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The Ministry of Mother Earth


skyrider
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Move over twi......

There's another ministry in town.

Mother Earth

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.

"If you want to have balance, and you think that the only (entities) who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance?" Pablo Salon, Bolivia's ambassador to the UN, told Postmedia News. "But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and (if you provide) legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance."

The application of the law appears destined to pose new challenges for companies operating in the country, which is rich in natural resources, including natural gas and lithium, but remains one of the poorest in Latin America.

But while Salon said his country just seeks to achieve "harmony" with nature, he signalled that mining and other companies may come under greater scrutiny.

"We're not saying, for example, you cannot eat meat because you know you are going to go against the rights of a cow," he said. "But when human activity develops at a certain scale that you (cause to) disappear a species, then you are really altering the vital cycles of nature or of Mother Earth. Of course, you need a mine to extract iron or zinc, but there are limits."

Bolivia is a country with a large indigenous population, whose traditional belief systems took on greater resonance following the election of Morales, Latin America's first indigenous president.

In a 2008 pamphlet his entourage distributed at the UN as he attended a summit there, 10 "commandments" are set out as Bolivia's plan to "save the planet" — beginning with the need "to end capitalism."

Reflecting indigenous traditional beliefs, the proposed global treaty says humans have caused "severe destruction . . . that is offensive to the many faiths, wisdom traditions and indigenous cultures for whom Mother Earth is sacred."

It also says that "Mother Earth has the right to exist, to persist and to continue the vital cycles, structures, functions and processes that sustain all human beings."

In indigenous Andean culture, the Earth deity known as Pachamama is the centre of all life, and humans are considered equal to all other entities.

The UN debate begins two days before the UN's recognition April 22 of the second International Mother Earth Day — another Morales-led initiative.

Canadian activist Maude Barlow is among global environmentalists backing the drive with a book the group will launch in New York during the UN debate: Nature Has Rights.

"It's going to have huge resonance around the world," Barlow said of the campaign. "It's going to start first with these southern countries trying to protect their land and their people from exploitation, but I think it will be grabbed onto by communities in our countries, for example, fighting the tarsands in Alberta."

Ecuador, which also has a large indigenous population, has enshrined similar aims in its Constitution — but the Bolivian law is said to be "stronger."

Ecuador is among countries that have already been supportive of the Bolivian initiative, along with Nicaragua, Venezuela, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda.

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Move over twi......

There's another ministry in town.

Mother Earth

"She" has been way more successful than TWI ever thought of being...everything I have ever eaten, breathed or drank, directly or indirectly came from "her"--all with no ABS, tithing, plurality giving or mandatory classes involved....Like most 'mothers' 'she' is vastly underappreciated.....

I doubt the treaty will ever see the light of day, there is too much good old fashioned exploitation and profiteering yet to do

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In a 2008 pamphlet his entourage distributed at the UN as he attended a summit there, 10 "commandments" are set out as Bolivia's plan to "save the planet" — beginning with the need "to end capitalism."

I would slightly modify that, or offer a slightly different interpretation. We have a need to end UNBRIDLED capitalism.

unbridled, it must consume itself..

maybe that is what is happening anyway..

maybe that is the big "plan".. give it what it wants..

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I would slightly modify that, or offer a slightly different interpretation. We have a need to end UNBRIDLED capitalism.

unbridled, it must consume itself..

maybe that is what is happening anyway..

maybe that is the big "plan".. give it what it wants..

I don't know if "the big plan" is to end capitalism, but if that's the plan.......WHAT IS GOING TO REPLACE IT? Socialism? Fascism? Marxism? What country models the type of replacement that we should strive for? Bolivia? China?

Just seems like the ruling class always plays by different rules......every country! The Libyan dictator has, like, 40 billion stashed in banks in several countries. The political class jet-sets all over the world.....polluting the atmosphere on one trip MORE than my whole lifetime on earth.

How about.....the U.S. politicians quit sticking their noses in everyone's business and help the down-trodden and abused and homeless here at home? Not only Mother Earth, but humanity is hurting in a big way.

Why doesn't China........help Japan?

Why doesn't the Arab League.....help Libya?

Why doesn't Venezuela....help Cuba?

Why does the U.S. have to help everyone?

If socialism is so great....why don't socialist countries do the heavy lifting?

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I don't know if "the big plan" is to end capitalism, but if that's the plan.......WHAT IS GOING TO REPLACE IT?

I think anybody who's in the know of world events knows the answer to that:

The New World Order is actually a global socialist society.

