Bolivia's President Evo Morales Enacts Law of Mother Earth

Mother Earth by digitumdei

Reported by John Vidal, a story that provides much food for thought about Bolivia and the bold moves by Latin America’s first indigenous President Evo Morales to enact The Law of Mother Earth which will grant nature rights equal to that of humans.

Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera is quoted, “It makes world history. Earth is the mother of all. It establishes a new relationship between man and nature, the harmony of which must be preserved as a guarantee of its regeneration.”

Also supporting this grand gesture is Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca, “Our grandparents taught us that we belong to a big family of plants and animals. We believe that everything in the planet forms part of a big family. We indigenous people can contribute to solving the energy, climate, food and financial crises with our values.”

Evo Morales receiving blessing from Aymara priestsThese values are born from a pantheistic view that reveres Pachamama, an earth goddess, whose worship will definitely be a threat to the Catholic/Christian majority in Bolivia. Will a priestly order be implemented? Surely a forced conversion back to goddess worship will not be tolerated by the Vatican and other religious missionaries.

How will Bolivia handle the democratic tenet of separation of church and state?  It was monotheism that gave men dominion over nature.

Philosophy of religion is not all that is at stake; industry and science could well be impacted as well. Mining counts for approximately third of the country’s economy. How will these new rights be initiated without impacting the already impoverished nation?

Consider the world view – already the US, UK and UN have scoffed at Bolivia’s demands for stricter climate controls in spite of the fact that the country is suffering from rapid glacial melt, erratic rainfall, deadly mudslides, heat waves and drought, expected to devastate the country with water shortages and farming crisis before the century’s end.

After a recent overhaul and reorganization of the Bolivian legal system and constitution the law is expected to add protections and regulation for industry and pollution. It demands that humans respect the earth, allowing her rights for clean air and water, to maintain balance, and live without alteration from human intervention. How it will be embraced is yet to be seen.

Several South American countries support the initiative, including Ecuador who changed their constitution to include ‘wild laws’ but has not enacted into law or enforceable edicts that keep the mining and oil companies from stripping away natural resources.

So, while China slows down their famous bullet trains to conserve energy and consider safety issues and Japan has retreated from whaling in Antarctica - albeit grudgingly under pressure from foreign and domestic protests - the US is still blowing off the Appalachian mountaintops and drilling into earth with carcinogenic fracking materials to support it’s insatiable appetite for oil.

I am thrilled to see leaders who will stand up and hold sacred the earth and her cycles, who realize the enormous, dangerous pressures we are putting on her, and understand the effect and compromises we are causing on the natural balancing act she performs for us each minute of each day.

A bouquet of blessings and infinite gratitude to brave leaders, cultural creatives and conservators, forward and conscientious thinkers whether they be logical or magically inclined. – Earth Day 2011 Lisa