE -- A lawsuit against Chevron in Ecuador, which has become a cause célèbre for environmentalists worldwide, has suffered severe, crippling setbacks in recent months, as key plaintiffs lawyers have come under credible and weighty allegations of fraud.

The accusations threaten to disrupt yet again a protracted, bitter, emotional, 17-year-old suit filed on behalf of Indians of the Ecuadorian Amazon who seek environmental clean-up of lands where Texaco-acquired by Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) in 2001-drilled for oil between 1965 and 1990.

Over the past ten months, Chevron's outside lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher have filed 11 civil actions in federal courts across the United States, each designed to pull back the curtain on what they say is an elaborate, two-year-long charade in which plaintiffs lawyers covertly planned and ghostwrote a crucial report on damages that was ostensibly being authored by an independent expert appointed as an "auxiliary" to the Ecuadorian court. The expert's final report, issued in November 2008, recommended that Chevron pay the plaintiffs $27.3 billion.

Since June, federal judges and magistrates in Newark, San Diego, Asheville (North Carolina), and Albuquerque have all looked at what Gibson Dunn's come up with so far and opined that it looks like "fraud" to them.

More here: http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/13/news/international/chevron_ecuador_litigation.fortune/index.htm

"Though, the Noble Savage perspective might be true as to the workings of Native Americans - they were well-in tune towards "landscaping" and organizing their surroundings. But it would be a disservice to reality to suggest that the indigenous populations of the Western Hemisphere were anything but destructive on their immediate environment. The myths become repeated over and again. "

The simple fact is that there are no groups who didn't leave a 'destructive' influence on their immediate environment. If there are too many of species, the effect is negative; there is no balance. The basic question is what groups do the least harm and which groups leave an environment which can recover quickly.

Native American Indians were doing this long before the UN was even a dream. They didn't want telegraph lines built across their land because digging the holes hurt Mother Earth. So, not exactly a new concept.

how did they justify gardening then, by sacrificing neighboring tribes?

Gardening? The tribes were hunter-gatherers. Early tribes seldom eliminated other tribes, they simply fought with one another over hunting grounds. The native American Indian tribes were basically living in the new Stone age. Prior to settlement by foreigners, they did not have horses (horses aren't native to North America. They certainly didn't have fire arms and the amount of effort taken to do major battles with other groups was simply too much a waste of time and human resources. It was much easier to simply move out of the area.

It wasn't until the westward push of European settlers that there was much pressure on the different tribes that caused confrontations between the tribes. The Great Plains was basically a wasteland with very few tribes living in the area. Once they gained access to horses, this wasteland became a wonderland they could move around quickly. Shortly after the horse, the native Americans gained access to firearms and these two were major game changers.

Like all groups, their religious inclinations were one thing and their behavior was something else. Their respect for Mother Earth might have been very different had they had heavy equipment at their disposal.

It will be much harder for the UN to get respect for the 'rights of Mother Earth' given the equipment and resources at our disposal.

....and the corporations? Where do they fit into these beloved mandates? Already understood that corporations have the same intrinsic value {and rights} as humans have secured. Natural or not?

Perhaps we will have to have a Mother Earth, Inc. to secure any meaningful rights.

Perhaps we will have to have a Mother Earth, Inc. to secure any meaningful rights.

Perhaps she already is incorporated. In a way that we certainly wouldn't recognize.

Gardening? The tribes were hunter-gatherers. Early tribes seldom eliminated other tribes, they simply fought with one another over hunting grounds. The native American Indian tribes were basically living in the new Stone age. Prior to settlement by foreigners, they did not have horses (horses aren't native to North America. They certainly didn't have fire arms and the amount of effort taken to do major battles with other groups was simply too much a waste of time and human resources. It was much easier to simply move out of the area.

It wasn't until the westward push of European settlers that there was much pressure on the different tribes that caused confrontations between the tribes. The Great Plains was basically a wasteland with very few tribes living in the area. Once they gained access to horses, this wasteland became a wonderland they could move around quickly. Shortly after the horse, the native Americans gained access to firearms and these two were major game changers.

Like all groups, their religious inclinations were one thing and their behavior was something else. Their respect for Mother Earth might have been very different had they had heavy equipment at their disposal.

It will be much harder for the UN to get respect for the 'rights of Mother Earth' given the equipment and resources at our disposal.

are you from the US or from any particular heavily populated, even original indian settlements? just asking because i am and before i argue i'd like to find out if it's worth my time.

