Ecuadorians Follow Lead of U.S. Communities, California charges ahead

Today, the people of Ecuador voted to recognize the
inalienable rights belonging to ecosystems in their new constitution. A
set of groundbreaking articles that transform the status of nature from
mere property to a rights-bearing entity are now incorporated into the
national charter. Ecuador, one of the world’s most biodiverse places,
has set a precedent for other nations who have struggled against
multinational corporations’ exploitation, which has turned ecosystems
and whole communities into sacrifice zones. The world watches as Ecuador
takes its first step into what many people believe is the legal unknown.

The inspiration for today’s remarkable achievement comes from
municipalities across the United States where rural communities have
already developed and adopted Rights of Nature ordinances, first
developed by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF).
Ecuador’s Constitutional Assembly asked CELDF to suggest Rights of
Nature language for their draft constitution, based on the
municipalities in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New Hampshire that have
taken the lead nationally and globally.

Global Exchange rights-based organizer, Shannon Biggs, who partners with
CELDF to assist communities in passing these new laws, is blazing new
ground in California: “Ecuador and U.S. communities=97from Santa Cruz,
California to rural Pennsylvania=97are passing laws that assert the rights
of nature to be wild, and boldly changing the way we protect the
environment.” Biggs is organizing with Monterey, Nevada City and Santa
Cruz, which are among the first California communities working to pass
local laws to change not only nature’s legal status nature, but also its
culture.

Local Nevada City, California concerned resident Debra Weistar: “For 150
years, the entire Sierra Nevada mountain range has been exploited for
profit. There is still a “gold rush” mentality here that implies that
there are riches in these hills for the taking. Ecuador is leading the
way on a national level, and it has created momentum that may evolve
into a movement. I can follow and emulate that model to help my own
community.”

Local Monterey organizer Elsa Dooling: “In our community on the Central
Coast of California we have enormous, highly valuable natural resources
that are supposedly being protected under current regulations. The
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary says our coastal waters are
protected, yet not only are large commercial farms pouring hundreds of
millions of pounds of toxic pesticides into our air, water and soil, but
so are our cities and counties. If our community was able to stand up
and say the natural habitat of the Bay has rights=97true and recognized
rights=97we’d be able to legally go after the polluters for violations and
stop the assault that is killing our fragile coastal ecosystem.”

States Biggs: “Slaves were once also considered property under the law.
We needed to write new law in order to change the cultural
understanding, the cultural climate. This is the kind of change
represented by these local efforts, and now Ecuador. We need many more
communities to stand up for the environment in the places where they
live.” Across the U.S., communities are making demands for a new system
that prioritizes environmental health over corporate profits.

For more information visit: Rights-based Organizing

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TRADITIONAL VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.’ Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome.’ Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.

Nancy Peloski, John Kerry & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer! The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and t he case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he doesn’t maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of crack spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2008

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I found this video on a blog written by a woman after my own heart… http://farmnatters.blogspot.com/

She posted it and I am ‘passing it around’ LOL Enjoy. It is SO good and SO to the point.

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Michael O’Loughlin from the Better Living Show - Portland’s Largest Sustainable Lifestyle Show twitters. Yes he does. I’ve been following him for a few months now. He give out some really interesting information on sustainability. And he ought to know… he’s been in the trade show business most of his life and runs the ‘Northwest’s Largest Sustainable Lifestyle Show’ His father Thomas O’Loughlin is founder of the National Association of Consumer Shows and co-founder of O’Loughlin Trade Shows. Why the biography?

Michael asked fellow tweeters what they thought of the article 6 Ways to Master the Green Message by Ethan Boldt, and since twitter is for smaller shorter points, I thought I’d give a couple of cents worth here. It is a subject worthy of discussion.

In some circles, discussing green marketing is as tasteful as discussing funeral services, but it is a necessary part of life. Some people roll their eyes. Some won’t shut up once you start the conversation (ahem) and some give you that glazed stare that says they have no idea what you are talking about. To sell what you have been selling with a green twist, ‘Mastering the Green Message’ almost sounds like you are trying to take advantage of the publics newly enlightened sense of sustainable issues… you know… ‘Greenwashing’ your message.

One point Ethan made that I appreciate..

To Promote or Not to Promote?
That is the question that marketers must ask themselves. The question that does not need to be asked, however, is should you begin green initiatives in the first place?

Good advice, don’t you think?

But one sad point that was brought out, IMO, was what Alan Rosenspan, president of Alan Rosenspan & Associates, a direct marketing creative and consulting firm was quoted on…

Give Them a Benefit
“So I guess my advice would be: You can appeal to people’s higher nature and ask them to support the environment, but make sure there’s a benefit in it for them.”

I thought that supporting environmental initiative was supposed the BE the benefit. But he also stated,

Appeal to Their Pro-Environment Position, but Also Their Pocketbooks
Don’t expect immediate success, warns Rosenspan. “People still tend to vote (and buy) with their pocketbooks. We offered to ‘plant a tree in your name’ if you switched to AT&T. We sent out 30,000 packages - I think we planted three trees,” he shares.

So I guess he’s actually got a real point… and consumers can be wise in this choice to be quite selective, especially where price is concerned. It shouldn’t have to hurt so badly in the wallet to be green. So voting selectively with your pocketbook is smart, selling the benefits of your product/service FIRST, your environmental position second makes good marketing sense.

Thanks for bringing it up Michael! We wish you all success with the show next spring! Feel free to keep information about it posted here.

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Due to the long hours I spend designing websites and running a green hosting business I have asked Hannah Reichenberger to help get some updated, interesting, and cool green stuff posted on this blog. She is on the Oregon Coast where people are far more open and ‘green’ than those in Oklahoma… but hey,  Oklahoma, if you’re listening, SPEAK UP!

I find it ironic that I live in ‘Green Country’ that is no joke, northeast OK has even got a radio station, called ‘Green Country’ KVOO but you see bumperstickers everywhere here that say, “The West wasn’t won on salad” (cattle farmers) and PETA (yes, I know they’re extreme, but STILL) stands for “People Eating Tasty Animals” and so on and so on…

Anyways, my youngest munchkin has finally jumped on the internet bandwagon and is venturing outside of (gasp) MySpace to speak out and get involved in her local community. I’m so proud!

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