Are we Owners or Caretakers?

Hello Everyone

Imagine if our local councils granted rights to nature. Imagine them saying ‘no’ that development cannot go ahead because we value the trees, we value the natural beauty of the landscape and scarring the landscape with industrial monoliths disturbs the rights of other living things.

But, in fact a group of people, indeed a whole country can take a stand for sustainability and balance with nature.

Bolivia is set to pass the laws granting nature equal rights to humans. It is called the Law of Mother Earth.

This is one of the most significant laws in the history of human kind and its relationship to the Earth. And yet it has received almost no attention in the media.

According to the journalist John Vidal and the Guardian, the law will establish 11 new rights for nature.

They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically modified.

The controversial part of this is that it will enshrine the right of nature “to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities”.

This is a major mind shift. The challenge for sustainability on the planet is for us to fully take on that we are no longer the owners and dominators of our environment. The shift will be to see ourselves as caretakers in harmony and balance with living entities around us.

I have often heard the owners of beautiful properties and houses in our community state that the property is not really theirs rather they are looking after it for other generations to enjoy. Imagine if that was the mind shift for all – we are caretakers not owners. This is the underlying philosophy of many indigenous people. Imagine that!!