July 6, 2015 – A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite has returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth from one million miles away.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-captures-epic-earth-image

Happy Earth Day 2016! I thought this was beautifully articulated today by The Gaia Foundation in London.

What is Earth Jurisprudence?

In response to the multiple eco-social crises we face today, cultural historian and Gaia patron, Thomas Berry, called for a paradigm shift from a human-centred to an Earth-centred world view. Thomas believed, as we do, that today we need an Earth Jurisprudence – a deep philosophy and a way of governing our societies that recognises that the Earth is the primary source of the laws we must live by.

The Earth’s laws govern life on our planet, including our own. We are born into a lawful and ordered Universe and our responsibility as one of many species is to understand and respect these laws and living processes. Our governance systems need to be derived from these laws and our ways of life guided by them. Indigenous peoples who maintain their ways of life recognise this reality. The violation of these laws, as we are now witnessing, leads to ecological, climatic, social, and economic chaos.

This understanding, that human well-being is intrinsically linked to the well-being of Earth, is common to indigenous cultures and the way in which humans have understood our place in the world for most of our history. The idea that humans are superior and unaccountable to Nature rather than inextricably part of her, has led to a planetary crisis.  We have become profoundly disconnected from the Earth and treat the Earth as a collection of objects or ‘resources’ to be used rather than a community to which we belong.

Earth Jurisprudence acknowledges that the good of the whole takes precedence over the good of the individual elements. This is the foundational thought for the transition away from an extractive relationship with our planet and each other, fostered by the modern industrial society and the ideology of the growth economy. The way we govern ourselves needs to embody an ethical code of practice which requires us to live according to Nature’s laws for the well-being of the whole of Earth Community and future generations of all species.

More to explore through their work at The Gaia Foundation: https://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=02c4daf3f04db09cb03d78dc8&id=0a94625203&e=d742d2ce4c

or… A world without elephants?

I was in a “SoulCollage” workshop last week where a gal was mesmerized by a close-up photo of the happily-twised trunk of an elephant. She chose the image to represent her spiritual teacher from whom she had received many gifts. Will future generations know the embodied and spiritual gifts of our elephant companions?

In the mutually enhancing world of the Ecozoic all species have the right to habitat and to participate and contribute to the Earth community.

Celebrate World Elephant Day, August 12! Have an elephant party?

Short article at ENN: https://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/46308

Long article at the website of World Elephant Day: https://worldelephantday.org/about

New Zealand—Aotearoa, as it is known to the indigenous Maori people—the Whanganui River is now a legal person. Photo By Aidan

In a land where corporations are considered people, it’s a bit of a leap to imagine nature attaining the same status. But as Brendan Kennedy reports for Cultural Survival Quarterly (December 2012), in New Zealand—Aotearoa, as it is known to the indigenous Maori people—the Whanganui River is now a legal person.

“Indigenous peoples around the world often struggle with governments that do not recognize their view of the natural environment,” writes Kennedy. Where the Maori strive to conserve and enhance, non-Maori typically seek to industrialize and maximize profit. Thus, indigenous worldviews often directly conflict with non-indigenous practices of property ownership. Awarding the river personhood status, then, is a significant victory for the Maori.

According to the new agreement, the river will have two guardians—one appointed by the Whanganui Iwi tribe and one by the British Crown—that promote the physical, ecological, spiritual, and cultural rights of the river.

Such an agreement has few precedents, however. While the news brings hope, Kennedy warns of the possibility that the river’s guardians might restrict Whanganui Iwi rights to the river with no room for recourse. Still, he calls the agreement cause for “cautious optimism as Indigenous Peoples continue to fight for the recognition of their views of the natural world.”

Here is another article about this river and topic: https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/i-am-river-and-river-me-implications-river-receiving

May 24, 2013

Dolphins gain unprecedented protection in India

India has officially recognized dolphins as non-human persons, whose rights to life and liberty must be respected. Dolphin parks that were being built across the country will instead be shut down.

India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests has advised state governments to ban dolphinariums and other commercial entertainment that involves the capture and confinement of cetacean species such as orcas and bottlenose dolphins. In a statement, the government said research had clearly established cetaceans are highly intelligent and sensitive, and that dolphins “should be seen as ‘non-human persons’ and as such should have their own specific rights.”

The move comes after weeks of protest against a dolphin park in the state of Kerala and several other marine mammal entertainment facilities which were to be built this year. Animal welfare advocates welcomed the decision.

“This opens up a whole new discourse of ethics in the animal protection movement in India,” said Puja Mitra from the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO). Mitra is a leading voice in the Indian movement to end dolphin captivity.

Indian officials say it is morally unacceptable to exploit cetaceans in commercial entertainment

“The scientific evidence we provided during the campaign talked about cetacean intelligence and introduced the concept of non-human persons,” she said in an interview with DW.

Indiais the fourth country in the world to ban the capture and import of cetaceans for the purpose of commercial entertainment – along with Costa Rica, Hungary, and Chile.

Dolphins are persons, not performers

The movement to recognize whale and dolphins as individuals with self-awareness and a set of rights gained momentum three years ago in Helsinki, Finland when scientists and ethicists drafted a Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans. “We affirm that all cetaceans as persons have the right to life, liberty and well-being,” they wrote.

Dolphins are naturally playful and curious, which has made them popular with aqurium visitors

The signatories included leading marine scientist Lori Marino who produced evidence that cetaceans have large, complex brains especially in areas involved in communication and cognition. Her work has shown that dolphins have a level of self-awareness similar to that of human beings. Dolphins can recognize their own reflection, use tools and understand abstract concepts. They develop unique signature whistles allowing friends and family members to recognize them, similar to the way human beings use names.

