The Emancipated Earth

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Many indigenous cultures take a more eco-spiritual approach, positing nature as sacrosanct and viewing humans as members of a balanced, natural system. It’s no fluke, notes Earth Island Journal (Winter 2009), that the Andean earth goddess Pachamama, or Mother Universe, figures into the new constitution. The indigenous concept of sumak kawsay, or harmonious/humane living, also appears. With 40 percent of its population indigenous, Ecuador was almost certainly predisposed to becoming an early adopter of nature’s rights on a constitutional scale.

Regardless of the cultural hurdles, the time is now to heed Ecuador’s precedent. One month after the new constitution passed, reports the Ecologist (Dec. 2008), environmental activist Polly Higgins spoke at the United Nations (U.K.) Climate Change Conference in Belfast about the urgent need for a universal declaration of planetary rights. The current system, she argued, allows for abhorrent, absurd crimes against nature. A simple example: In the past five years, Londoners felled 16,000 trees for fear of insurance claims. A report commissioned by the London Assembly concluded that only 1 percent of the removals were justified—yet there’s no legal recourse.

Fortunately, people around the world are starting to realize that their environmental laws are not working to protect them, nor the fragile ecosystems in which they live. The CELDF has its eye on Nepal as the country drafts its new constitution, reports the Multinational Monitor (Nov.-Dec. 2008), and Margil confirms that the organization is in preliminary conversations with nongovernmental leaders. The group also plans to continue working at the local level, where, Margil says, there’s strong support for challenging the body of law. Living on the front lines of environmental collapse inspires readiness for change.

If an international paradigm shift sounds like a tall order, consider that only a few years ago, Ecuador “seemed an unlikely nation to become the birthplace of Earth’s first green constitution,” Earth Island Journal remarks. Once home to millions of acres of untouched Amazon rainforests, Ecuador endured a tragic, 30-year rape of the land by oil giant Texaco. Water sources were polluted, ecosystems destroyed. Cancer rates in entire communities skyrocketed. Now equipped with an innovative means to prevent future calamities, Ecuadorans have the opportunity to revolutionize the way we protect the earth that sustains us.

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