Destruction, damage or loss of ecosystems is happening on a mass scale everyday.
This is ecocide.
This is the campaign to make ecocide a crime.
You can help us close the door to the ecocide and open a new one to a clean green world. The more of us that stand up and call for ecocide to be made a crime the sooner our world will change for the better.
We demand:
"The Ecocide trial is a very important step in waking us up to the violence which is the foundation of the current economy." – Vandana Shiva, philosopher and activist
"This Ecocide law may be the only way to make climate criminals rethink their crimes of commission and omission" – Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth
"Unlimited growth assumes unlimited resources, and this is the genesis of Ecocide." – Maude Barlow, former UN advisor
"The object of the Ecocide Act is not just aimed at companies it is aimed at individuals… individual responsibility is the only way there will be any change.” – Michael Mansfield QC, leading human rights lawyer
See our Friends page to read more
RT @oldforests: Stop Peru's Road to Rainforest Ecocide & Genocide of Uncontacted Tribes http://t.co/PX0lgYLg - join people from 88 nations send 176K+ emails
Michael Mansfield @CityLawSchool tonight: lively talk on need for accountability in environmental matters eg by international 'Ecocide' law.
ActuS.ecocide_16 - IMPORTANT ===== IMPORTANT ====== IMPORTANT ====== IMPORTANT ===== DESISTEMENT sur les… http://t.co/5aQCBq57
RT @wordsofpower: End this madness. Greenpeace from the Rooftop: 'Do Not Drill in the Arctic' http://t.co/rIANelfM #climatechange #ecocide #sustainability
January 25, 2012 -Stop Peru's Road to Rainforest Ecocide and Genocide of Uncontacted Indigenous Tribes http://t.co/Mt1pBVgp via @EcoInternetWe promise to keep your details confidential.
The End
Great initiative!
Another image to use…
http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/11.jpg
Boreal Forests of Alberta. Image on right is from National Geographic.
From this post: http://www.landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/1415
I support the criminalization of Ecocide, which constitutes the wholesale destruction of huge geographical areas and virtually all biodiversity therein. Ecocide permanently destroys habitat necessary for the life support of all indigenous wildlife, and renders the land unusable for wildlife and humans as well. All of this is conducted for the benefit of unscrupulous corporations run amok. This is undemocratic and unsustainable. Perpetrators of Ecocide are among the worst criminals that exist. Our laws should reflect that.
As a public interest environmental lawyer: Yes, a good new cause of action, but very complex and the devil’s in the details. However, even assuming some effectiveness, this legal tool will not “solve” the environmental crises of our civilization because it does not address the cause of the problems. Globalized capitalism is dependent on growth; until we figure out how to maintain an economy without having to “grow” it to survive, we will not achieve sustainability. And that’s not even reaching the population problem and planetary carrying capacity.
Basically, what you are proposing to do is eliminate the externalities of economic activities. Without externalizing their costs, most large corporations would no longer be profitable, or at least not as much. Horrors! They will fight to the death (of Earth and us) to prevent effective internalization of the costs of their business (i.e., adverse impacts on the commons, or “ecocide”).
I recommend I. Wallerstein’s World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction for an articulate presentation of my point–500 years of history in 100 pages!
I support the proposal.
Of course capitalist growth depends on keeping a hierarchical separation between humans and the ecosphere, and of course its goals mean a fight to the death.
But for those who know humans to be only a part of the ecosphere, and the killing of nature to be destructive to humans, the system is guilty of theft of the very concept of ‘growth’, for man-made profit, at the expense of where growth naturally belongs.
The recognition of the crime of ecocide would be educational to the vast numbers of human consumers whose sense of morality has been brainwashed into subscribing mindlessly to the primacy of economic growth.
Toby and Rosanne. great points. The UN proposition is an excellent start. Can the details be proven on a precedence basis as claims arise.
With Globalization and free trade, multi national corporations seem to have a free reign. Perhaps a UN resolution to define what is sustainability and require any multi-national corp. to abide by a sustainable doctrine, which would include all ( environmental ) costs. This might address corporations exploiting under developed countries for cheaper labour and no environmental watchdogs.
if they start putting laws on this stuff it will be twisted and end up destroying the intent behind the idea. be really careful. the people who run the show want this to actually happen. research “agenda 21″
The initiative is prime. When a movement of people is so overwhelming no law or organisation on earth can stop the momentum. If corporates act in a manner that is nothing more than a cancer within our civil system then they instigate their own death. But it may only take a change of heart to change the world. What I mean here is that the instigation and education of humanistic values upon the populous will bring about a change in action based on those values. Further – An act of Ecocide, once law, would mean their actions be unlawful if not complied to, giving leverage to the act of enforcing reparations. However, (via my 1st point) having said that, a law doesn’t necessarily prevent an action. Once the ecosystem is destroyed in any one area or manner, it is vastly difficult to render effective repair. The real drive must therefore ensure preventative measures. But this eco law will be a great benefit and support to that action. Governments and corporations need to abide by common law as well (which I don’t believe they do – though I may be wrong). It should be apart of the by-laws/corporate laws that their actions must not cause damage to the environment in which we live, no matter what organisation it is. The only thing that enables life to “be” on this planet is its environment. Its destruction is already a crime against the sanctity and dignity of life. Thank you for this initiative.