Notes in Advance of Blued Trees www.bluedtrees.com, an Opera About Ecocide
Blued branches from Maine heading south for Blued Trees.
With every breath we take.
“The original ecocide proposal is almost 50 years old
The intent to make ecocide an international crime isn't new. The idea was brought up by then-Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme at the 1972 U.N. Conference on the Human Environment. In his speech, he warned that rapid industrial progress could deplete natural resources at unsustainable levels. But even before that biologist and bioethicist Arthur Galston used the word "ecocide" at the 1970 Conference on War and National Responsibility in Washington, D.C.”
... There are currently four core international crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. These crimes are dealt with by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
(A) draft defines ecocide as "unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.” …” Unlike the existing four international crimes, ecocide would be the only crime in which human harm is not a prerequisite for prosecution.
"There are elements of human harm that can be included in (the definition), but it also extends to damage, per se, to ecosystems," said Jojo Mehta, chair and co-founder of the Stop Ecocide Foundation. "So effectively you're looking at something that has, at least in part, potential to be a crime against nature, not just a crime against people."
“How 165 Words Could Make Mass Environmental Destruction An International Crime”
June 27, 2021 8:00 AM ET By Josie Fischels
Ecocide occurs in our bathrooms:
“Canada clearcuts one million acres of boreal forest every year … a lot of it for toilet paper. ... It's the International Day of Forests, the perfect time to talk about flushing vital forests and caribou habitat down the drain.
March 21, 2019 By Tzeporah Berman
"While toilet paper’s emergence as one of the most sought-after products in America was an unexpected side effect of COVID-19, the toilet paper shortage has brought to the forefront the urgency of creating a more sustainable, resilient means of production of tissue products. Currently, the industry clearcuts one million acres of boreal forest each year—leading Canada to rank third globally, behind Russia and Brazil, in terms of global intact forest loss—in part to produce pulp that U.S. tissue makers roll into the ultimate disposable product: toilet paper."
-NRDC ‘Toilet Paper and Climate Change: NRDC’s Updated “Issue With Tissue” Ranks Brands on Sustainability’
War is ecocide. The war in Ukraine has global impacts.
“The biggest risk is possible disruption to the production or transportation of grains and seeds from Russia and Ukraine. Alongside higher prices, this could cause “increased hunger and food insecurity” in lower-income countries, the World Bank warns.”
-WEF ‘This chart shows how much Ukraine and Russia export to the world’
If the private is political, how do we connect dots without intrusion?
Are narcissistic people emotionally extractive? Is that how we learn to be extractive?
Does environmental injustice mean money can buy safety from consequences?