There are too many people

I came across a reposted article that originally appeared in News.com.au and was written by one Kristin Shorten. It concerns an essay that Bindi Irwin was asked to write for inclusion in Hillary Clinton’s eJournal Go Wild Coming Together for Conservation.

I am linking to the full article but thought I would make mention of a developing tussle.

Miss Irwin was asked to write between 800 and 1,000 words explaining why she had chosen to devote her life’s work to wildlife conservation. It was to be published in the eJournal last December.

This is what Bindi likes doing. Good for her!

Miss Irwin wrote her 1,000 words urging society to address over population and when the edited version was returned for final approval, the analogous example Miss Irwin had used to describe the plight of a finite world and too many people had been edited out. Not only that, but the editor had changed the decidedly straight up language she had used.

Now Miss Irwin is not her father’s daughter for nothing. She wrote to Clinton’s organisation wanting to know why her freedom to speak was being manipulated and curtailed.

Upshot – the edited version was not published because Miss Irwin would not sanction it. No article appeared talking about global overpopulation.

I applaud her stance and decry the actions of Clinton and her editors.

She didn’t need to hobble Bindi. She has retired after all.

One of things her mother said motivated her was watching Dick Smith’s video on his growing awareness of what was happening in Australia and its looming population problems.

So here is the link to Smith’s video. It was uploaded to YouTube in August 2010. I know that I now live in Scotland, but I had not heard of this from Dick Smith. I seriously recommend that you take the time – 67 mins – to watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W12MbEdKGM&feature=player_embedded&list=PLBtJoZSM9kmRjj9saTA_RAfZlSLN1NQMX

I know I have been banging on about population over growth for some years now but I thought other people were getting the message as well. It would appear not. Certainly Clinton and her crew are far too craven to let Miss Irwin speak for herself.

And I want to say to those ever-hopefuls that there is no way we will make it off this planet to another planet light years away to build protected colonies for us to foul in due course.

We haven’t the technology, we can’t do light years and we can’t build elsewhere.

We have to curb our rampant growth. Why don’t we do it? Firstly capitalism has us by the throat and governments (never very smart at the best of times) want to stay in power regardless of the damage they do, so they put blinkers on.

Secondly, we, the general populace refuse to see anything that will curb our addictive living standards and salve our consciences by giving a pittance to less fortunate countries. Unfortunately our foreign aid is conditional on no family planning, contraception or abortion on demand. Nice eh?

And all I can do is add my name to OPT and other organisations of people who can see what’s happening. All I can do is blog into the ether. Very frustrating.

Lots of us-far too many of us

One thing did make me feel a little optimistic today was this item – forget the hyper news headline 🙂

BOLIVIA PASSES THE LAW WHICH DECLARES MOTHER EARTH HAS RIGHTS

The law defines Mother Earth as “…the dynamic living system formed by the indivisible community of all life systems and living beings whom are interrelated, interdependent, and complementary, which share a common destiny; adding that “Mother Earth is considered sacred in the worldview of Indigenous peoples and nations. In this approach human beings and their communities are considered a part of mother earth, by being integrated in “Life systems” defined as complex and dynamic communities of plants, animals, micro-organisms and other beings in their environment, in which human communities and the rest of nature interact as a functional unit, under the influence of climatic, physiographic and geologic factors, as well as the productive practices and cultural diversity of Bolivians of both genders, and the cosmovisions of Indigenous nations and peoples, intercultural communities and the Afro-Bolivians.

This definition can be seen as a more inclusive definition of ecosystems because it explicitly includes the social, cultural and economic dimensions of human communities.
The law also establishes the juridical character of Mother Earth as “collective subject of public interest”, to ensure the exercise and protection of her rights. By giving Mother Earth a legal personality, it can, through its representatives (humans), bring an action to defend its rights.

Additionally, to say that Mother Earth is of public interest represents a major shift from a anthropocentric perspective to a more Earth community based perspective.

Bolivia passes an important law

Related articles

• Bindi Irwin Slams Hillary Clinton’s Edits on Population Control (ecorazzi.com)
• Bindi Irwin clash with Clinton over essay snub (australiantimes.co.uk)
• Bindi Irwin Upset at Clinton’s Staff (drudge.com)