[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] The Free Nature Movement

[Bill Totten]

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Why the environmental movement has failed to protect the environment.
Introducing the "Free Nature Movement" and why like abolition and
suffrage it can succeed in freeing nature from humanity.

by Chuck Burr

Culturequake (March 03 2009)

The Fall of Modern Culture and The Rise of Earth Culture


Environmentalism is not a movement. For a political campaign to be
considered a movement, it has to drive a new right into the
Constitution. Recycling and carpooling is not amending the Constitution.
The environmental movement cannot, as it is currently structured,
protect the other species from our burgeoning population.

Nothing is effectively achieved until the Constitution is amended. A
28th Amendment that gives all other species equal rights to humanity
would enable legislation to begin to reverse the 233 years of
exploitation that the US is founded upon.

This is not as far fetched as it sounds. In 2002 the lower house of
parliament in Germany, the Bundestag, adopted a bill that for the first
time enshrined animal rights in the Constitution. The bill, passed by a
huge majority. The bill added, "The state takes responsibility for
protecting the natural foundations of life and animals in the interest
of future generations". This makes Germany the first country that as far
as I know to give constitutional rights to animals. This is as good a
place as any to say where the Free Nature Movement began.

On a local level, your town council or county commissioners can adopt
the "The Rights of Nature Ordinance". First passed in 2006 by the
Tamaqua Borough Council in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, the
ordinance states that, "People and their communities are trustees of
nature, and communities of nature and ecosystems form part of the
natural trust".

What is a "right"

A right is more than the right to vote. A true right is to allow all
other species to follow their own destiny as given by the universe and
by god.

Today we have enslaved nature to do our bidding. The Bible refers to
man's dominion, "over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creeps upon the earth".

As many know, this enslavement actually began with agricultural
revolution 10,000 years ago when one tribe started living a new story
that, "the world belongs to man". This was the birth of our modern taker
culture. One tribe in the fertile crescent between the Euphrates and
Tigris rivers cast away the story that enabled humanity to live in
symbiosis with the earth's ecosystem for three million years that,
"humanity belongs to the earth".

Equal rights also includes equal consideration and representation. Most
indigenous tribes have rituals to testify that the human family is one
strand in the larger web of life, to acknowledge all our relations. For
instance, the Hopi of the Southwest United States have celebrated a
Council of All Beings ritual with masks representing plants and animals
for thousands of years.

"Freedom" is a lie

Freedom is probably the greatest lie created by the agricultural
revolution and is the foundation of our modern culture. Since we are
born our culture tells us that we want to be free from want; it's a
double negative. And the way to obtain freedom is to work hard to be
able to buy or consume the things that will make us free including food,
shelter, and clothing. Our culture's idea of freedom is a lifetime of
enslavement to pay for mortgage for a roof over our heads.

True freedom, like a true right, is the ability to follow your own
destiny. Being locked in a consumer culture making things to get things
is not freedom.

The concept of freedom has also been used as an excuse to perpetuate our
culture in the form of continued exploitation of man and beast. Because
those at the top "are free" they can do as they please. The wealthy are
free to consume in a global economy where a minority exploits the majority.

We also use freedom to justify our unlimited procreation. As far back as
the Old Testament, Adam chooses Eve. Eve literally translates to "life".
Adam has chosen to forgo the limits of nature, to take more than
humanity's fair share from all other species, and to produce a surplus
of food to grow a larger population. We can do this because, "we are
free - humanity is free of limits".

Earth Culture will enable the Free Nature Movement

When enough people figure out that modern culture cannot take care of
them or their decedents, a tipping point to the creation of new cultures
will have arrived. Today new earth culture(s) are beginning to grow out
of our decaying modern taker culture. Our current financial crisis
probably will begin this awakening or remembering.

We are beginning to remember what it took for an average person to make
a living in harmony with the web of life. It boils down to giving
support to get support instead of making things to get things.

Once we can turn that corner and make that mental shift that we are just
one strand of the web of life and that we need the entire web for not
only our sake, but for the sake of our relations, then we will let go of
our false freedom. For instance, we will also be at the point we are
able to let go of private property and growth without limits. When this
shift in values happens, we will give our selves the alternatives we
need to live new lifestyles.

By letting go of our "freedom" to do as we will, we "free" nature from
her bondage and exploitation.

Transition to a new culture

So how are we going to get there? A big part of the answer to that
question is in this graphic of Saudi oil depletion. We are good through
2010, then it is down to nothing in a relatively short period of time.
Just look at the chart at
http://www.culturequake.org/Culturequake/Home/Entries/2009/3/3_The_Free_Nature_Movement.html
.

Think about this, world population in 1850 before the use of oil was
about one billion, and that was before we entered overshoot and
significantly drew down natural resources. In 1850 we had nearly an
intact new continent and ecosystem, today we have peak everything and a
biodiversity crash with 6.8 billion. This means there are about 5.8
billion people here, in my opinion, mostly because of oil. An
eight-wheel farm tractor with a GPS does no good without diesel; your
back to the draft horse. And don't tell me you are going to mine, mill,
smelt, and fabricate a steel tractor with a solar collector.

