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Author Archive for Global Alliance

United Natures – A United Nations of All Species

United NaturesJust released!  United Natures - a United Nations of all species movie

An indepth documentary feature film on the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, earth jurisprudence, philosophy, permaculture, spirituality and a neo-indigenous future for humanity released on June 1st 2013.

Directed and produced by Peter Charles Downey, United Natures stars some of the world’s most foremost environmental activists and Global Alliance members, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Cormac Cullinan,  Linda Sheehan, Prof. Judith Koons, Dr. Alessandro Pelizzon, Polly Higgins, and numerous others. Click to review the United Natures trailer or for more information at United Natures movie site.

United Natures – a United Nations of all species. Official documentary trailer 2013 from United Natures on Vimeo.

Cormac Cullinan hosted by Earth Charter International

Cormac Cullinan - SAB Environmentalist of the Year 2012Earth Charter International hosted international environmental law and global governance experts Cormac Cullinan and Peter Brown for a webinar on Environmental Law and Global Governance.  Cullinan and Brown offered a critical analysis of the current global governance system for sustainability and the role of ethics and the Earth Charter in the needed paradigm shift.

Cormac posed the question “Are our current governance systems appropriate for to the challenges of this 21st Century and protect the ecologoical integrity of Earth’s ecosystems?”  In addressing the question, he spoke of the critical role of Rights of Nature.

The webinar is available at Earth Charter Webinar on Global Governance.  Please note, the webinar starts at 22 minutes into the recording.  Advance your cursor to the O mark on the recording time line to start viewing at the time the session starts.  Cormac is the first speaker.

The Law of the Seed

In country after country local, open source seeds are being made illegal to establish a Monsanto monopoly on Seed and force GMOs and patents everywhere. This is a vital aspect of Earth Rights.

The Law of The Seed aims to bring back biodiversity and recognition of farmers’ rights, to bring back democratic systems in society to shape laws as well as knowledge.

The Law of the Seed is put forward as a tool to be used by citizens everywhere and in every context to defend their seed freedom and seed sovereignty as well as to provide a practical guide to all future development of laws and policies on seed.

We hope that it will serve as a catalyst for citizens to spread awareness of the critical state of the seed and of biodiversity and of how science and laws are being manipulated, threatening the seed and food sovereignty of peoples in all parts of the world. We hope that citizens everywhere will use The Law of the Seed as an advocacy tool to push for local, regional and national legislation that favors and respects seed freedom and the law of the seed.

Navdanya.org and the Working Group on the The Law of the Seed.  For the full article visit, The Law of the Seed.

Free Webinar! Global governance and environmental law: Wednesday May 22

Cormac Cullinan - SAB Environmentalist of the Year 2012On Wednesday, May 22nd at 3PM UTC/GMT, Earth Charter International and the EC Center for Education for Sustainable Development will be hosting a one and half hour webinar on international and environmental law and global governance with experts Peter Brown and Cormac Cullinan. These two leaders in their respective fields will put their work into context as well as relate the importance of the Earth Charter to their fields. Attendance is free for all and participation will be available through the chat function on our platform.

This webinar is a prelude to the executive programme called: International Law, Global Governance and the Earth Charter Principles. This programme is organized by the Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development, in collaboration with IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and IUCN Academy of Environmental Law.

You can access the webinar at 3PM UTC/GMT  on May 22 through the following link (Please remember to check your local time):

http://earthcharter.wiziq.com/online-class/1247192-free-webinar-on-environmental-law-and-global-governance

And for more information, read here.

Please, pass this on to your friends, colleagues, and contacts and we hope to see you there!

Earth Charter International

Cormac Cullinan

Cormac Cullinan is a senior environmental lawyer and adviser on institutional, policy and regulatory reform in the fields of environment and natural resource management. His work in pioneering a legal philosophy that restores an ecological perspective to governance systems (Earth jurisprudence) is internationally recognised and in 2008 led to his inclusion in “Planet Savers: 301 Extraordinary Environmentalists”. He was admitted as an attorney in March 1989 and has specialised in environmental law since 1992 when he completed a Masters degree in environmental law at the University of London. With talents that include strong creative communication, writing, drafting and leadership skills, Cormac is known for developing practical and innovative approaches. He is an expert on international and South African environmental law and policy and acts for a wide range of public sector, private sector and NGO clients. Cormac is also a director of EnAct International, an honorary research associate of the Universtity of Cape Town, and a member of the IUCN Environmental Law Commission. Wide-ranging experience in policy formulation has given Cormac particular expertise in drafting legislation and international treaties as well as in designing and strengthening governance systems (including laws, policies and institutions). He has worked on these issues in more than 20 countries, including 10 in sub-Saharan Africa. In the academic field he has lectured and written widely on governance issues related to human interactions with the environment and is the author of Wild Law as well as of several works commissioned and published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.  He led the drafting of the 2010 Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth.

