http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roberto-lovato/mother-earth-is-a-living_b_54855... Leonardo Boff's elegant white beard and wavy white hair make him look
like classical depictions of God(s) in ancient and early modern art.
And as a catholic priest, he would appear to be both benefactor and
bulwark of what's often called "western civilization." But when you
ask the world-renowned catholic theologian about the root causes of
the climate crisis being discussed and debated at the CMPCC here in
Cochabamba, Bolivia, he does indeed speak passionately about western
civilization-as the primary cause of that crisis. "Nature does in fact have its ups and downs, its changes in
temperature," says Boff, who lives in Brazil. "But as scientists are
now warning us, 90 or more percent of the increases in temperature are
caused by human activity, not the activity of the Aymara, Quechua and
other indigenous groups here (in Bolivia), but of those of us
belonging to the civilizational system based on the exploitation of
natural and human resources for profit, the western civilizational
system." As a consequence, he adds, western civilization is taking us to "the
serious possibility that we may reach a 4 degrees (C) increase in
temperature, the point at which God's children will cease to exist." Boff's critique of the economic, political, legal, cultural and other
practices centered in Europe and North America and exported throughout
the planet, was shared and expanded upon by many of the more than
35,000 attendees from more than 100 countries. Taking place primarily
in the air-conditioned environments of a hotel and a wireless-ready
(most of the time) university-both of which are surrounded by large
rural and urban Quechua communties, the civilizational critique CMPCC
was not without its own share of western practices. But these apparent
contradictions only served to illustrate how the civilizational
critique is hardly nor solely a black and white, north-south issue.
Rather, the critique is complex and seeks to draw a line of
demarcation between 2 different practices: those practices that
respect humans and nature and those that exploit them. In this sense, those attending the CMPCC seek to create greater
urgency among individuals and communities, nations and multi-lateral
institutions about the limits of how the practices that make up
societies are organized. "The climate crisis is not about which civilization is right and which
civilization is wrong" said Angelica Navarro, Bolivia's chief climate
negotiator to the United Nations, the World Bank and other
multilateral institutions. "It's about who has real solutions. As we
can see from the convergent crises the world is facing-the food
crisis, the financial crisis, the climate crisis and other crises- we
have reached the limits of the planet's resources. The connections
between these crises is telling us that we have exhausted the
solutions offered by a certain kinds of economic practices- and of a
civilization based on those practices. We need to re-think the
relationship between humans and nature in which land, water and
biodiversity are seen as things to be abused, controlled and
destroyed." Central to the solutions to what she and other CMPCC participants
consider the devastating effects of the top-down, patriarchal economic
models at the heart of western civilization is the expansion of the
global rights regime to include the "Universal Rights of Mother
Earth." "Technological solutions alone will not suffice." she said.
"We need to develop new systems of rights to include the rights not
just of humans, but of nature. In the same way that the concepts and
legal practices of human rights evolved over time, we must now evolve
towards a system of rights for nature, something that other
civilizations did long ago." "The models of the indigenous and peasant peoples of the world are the
only ones that will cool the planet" declared Quechua leader of the
Federation of Bolivian Campesinas,
Leonida Zurita during a meeting between presidents and other
representatives of 49 governments and CMPCC leaders, who, like Zurita,
were elected to represent the civil society groups attending the
conference. "Capitalism has used Mother Earth as a slave to exploit"
said Zurita, adding a reminder that "Mother earth is a living being."
like classical depictions of God(s) in ancient and early modern art.
And as a catholic priest, he would appear to be both benefactor and
bulwark of what's often called "western civilization." But when you
ask the world-renowned catholic theologian about the root causes of
the climate crisis being discussed and debated at the CMPCC here in
Cochabamba, Bolivia, he does indeed speak passionately about western
civilization-as the primary cause of that crisis. "Nature does in fact have its ups and downs, its changes in
temperature," says Boff, who lives in Brazil. "But as scientists are
now warning us, 90 or more percent of the increases in temperature are
caused by human activity, not the activity of the Aymara, Quechua and
other indigenous groups here (in Bolivia), but of those of us
belonging to the civilizational system based on the exploitation of
natural and human resources for profit, the western civilizational
system." As a consequence, he adds, western civilization is taking us to "the
serious possibility that we may reach a 4 degrees (C) increase in
temperature, the point at which God's children will cease to exist." Boff's critique of the economic, political, legal, cultural and other
practices centered in Europe and North America and exported throughout
the planet, was shared and expanded upon by many of the more than
35,000 attendees from more than 100 countries. Taking place primarily
in the air-conditioned environments of a hotel and a wireless-ready
(most of the time) university-both of which are surrounded by large
rural and urban Quechua communties, the civilizational critique CMPCC
was not without its own share of western practices. But these apparent
contradictions only served to illustrate how the civilizational
critique is hardly nor solely a black and white, north-south issue.
Rather, the critique is complex and seeks to draw a line of
demarcation between 2 different practices: those practices that
respect humans and nature and those that exploit them. In this sense, those attending the CMPCC seek to create greater
urgency among individuals and communities, nations and multi-lateral
institutions about the limits of how the practices that make up
societies are organized. "The climate crisis is not about which civilization is right and which
civilization is wrong" said Angelica Navarro, Bolivia's chief climate
negotiator to the United Nations, the World Bank and other
multilateral institutions. "It's about who has real solutions. As we
can see from the convergent crises the world is facing-the food
crisis, the financial crisis, the climate crisis and other crises- we
have reached the limits of the planet's resources. The connections
between these crises is telling us that we have exhausted the
solutions offered by a certain kinds of economic practices- and of a
civilization based on those practices. We need to re-think the
relationship between humans and nature in which land, water and
biodiversity are seen as things to be abused, controlled and
destroyed." Central to the solutions to what she and other CMPCC participants
consider the devastating effects of the top-down, patriarchal economic
models at the heart of western civilization is the expansion of the
global rights regime to include the "Universal Rights of Mother
Earth." "Technological solutions alone will not suffice." she said.
"We need to develop new systems of rights to include the rights not
just of humans, but of nature. In the same way that the concepts and
legal practices of human rights evolved over time, we must now evolve
towards a system of rights for nature, something that other
civilizations did long ago." "The models of the indigenous and peasant peoples of the world are the
only ones that will cool the planet" declared Quechua leader of the
Federation of Bolivian Campesinas,
Leonida Zurita during a meeting between presidents and other
representatives of 49 governments and CMPCC leaders, who, like Zurita,
were elected to represent the civil society groups attending the
conference. "Capitalism has used Mother Earth as a slave to exploit"
said Zurita, adding a reminder that "Mother earth is a living being."
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