Many say we have a century left of coal, but that may not be the case
either. For instance, according to a recent USGS study, the coal reserve
estimate for the Gillette coal field is 10.1 billion short tons, which
is a mere five percent of the original 200 billion ton resource total.
In other words, the USGS has just revised the Gillette resource base
down by 95%. The Gillette coal field in Wyoming has been the most
prolific coal field in the US. This region has been nicknamed the "Fort
Knox of coal". In 2006, output from the Gillette region totaled over 431
million short tons of coal, or over 37% of US total yearly production.

The transition to the steady-state we are heading for will take in my
estimation, another 100 years to finally plateau. How rough it will be
remains to be seen. But, judging by how hard the dominant paradigm is
hanging on, it will be rough. My biggest question is how much
biodiversity, the ecosystem's resilience, will be left by 2100?

What will the new lifestyle look like?

You have to accept that we are not going to be here to see it. We will
see the transition from the age of exuberance to the age of powering
down; that is happening now. The age of powering down will be one of
learning lost skills, building community, figuring out how to do with
less, and leaving behind much of the stuff we can't use any more. If you
take the seats out, your SUV may make a nice playhouse for the grandkids.

In this phase, humanity may begin to loosen its grip over nature. The
diminishing human population will start to leave more room for the other
species. Our mindset will have not changed yet, the world will "still
belong to man", but nature will get some breathing room. I just hope
there is enough of her left to regenerate. Humanity is pushing every
species except cows to the edge of extinction.

If enough of nature is left after 2100 years, that is when the
restoration time begins. Hopefully what is left of modern culture will
be so shell shocked in 100 years by what they have lost that our
descendants will just walk away from that failed lifestyle and live
closer to the earth. They will have to.

It is easy to describe a future supped-up 1850s lifestyle maybe with
radios, but it is the ethics and story that we live by that will make
all the difference. For the last 110 years our ethics have been blinded
by an addiction to a cheap energy surplus that created all this stuff,
technology, and the middle class. Without cheap energy, it will all go
away. Lets hope there are people starting to think about building
knowledge arks now.

The point is that it is the story we live by that can free nature. If we
can remember the original story that worked for humanity for three
million years, that "humanity belongs to the earth", then we will be
able to let go of our selves, our grasping, and our freedom in order to
free nature.

In the end, I believe that the Free Nature Movement will just happen
because the dominant culture will just go away. There will be very
little modern taker culture left to have to convince to allow nature to
follow her destiny. It will just happen.

_____

Read Culturequake: The End of Modern Culture and the Rise of Earth Culture.

Visit www.culturequake.org to learn more about the book Culturequake and
the blog.

Copyright (c) 2009 Chuck Burr LLC

Notes:

BBC News - Germany to grant animal rights
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1993941.stm

CELDF - Rights of Nature Ordinance
http://www.celdf.org/Ordinances/RightsofNatureOrdinance/tabid/133/Default.aspx

EarthLight - The Ecological Self
http://www.earthlight.org/2005/essay53_johnseed.html

Culture Change - Counter argument for "Stimulus", growth and employment
http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=343&Itemid=1

The Honoring All Life Foundation - Exploring Choices Honoring the
Essence of All
http://www.honoringalllife.org/

Culturequake - Usufruct: End Private Property to Solve the Financial
Crisis and Create Food Security
http://www.culturequake.org/Culturequake/Home/Entries/2009/1/31_Usufruct%3A_End_Private_Property_to_Solve_the_Financial_Crisis_and_Create_Food_Security_1.html

The Oil Drum - Saudi Arabia's Crude Oil Production Peaked in 2005
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5154

Energy Bulletin - How much coal is out there?
http://livepage.apple.com/

Wikipedia - World population
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population#Milestones

____

Chuck Burr teaches permaculture in Ashland, Oregon. Chuck has an MBA in
finance, a BA in accounting, interned for President Reagan, is a retired
software CEO, and has served on several nonprofit boards. His latest
book is Culturequake: The Fall of Modern Culture and the Rise of Earth
Culture.

Chuck Burr, LLC.
info at culturequake.org

Culturequake: The End of Modern Culture and the Rise of Earth Culture

"I predicted what$B!G(Bs happening today and for the next ten to twenty years
back in 2007 in the first edition of Culturequake. To find meaning in
our world today, I have integrated the history that brought us here, a
prediction of the growing perfect storm, with the only real long-term
solution - living a new story." -- Chuck Burr

"Tying together the bits and pieces, the anecdotes, stories and flashes
of recognition for the first time". -- Marc Hurlbert.

"While not everyone is ready to drop their current lifestyles, the idea
that there is a different way to live that harmonizes our relations with
all living beings is both comforting and exciting. Culturequake is a
highly recommended read." -- Kris Holstrom

"A thoroughly researched and well-indexed book. Great for those who are
new to the idea of how people in our culture live beyond the human
definition. It also serves as a great reference for those already 'in'
on the taker/leaver concept. Chuck writes in a simple, easy to read
style without a lot of flowery conjecture. This is a fact-filled book
that I believe I will use as a reference for years to come." -- Eric
Jergensen

"As alarming world news is now, his fresh, brilliant, new message is
that the answers that served humanity well for so long before these
times can still serve us well. In fact, combining the best of both
world's, it could be so great, we'd look on the last few thousand years
as a mere hiccup." -- John Cruickshank

Trafford Pulishing. www.trafford.com

http://www.culturequake.org/Culturequake/Home/Entries/2009/3/3_The_Free_Nature_Movement.html


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