“They share intimate, close bonds with their family groups. They have their own culture, their own hunting practices – even variations in the way they communicate,” said FIAPO’s Puja Mitra.

But it is precisely this ability to learn tricks and charm audiences that have made whales and dolphins a favorite in aquatic entertainment programs around the world.

Seaworld slaughter

Disposable personal income has increased in India and there is a growing market for entertainment. Dolphin park proposals were being considered in Delhi, Kochi and Mumbai.

India’s growing middle class is hungry for entertainment

“There’s nothing like having a few animals on display, particularly ones that are so sensitive and intelligent as these dolphins,” said Belinda Wright from the Wildlife Protection Society of India in an interview with DW. “It’s a good money making proposition.”

But audiences are usually oblivious to the documented suffering of these marine performers.

“The majority of dolphins and whales in captivity have been sourced through wild captures in Japan, in Taiji, in the Caribbean, in the Solomon Islands and parts of Russia. These captures are very violent,” Mitra explained.

“They drive groups of dolphins into shallow bay areas where young females whose bodies are unmarked and are thought to be suitable for display are removed. The rest are often slaughtered.”

Mitra argued that the experience of captivity is tantamount to torture. She explained that orcas and other dolphins navigate by using sonar signals, but in tanks, the reverberations bounce off the walls, causing them “immense distress”. She described dolphins banging their heads on the walls and orcas wearing away their teeth as they pull at bars and bite walls.

Tanks terminated

In response to the new ban, the Greater Cochin Development Authority (CGDA) told DW that it has withdrawn licenses for a dolphin park in the city of Kochi, where there have been massive animal rights demonstrations in recent months.

Will the ban on captive dolphin exploitation lead to more protection for other highly intelligent non-humans?

“It is illegal now,” said N. Venugopal, who heads the CGDA. “It is over. We will not allow it anymore.”

He said the government hadn’t lost money on the development but declined to comment on how much the dolphin park was worth.

Boost for Ganges River dolphin

It’s possible that India’s new ban on cetacean captivity will lead to renewed interest in protecting the country’s own Ganges River dolphin.

“I hope this will put some energy into India’s Action Plan for the Gangetic Dolphin, which is supposed to run until 2020,” said Belinda Wright from the Wildlife Protection Society of India. “But there’s been very little action.

She said the ban was a good first stop, but warned against excessive optimism. “I’m very proud that India has done this,” she said. “I’m not trying to be cynical but I have been a conservationist in India for four decades. One gets thrilled with the wording, but I don’t think it’s going to turn to the tables.”

“But dolphins for now are safe from dolphinariums, and that’s a good thing,” she added.

of the United Religions Initiative Environmental CC

What time is it?

On April 15, 2013, a bomb goes off in Boston, and millions, if not billions, of dollars will be spent on apprehending the perpetrator and on new security measures. Marathons will never be the same again.

Everyone considers this important.

The Economist, in a well-known article published on March 30, 2012, reports that Earth may be less sensitive to carbon emissions than was thought—still a problem but on a longer time horizon. Climate Progress, in contrast, reports that the current trajectory of CO2 emissions is at the high end of what humanity can adapt to. Should we surpass this upper limit, James Hansen, a leading climate scientist, says it would be “game over” for human life on this planet.

And yet, few Americans consider this important.

It seems that we are able to respond to immediate danger, but less capable of addressing long-term threats. There is a need for an evolutionary change in humans to adapt to this new environment.

Still, the dominant impulse, not surprisingly, is to remediate the problems of industrial society with “green solutions” that tinker at the margins by making things less bad. Achieving 20% sustainable energy by 2030 is considered an ambitious goal, even though the remaining 80% of fossil fuel-based energy at that time would exceed our usage of fossil fuels today.

If humanity continues on this course, the result will be collapse. We need a vision and pathway that will match an epic challenge of unprecedented magnitude in all of human history.

Thus the call for a new vision, which might be described as an Ecological Civilization and a Commonwealth of Life. It is a vision in which Earth is understood to be a single sacred community bound together in interdependent relationships—what the late ecological theologian Fr. Thomas Berry described as “a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.”

In this vision, humans would live sustainably in their “Earth home,” in harmony with the rest of creation and grounded in local communities and bioregions.

This idea is beginning to be advanced among some in the URI North America community with a focus on initiating dialogues on the meaning and practice of—and transition to—an Ecological Civilization and Commonwealth of Life in our region. In support of this model, beginning in 2010, the first of several “BioRegional Gatherings” were held in North America with the participation of multiple CCs in Southern California.

Future dialogues coordinated with the support and leadership of Environmental CC members, many experts in their fields, could include a combination of teach-ins, webinars, and experiential learning programs, building and expanding on existing models and expertise culminating in region-wide conferences exploring the spiritual and practical aspects of building an ecological civilization.

The purpose of these activities would be to gather insight into the forms, frameworks, practices, and programs that could inspire and guide individual and social transformations. Collaborations would involve spiritual mentors and ethicists, clergy and lay members from within our URI community and beyond who have been active in building community resilience, greening homes and places of worship, protecting the commons and sacred sites, the practice of eco-spiritual principles, supporting local culture, slow food, etc. If you would like to be part of such an initiative, please contact Cynthia Sampson at cysampson @ aol dot com or Rebecca Tobias at rebecca @ raoulwallenberginstitute dot org.

For further information and concept papers on ecological civilization, including a proposal for a major conference to be held in each of the great historic civilizations around the world—identified by scholar Samuel Huntington as Sinic or Chinese, Japanese, Hindu, Islamic Orthodox, Western, Latin American, and Sub-Saharan African—contact Herman Greene at hfgreenenc @ gmail dot com.