Peter Brown

Peter BrownProfessor Brown’s teaching, research, and service are concerned with ethics, governance, and the protection of the environment.  His appointments at McGill are in the School of Environment, the Department of Geography, and the Department of Natural Resource Sciences. Before coming to McGill he was Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland’s graduate School of Public Affairs.  While at the University of Maryland he founded the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, as well as the School of Public Policy itself.  Professor Brown established the School’s Environmental Policy Programs to operate not only at the University’s College Park campus, but also at Maryland’s Department of the Environment, and at the United States Environmental Protection Agency. He has held numerous administrative positions within the University of Maryland System.  He has taught at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, at the University of Washington, and at St. John’s College in Annapolis.   In the early 1970s, he was Visiting Fellow at Battelle Seattle Research Center and Assistant Vice President for Research Operations at The Urban Institute.  He is currently a Research Scholar at the Center for Humans and Nature. Professor Brown is the author of Restoring the Public Trust: A Fresh Vision for Progressive Government in America (Beacon Press, 1994), and Ethics, Economics, and International Relations: Transparent Sovereignty in the Commonwealth of Life (Edinburgh University Press, 2000); re-published in Canada by Black Rose Press (2001) as The Commonwealth of Life: A Treatise on Stewardship Economics. He is currently working on three new books.  One is tentatively entitled Reverence for Life: A Philosophy for Civilization which is intended as a sequel to Albert Schweitzer’s Philosophy of Civilization published  in the 1920s. He is also a co-author of a book on macro-economics entitled Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy. With Jeremy Schmidt he is co-editing and authoring sections of a volume tentatively entitled Water Ethics: The Moral Foundations of Natural Resource Policy.

Evolving Earth Law and Voices for the Earth Workshops

Findhorn, Scotland – 24 – 26 May  2013 Wholistic Law Center

For our Europe colleagues especially, the International Centre for Wholistic Law, based in the Findhorn Foundation Community in Scotland announces inaugural events taking place on Fri/Sat 24/25 and Sun 26 May 2013:

Evolving Earth Law: Co-creating a New Legal Paradigm

Wholistic law approaches law-making, legal practice and dispute resolution from a paradigm of healing, restoration and reparation, in alignment with the natural universal principles that govern the inter-existence of all life.

In this two-day workshop we will use tools derived from whole-systems enquiry to explore our legal paradigm, which is based on an outdated worldview that is no longer meeting humanity’s needs. Is there potential for a more life-affirming approach to law – in service to the whole Earth community – and how can we facilitate its emergence?

We are at a time of rapid change and immense potential. Our legal system is a reflection of our collective consciousness – as our consciousness evolves so will our systems. Drawing on recent innovations in systemic constellation work, deep-systems healing and dialogue processes, we will get to the heart of the dynamics and inner structures that keep our legal system entrenched in its current paradigm. We will transform deeply held patterns, beliefs and assumptions that prevent us from experiencing our full potential, enabling the co-creation of a new legal paradigm.

This work can stimulate radical innovation capacity and inner-leadership potential, empowering each of us to be the change that we wish to see in our respective environments.

Whether you are a legal professional or not, if you are interested in the potential for change in our justice system, please join us for this innovative event.

Voices for the Earth: A Workshop in Community Eco-stewardship

Everywhere eco-systems are being damaged by extractive industries, toxic waste dumping, inappropriate building work and careless manufacturing.

Thoughtful communities are taking action and stepping forward to be stewards of their eco-systems. How could they be more effective at communicating? What tools are at their disposal to strengthen their voice and their case? What might they learn from each other?

Growing out of the movement for an international law of Ecocide initiated by Polly Higgins, the Voices for the Earth workshop is a new offering designed to help local communities take effective and skillful action.
We show how a local community can frame its own narrative for self-empowerment through asset mapping, Environmental Impact reporting and the Community Bills of Rights gaining ground in the U.S. Role-play and effective listening and communicating processes will be used, to examine an issue from different perspectives and work towards shared values.

Voices for the Earth follows on from the two day Evolving Earth Law workshop, which is taking place in Findhorn on 24th and 25th May. Although both workshops can be attended as stand-alone events, participants will gain maximum benefit by attending all three days.

Although both workshops can be attended as stand-alone events, participants will gain maximum benefit by attending all three days. To reserve your place please e-mail info@wholistic-law.org or call 0845 053 7625. An early bird discount of £30 is applicable for reservations received before 17 April.

For information on how to get to Findhorn and bed and breakfast accommodation within The Park (the location of the Findhorn Foundation Community) please see http://www.findhorn.org/visit/getting-here/#.UVLKgxfwnj4 and http://www.findhorn.org/visit/b-and-b/#.UVLN-hfwnj4 respectively.

Ganga’s Rights are our Rights!