The irony of this great global society is that social justice will be instituted. What's ironic about that? If your making $30,000 a year your in the worlds top 7% of wage earners (source). So by global standards your wealthy. Now do you think they're going to let you keep all that wealth? How much in taxes do you think you'll have to pay to help those in less fortunate nations than yours?

So how will we get to this wonder society? Presently Islamics, unions, and communist are teaming up to push us toward bring down capitalism and instill there version of a socialist society.

Look at what's going on in the Middle East. Look up Caliphate (definition) then look up Islamic socialism (definition). The interesting thing is they're all united with one purpose in mind:destroy capitalism.

Once capitalism is gone then one group thinks it can handle the other. Jokes on them: if that shake out occurs, the winner will be Islam. You seen something similar in Germany just before Hitler came to power: then the choice was between the working class and the Fatherland. As you seen, the Fatherland won.

This time, should it get that far, the choice will be between the working class, an ideology, and Allah. The working class losing is a no-brainer. You think Marx can compete with Allah?

SoCrates

Edited by So_crates
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I don't know if "the big plan" is to end capitalism, but if that's the plan.......WHAT IS GOING TO REPLACE IT?

I doubt that the next economic system has been thought up yet...There have been a ton of economic systems since the dawn of time that have come and gone, and get replaced by new ones as history progresses...

I doubt that capitalism is the final page in economic development or that it has to replaced by something that already exists (like socialism). There are elements of both that are good and there are elements of both that dont work well at all...

Im not an economist so I couldnt tell you! Some hybrid version might work-- my general sense is that smaller local (or regional) economies that place their own value on their own people, resources and quality of life would work much better than some gigantic global system.

Bhutan has an interesting system, they do not measure economic success by 'Gross National Product' but instead by "Gross National Happiness". They have a very complex series of calculations and indicators that keeps them moving towards that mark.

Something like that would seem more reasonable to me--nothing seems as dead ended to me as produce produce produce just for the idea of getting more.

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I doubt that the next economic system has been thought up yet...There have been a ton of economic systems since the dawn of time that have come and gone, and get replaced by new ones as history progresses...

I doubt that capitalism is the final page in economic development or that it has to replaced by something that already exists (like socialism). There are elements of both that are good and there are elements of both that dont work well at all...

Im not an economist so I couldnt tell you! Some hybrid version might work-- my general sense is that smaller local (or regional) economies that place their own value on their own people, resources and quality of life would work much better than some gigantic global system.

I agree......smaller local economies would seem to work much better than a one-size-fits-all economy. Is the ego of man so great that he REALLY THINK he can rule the world?

One global system will consolidate power in the hands of a multi-billionare's club, an oligarchy. Just like in cornfield-twi, when everything got "tapped to the root"...... the "tree" was all but dead.

Isn't all of life like that.......local habitats, ecosystems? The Florida Everglades is unique and vast and wonderful for plants, birds and animals alike.....for Florida!

We don't need elephants in Texas.....do we? :anim-smile:

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Absolutely.

And, she is already......."over the world" :)

You made me laugh out loud. You get an A+ for humor today, dude.

:biglaugh:

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WOW Just when I thought the lunacy couldn't get much worse I see this! UNBELIEVEABLE "Thinking themselves wise... they became FOOLS !!!" LOL It just keeps getting better and better. REALLY! My favorite has to be "worshipping the creation, rather than the creator" Yeeeaaaahhhhh BABY! Ummm hmmmm. Keep em coming. I love it!

aaahhhhh another day closer, even so Lord quickly come!

I must comment specifically on this one: SKYRIDER wrote:

"Is the ego of man so great that he REALLY THINK he can rule the world?"

Ummm DUH? Not only does man THINK so, but God says it WILL happen. More immediately haven't you heard about "global warming", "cap and trade taxes", etc.etc.etc. "Ou, Oh, we can change our climate" What an absolute joke...

NO NO NO the joke is the idiots who have bought into that lie...

Over an out...

Edited by Al Poole
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O boy the judge jury and executioner showed up--all wrapped in one!

Personally Im a really big fan of breathing clean air, walking by the ocean, fishing in clean rivers, observing the wonders of nature and stewarding its resources.

"The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof"

Maybe you dont, but I like it and dont mind expending some effort to take care of it while Im here.

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O boy the judge jury and executioner showed up--all wrapped in one!

Ummm.....isn't this a discussion forum where people can come and express their viewpoints? Who made YOU judge over others' comments? Didn't we all get ENOUGH OF THAT in twi?

