A Law Against Ecocide - What a Lovely Thought... Ecocide – the destruction of ecosystems – is no longer a catch word of just environmentalists and greenies – even mainstream types like British designer Vivienne Westwood are taking up the mantle, expressing anguish and alarm at the worsening state of the planet. The acceleration of death and destruction is unimaginable and its happening quicker and quicker. She said, in support of the European Citizens Initiative to End Ecocide. “… and, one thing we can do is to enshrine the sanctity of the biosphere in law.” She said, adding that concepts such as the rights of nature and law of ecocide are basic common sense even though (mostly on our behalf) corporations continue with legal impunity to bulldoze, cut, frack, drill, strip mine and burn precious forests and mountains. All of us (in industrial society at least) are complicit she said, and, thats why we need a law of anti-ecocide: a concrete emblem of the growing consensus that this must stop. But, changing how we sustain ourselves, how we glean our energy and how we dispose of our waste is not an easy thing to do. We need to change our whole economic system so that employment neednt depend on participating in the conversion of nature into product. We will have to pay people to do things that do not generate goods and services as we know them today – to replant forests, for example, instead of clear-cutting them; to restore wetlands instead of developing them. A law of anti-ecocide would transform the economy - it would mean less throwaway stuff, and more things made with great care, more bikes and fewer cars, more gardens and fewer supermarkets, more leisure and less production, more recycling and fewer landfills, more sharing and less owning. And, this principle of ending ecocide should also written into international trade agreements and tariff policies. An anti-ecocide law would establish a new moral and legal basis for a global consensus to end ecocide and preserve the planet for future generations. Even if the law isnt enacted immediately, the initiative puts the idea on the radar screen. Sooner or later, such a law is coming, and far-sighted businesses that anticipate the changes it will bring will thrive in the long run, even if that requires difficult short-term transitions. theguardian/sustainable-business/blog/vivienne-westwood-law-ecocide-european
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 08:11:54 +0000