Please Sign Now! http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Save_the_Ganga_River_Support_the_National_Ganga_Rights_Act/?cFmiRdb

The Ganga river (known to many outside India as the Ganges River) supports some 500 million people — more than the populations of the United States, Russia and Australia combined.  This most sacred river to the Hindus is dying.  Every day, over 3 billion litres of pollution, mostly toxic chemicals and untreated sewage, enters the Ganga, putting countless lives at stake. Elsewhere, the Ganga is diverted to the point that it disappears for stretches that can exceed 20 kilometers. As the river disappears, so does the ecosystem, which includes endangered species such as the beautiful Ganges River Dolphin.

The Ganga Action Parivar has declared Gangas Rights are our Rights!   In this race against time, National Ganga Rights Movement is asking for your help in demonstrating global support for the Rights of the Ganga River.

Sign petition to support the Ganga's Rights

Sign petition to support the Ganga’s Rights

Please begin by signing our petition and passing it along. While there is still time. We thank you so very much.

http://www.causes.com/actions/1739355-gangas-rights-are-our-rights-the-petition-for-lasting-change or at

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Save_the_Ganga_River_Support_the_National_Ganga_Rights_Act/?cFmiRdb

The National Ganga Rights Act is proposed with the purposes of establishing, securing, and defending the inalienable and inherent rights of the Ganga River, its tributaries, and watershed, and the rights of the people of India to a healthy, thriving river basin.  Further, the Act establishes the rights of the people of India and their governments to defend and enforce the rights of the Ganga.

More specifically the Ganga Rights Act would:

  • Establish the Ganga’s right to exist, thrive, regenerate, and evolve;
  • Empower individuals, groups, and governments within India to protect and defend the Ganga’s rights in the court of law;
  • Affirm the rights of people, plants, fish and animals to a healthy Ganga;
  • Provide that any activity that interferes with the Ganga’s rights will be prohibited;
  • Provide that any damages that may be awarded for violations of the Ganga’s rights will be used to restore its ecosystem to its pre-damaged state;
  • Institute enforcement mechanisms to protect and defend the Ganga’s rights, including establishing governmental offices responsible for defending those rights.

Founding Global Alliance member Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) has partnered with  Ganga Action Parivar to draft the National Ganga River Rights Act. We invite you to support the peoples of India and the Ganga River by signing the petition.

Read more at GangasRights.org

Earth guidebook: Cullinan’s ‘Wild Law’

In response to the growing Rights of Nature movement in Vermont, including the proposed Rights of Nature amendment to the Vermont State Constitution, the Burlington Free Press, Burlington, VT has published three articles:

Earth guidebook: Cullinan’s ‘Wild Law’ by Cormac Cullinan, includes excerpts from Cullinan’s “Wild Law: A Manifesto for Earth Justice”.  Cormac Cullinan is a South African Environmental Attorney.  A founding and Executive Team member of the Global Alliance for Rights of Nature, Cormac is a global advocate for Rights of Nature.

The law, Marx and Mother Earth by Free Press Staff Writer Joel Banner Baird details the Vermont movement to implement Rights of Nature in the State Constitution as proposed by Stephen Marx.

Earth Law’s long reach by Free Press Staff Writer Joel Banner Baird interviewing Linda Sheehan, Executive Director of the Earth Law Center and instructor of the Earth Law class at Vermont Law School.  Stephen Marx audited Sheehan’s class in 2012.

Earth Law’s long reach

Local actions can – and should – steer environmental jurisprudence at the global level, says Earth Law Center director Linda Sheehan

Read the full interview at Earth Law’s long reach, Burlington Free Press, by Joel Banner Baird, Burlington, Vermont.

To hear Linda Sheehan explain it, legal rights for Earth is a common-sense way to advance the cause of humankind. 

In the interview with Baird, Sheehan talks of Vermont resident Stephen Marx’s proposed Earth-rights amendment to Vermont’s state constitution. The proposed amendment was approved at a Town Meeting by the town of Strafford, Vt in 2012 and is moving forward to other communities.  Marx was a student in Sheehan’s Vermont Law School class on Earth Rights. Also read Stephen Marx’s interview with Baird at  The law, Marx and Mother Earth.

Questioned by Baird, “What’s your biggest challenge right now?”, Sheehan replies:

“The challenge is that we have a structural governance system right now that really drives us and rewards us for consuming the environment.

If you cut down a forest, the fewer environmental regulations that you have to comply with, the better for the balance sheet — because environmental controls are perceived as a cost.

We made up that economic system, and we can make up something different.

First, though, we need to wake people up to this concept that our economic system, our governance system in general, is driving environmental destruction, and that environmental laws will not be enough to stop it, because they buy into the larger economic system.

Once that’s accepted, the challenge is to actually start making that change.”

Read the complete article at Earth Law’s long reach, Burlington Free Press.