This topic of "mother earth" will be debated for the next 500 years (if humanity is still alive on this planet). Heck, I'm for clean air, clean water....etc. From the statistics I've read, the U.S. has progressed past the limits that were set some 10 years ago WITHOUT carbon taxing and EPA regulations waiting to be launched.

Besides.....there's the whole debate about other countries, as well. Even if the United States complies, what about China? India? Brazil? Who's gonna go knocking on their door if these other countries don't comply? Obviously, that implies.....a global network, a global society, a global watchdog, global regulations, global standards, global sanctions, global penalties, a global economy.

Add together all the special interests and countries' economies just in the fishing industry alone.....and it becomes a mamouth task of oversight. With migration of whales and thousands of species, who's going to control the final authority of this "ministry of mother earth?" Will the "ombudsman" be elected or appointed?

Thousands of questions will surface, right?

If all animals and plants have "rights"....what will one eat?

If every bug has "rights".......every driver is killing daily. Should all trucks, cars, trains, and planes be outlawed?

If every plant has "rights".....no one should mow their grass. Walking thru the woods will be prohibited as it endangers the habitat.

If microscopic bacteria have "rights".....no one should be allowed to breath without wearing a face-veil or state-approved filtration device.

And, the questions would never cease.

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I must comment specifically on this one: SKYRIDER wrote:

"Is the ego of man so great that he REALLY THINK he can rule the world?"

It really does become overwhelming to even consider an ombudsman overseeing "the ministry of mother earth".......doesn't it. How many levels of bureaucracy would it take to oversee the millions and billions of plants, insects, fish, mammals, etc. Even in the depths of the ocean, scientists are still discovering new species.

There are some 12,000 different types of ants. What if one type was devouring another and driving them to extinction? Should african ants habitat africa only? Who decides the levels? the parameters? the policies?....what if scientific data of one country contradict another countries' data?

Would there be an "ant czar"......?

Would there be a "spider czar"....?

Would there be a "monkey czar"....?

Could man ever possibly govern mother earth to a better outcome?

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The Ministry of Mother Earth must encompass energy sources. One quarter of the world's coal reserves are found within the United States, and the energy content of the nation's coal resources exceeds that of all the world's known recoverable oil. Alternative energy sources (solar, wind, electric) are being developed in this changing would.

Although the U.S. government is standing in opposition to substantive oil drilling and new oil refineries, the U.S. controlled bank is financing Columbia on the second largest project it has ever undertaken.

$2.84 Billion Loan for Oil Refinery -- in Columbia

U.S. Gov’t Agency Plans $2.84 Billion Loan for Oil Refinery—In Colombia

Monday, April 18, 2011

By Terence P. Jeffrey(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Export-Import Bank, an independent agency of the federal government, is now planning a $2.84-billion loan for a massive project to expand and upgrade an oil refinery–in Cartagena, Colombia.

The money would go to Reficar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecopetrol, the Colombian national oil company.

“This is part of a $5.18 billion refinery and upgrade project in Cartagena, Colombia supplying petroleum products to the domestic and export markets,” the Export-Import Bank said in a statement.

The U.S. government-controlled bank says the $2.84-billion in financing it plans to undertake will be the second largest project it has ever done. The largest was $3 billion in financing for a liquid natural gas project in Papua New Guinea.

The statement released by the bank said that on April 7 the bank’s presidentially-appointed board of directors had “voted to grant preliminary approval for a $2.84 billion direct loan/loan guarantee” for the Colombian refinery project.

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I must comment specifically on this one: SKYRIDER wrote:

"Is the ego of man so great that he REALLY THINK he can rule the world?"

Not only does man THINK so, but God says it WILL happen.

FWIW, I agree with most of what you're saying, not so much the way you're saying it. I don't think, however, that God says anywhere that man will rule the world. If anything, man is ruling the world now, and doing a lousy job of it. Even though I don't think there is enough evidence to prove global warming, I am still all in favor of stewardship.

So I'm all in favor of having clean air, clean water, etc. That's not worshipping the creation. That's just taking care of the place.

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If all animals and plants have "rights"....what will one eat?

If every bug has "rights".......every driver is killing daily. Should all trucks, cars, trains, and planes be outlawed?

If every plant has "rights".....no one should mow their grass. Walking thru the woods will be prohibited as it endangers the habitat.

If microscopic bacteria have "rights".....no one should be allowed to breath without wearing a face-veil or state-approved filtration device.

And, the questions would never cease.

