Earth Jurisprudence: UN Harmony with Nature Project
Starting Earth Day, April 22, 2016, I am participating in a two month Virtual Dialogue on Earth Jurisprudence with the UN Harmony with Nature project. Those of us participating are from various disciplines: Earth-centered Law; Ecological Economics; Education; Holistic Science; Philosophy/Ethics; the Arts, Media, Design and Architecture; and Theology/Spirituality. My own discipline spans analytical psychology and Biodynamic farming, Jung and Rudolf Steiner, so I have chosen “Holistic Science”.
The focus of this dialogue is “on how to reshape human governance systems to operate from an Earth-centered perspective, so we are all guided to live as responsible members of the Earth community”.
We are given four questions and two months to answer:
1. What would the practice of your discipline look like from an Earth Jurisprudence perspective? How is that different from how your discipline is generally practiced now? What are the benefits of practicing from an Earth Jurisprudence perspective?
2. What promising approaches do you recommend for achieving implementation of an Earth-centered worldview for the discipline selected?
3. What key problems or obstacles do you see as impeding the implementation of an Earth-centered worldview in your discipline?
4. What are the top recommendations for priority, near-term action to move your discipline toward an Earth Jurisprudence approach?
As called for in General Assembly resolution (70/268), the summary report will be submitted to the 71st Session of General Assembly in August 2016. The report will be published and circulated among Member States and other interested parties, who will then be invited to reflect on the report online. The aim of this Dialogue is to “ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature”. Please follow this dialogue at United Nations Harmony with Nature 2016.
This is so much of what is at the heart of what some of us are working for in Napa County! This is not about a test of wills: development versus the environment; the Wine Industry versus Environmentalists. It is about living— and farming— in ways that Nature is recognized as an entity with rights and needs of Her own. Let’s face it: our continuing tenure on the earth may well be dependent on this shift of attitude on our parts.