No matter what you believe in — Christianity, Hinduism, Atheism, Sean Hannity — there's little debate that humans on this planet exist with a certain degree of impact. Environmental. Political. Social. It's the nature of cohabitation. Force a bunch of people, of anythings, to live in a confined space for several centuries and shit is going to hit the proverbial fan. There's no argument there. Where the argument intensifies is what the hell to do about it.
The Law of Mother Earth is the first legal measure giving the Earth its day in court. It's the first law that states Mother Earth has the right to maintain the integrity of living systems and natural processes that sustain them, and capacities and conditions for regeneration, the right to preserve the functionality of the water cycle, and the right to preserve the quality and composition of air for sustaining living systems and its protection from pollution among other things.
Developed by grassroots social groups and agreed by politicians, the Law of Mother Earth recognises the rights of all living things, giving the natural world equal status to human beings. In America we give this legal priority to corporations.
A major obstacle is the fact that Bolivia is structurally dependent on extractive industries. In 2010, 70 percent of Bolivia's exports were still in the form of minerals, gas, and oil. This structural dependence will be very difficult to unravel. But it isn't a hurdle with diminishing stature, nor is it one EVERY country will face in the future.
According to TheRightsofNature.org, the law requires the government to transition from non-renewable to renewable energy; to develop new economic indicators that will assess the ecological impact of all economic activity; to carry out ecological audits of all private and state companies; to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; to develop policies of food and renewable energy sovereignty; to research and invest resources in energy efficiency, ecological practices, and organic agriculture; and to require all companies and individuals to be accountable for environmental contamination with a duty to restore damaged environments.
Time will tell if Bolivia will crumble from within before or after the rest of the world because of this incredible law.
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