You're right, of course, but here's the rub. I'm going to make a statement I can't back up :o. I think we all know the balance in the things you mentioned. As soon as we try to define it, it gets all screwed up. I don't know if it's cultural or what, but we (meaning humanity or at least western humanity) are just infatuated with hard and fast rules and that's when things break down. The only people that bring up stuff like this (not you so much) are people that want to bend the system, and there are plenty of those. Until mankind can just do the right thing without it having to be defined down to the last little detail we're going to be stuck on about everything.

I think animals have rights. Actually, what I really think is we have a responsibility to the animals. Animals for food? Sure! Animal rights people are more concerned with these stories you hear about when someone who keeps their dogs in a pen and gives them no food and water for days, or tortures them, or makes them fight other animals for gambling purposes.

I have nothing against whaling. Leave some people to their own devices, though and they'll kill every single whale. Everyone knows what to do. But those who want to circumvent the system for their own benefit want rules so they can bend them as much as possible.

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You're right, of course, but here's the rub. I'm going to make a statement I can't back up :o. I think we all know the balance in the things you mentioned. As soon as we try to define it, it gets all screwed up. I don't know if it's cultural or what, but we (meaning humanity or at least western humanity) are just infatuated with hard and fast rules and that's when things break down. The only people that bring up stuff like this (not you so much) are people that want to bend the system, and there are plenty of those. Until mankind can just do the right thing without it having to be defined down to the last little detail we're going to be stuck on about everything.

I think animals have rights. Actually, what I really think is we have a responsibility to the animals. Animals for food? Sure! Animal rights people are more concerned with these stories you hear about when someone who keeps their dogs in a pen and gives them no food and water for days, or tortures them, or makes them fight other animals for gambling purposes.

I have nothing against whaling. Leave some people to their own devices, though and they'll kill every single whale. Everyone knows what to do. But those who want to circumvent the system for their own benefit want rules so they can bend them as much as possible.

Broken Arrow.....your statement, "Until mankind can just do the right thing without it having to be defined down to the last little detail we're going to be stuck on about everything."....is the crux of the issue. If someone, or global council is going to push for "animals have rights, bugs have rights, plants have rights".....then, I believe, that doctrine needs to be specifically defined.

Limits are good. Boundaries are good. Definitions are good.

When I went pheasant hunting in my youth, in the 60's.....the state law defined the length of the hunting season, the parameters of hunting pheasant, AND the daily limit per bird. Game wardens were known to patrol the areas and offenders were fined with stiff penalties. Any avid sportsman knew the difference between the cocks and hens....and would only shoot at the cocks. Shooting the hens was illegal.

By the mid-80's......my Dad would buy and raise 1,000 pheasant and 1,000 quail each season to rehabitate the environment. No government agency compensated him for this expense. No environmental group paid him for hundreds of hours of service each season to raise and turn these birds loose to the wild. My Dad did it, because of his love and respect for nature.

Each state specifies the hunting seasons for......pheasant, grouse, duck, geese, turkey, deer, elk, alligator, etc. Specifying what is legal and/or illegal is good.

In humanity, I would like to believe that the vast majority uphold the law. But then, there has always been that 8% or 12% who, left unrestrained, will be overtaken by exploitation and greed. We've all seen the documentaries of poachers who've slaughtered elephants and rhinos for their ivory and leaving carcases behind.

The laws are for the lawless.....for those who have no restraint. In a moral society, one can testify to the goodness of mankind. Even in Japan, after the earthquake/tsunami.... there has been very little looting and exploiting the system reported. Sure, it'd be great to live on this planet where people just did the right thing. But some won't.

But.....dictating that all bugs and plants have "rights" is a whole new issue. The distinction between LIMITS and RIGHTS is worlds apart. Heck, even in humanity, society is still tackling the issue of "human rights".....the "right" to advanced education, the "right" to affordable housing, the "right" to own a home.

Can our court system handle the onslaught of the "bug world having rights?" :)

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If you want to have balance, and you think that the only (entities) who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance?" Pablo Salon, Bolivia's ambassador to the UN, told Postmedia News. "But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and (if you provide) legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance.

Who decides the ultimate "balance of nature" as programs are implemented worldwide? The controversy rages on as the Bureau of Land Management pushes programs concerning the Wild Mustang Round-ups that many deem unnecessary, cruel, and wasteful. Wolf Conservation Groups are in heated confrontations from ranchers whose livestock is killed by the wolves.

Last week, the head of White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Cass Sunstein (regulatory czar) was called before Congress to testify of the $30 Million catfish program.

Disputes are rising as one species is consuming another. Achieving "balance" seems to be at the core of these controversies......and, probably, always will.

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