Perhaps we will have to have a Mother Earth, Inc. to secure any meaningful rights.

perhaps mother earth (inc.) will throw a nice volcanic eruption our way in the near future and invalidate any and all claims on our behalf.

Dear Chuck,

For sure there is fraud everywhere to be found once many people think they might have a chance to get truckloads of cash by just changing the fact's a bit. Does that mean there is no such thing as contaminated ground over there in Equador caused by people that just didn't care treating beauty full rainforest's as sewers?

I hope you are not OK with that?

If you are however I am more than willing to dump a few hundred gallons of oil on your fruit garden (if you had one), then cover it with some ground and assure there is nothing wrong there and you can happily keep gardening.

By the way cooperations have the same rights/legal accountability as a person (Legalese lingo).

By the way BP was caught red handed as well trying to cover up the real size and effects of their little accident in the gulf a while back but I guess they will get away with it.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/05/20/us-oil-rig-leak-idUSTRE6430AR20100520

In fact the whole principle of why one forms corporations is to limit liability. Their rights and responsibilities are not the same as an individuals.

In fact the whole principle of why one forms corporations is to limit liability. Thgeir rights and responsibilities are not the same as an individuals.

in a country that respects the rule of law, you are only limiting personal responsibility to the point where you are acting in good faith on behalf of the corporation. courts have overlooked incorporation thousands of times to assess and collect liabilities.

Perhaps we will have to have a Mother Earth, Inc. to secure any meaningful rights.

You can be sure someone has a team of lawyers drawing up the paperwork now - unless Al Gore has beat them to it.

Dear Chuck,

For sure there is fraud everywhere to be found once many people think they might have a chance to get truckloads of cash by just changing the fact's a bit.

You mean just like the "Global Warming" hockey stick graph?

Dear Chuck,

For sure there is fraud everywhere to be found once many people think they might have a chance to get truckloads of cash by just changing the fact's a bit.

You mean just like the "Global Warming" hockey stick graph?

you're going to eat this carbon tax and you're going to like it.

In fact the whole principle of why one forms corporations is to limit liability. Thgeir rights and responsibilities are not the same as an individuals.

in a country that respects the rule of law, you are only limiting personal responsibility to the point where you are acting in good faith on behalf of the corporation. courts have overlooked incorporation thousands of times to assess and collect liabilities.

Well, you can Google various class action lawsuits of pharmaceutical companies and their outcomes. Often some horrendous settlements by avaricious lawyers on behalf of clients because it might otherwise force bankruptcy of the corporation and the lawyers would be left with nothing. Not too many individuals of pharmaceutical companies doing time for what they knew or should have known were dangerous "remedies".

Gardening? The tribes were hunter-gatherers. Early tribes seldom eliminated other tribes, they simply fought with one another over hunting grounds. The native American Indian tribes were basically living in the new Stone age. Prior to settlement by foreigners, they did not have horses (horses aren't native to North America. They certainly didn't have fire arms and the amount of effort taken to do major battles with other groups was simply too much a waste of time and human resources. It was much easier to simply move out of the area.

It wasn't until the westward push of European settlers that there was much pressure on the different tribes that caused confrontations between the tribes. The Great Plains was basically a wasteland with very few tribes living in the area. Once they gained access to horses, this wasteland became a wonderland they could move around quickly. Shortly after the horse, the native Americans gained access to firearms and these two were major game changers.

Like all groups, their religious inclinations were one thing and their behavior was something else. Their respect for Mother Earth might have been very different had they had heavy equipment at their disposal.

It will be much harder for the UN to get respect for the 'rights of Mother Earth' given the equipment and resources at our disposal.

Credo, you need to do some extensive historical research on the the subject matter regarding the North American indigenous populations before the coming of the Europeans. Quite embarrassing that you just parrot the tried and true textbook convention.

Dear Chuck,

For sure there is fraud everywhere to be found once many people think they might have a chance to get truckloads of cash by just changing the fact's a bit.

You mean just like the "Global Warming" hockey stick graph?

That one seem to be so obvious although I do believe less pollution is better.

Perhaps we will have to have a Mother Earth, Inc. to secure any meaningful rights.

perhaps mother earth (inc.) will throw a nice volcanic eruption our way in the near future and invalidate any and all claims on our behalf.

We probably have it coming.....