Philosophical Aspects in the EcocideActDraft
Jack Ferguson
Note: the footnotes are critical to this argument.
Polly Higgins’ DraftEcocideAct, 2012 is a landmark work indicating ajudicial shift in intelligent, universal human consciousness to allow animal rights and environmental protection in its world. Individuals such as John Muir tried to halt the ecocide of the Earth, but extinctions continued in their life-times. Escalating violence to heroes such as Chico Mendes, Dian Fossey, and Paul Watson indicates a state sponsored ideology of ecoterrorism that filters down to goons who skin, dissect and burn animals alive. World-wide, extinctions, deforestations, and ecocides place human relationships with the Earth as abysmally ignorant and unnecessarily vile. At this point, there is some room for a choice as to the fate of the Earth. With no choice orthe wrong choice, nature will correct the problem. The “right” choice is one that ensures well-being to plants, animals, and the Earth. The underlying principle is to benefit the Earth withinformed, tested choices. It is a principle of ecological altruism. Since we are animals, the principle best guarantees our continued place in nature.
The Preamble, Ecocideasthe5thInternationalCrimeAgainstPeacestates:
Ecocide is the [potential and actual]extensivedamage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peacefulenjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory [oranotherterritory]has been or will be severely diminished.(1)
The ethical relationship of humans to animals and their environments has an ethical structure of intention, act and consequence. This structure is reflected in the Draft:
Potentialloss deals with the high probabilityor certainty of future diminished or lost ecosystems. Building nuclear reactors over fault lines is a certainty for radioactive pollution.A poisoned river or ocean will continue to pollute into the future. This is seen in the Exxon Valdez ecocide.(2a,b) If it could have been prevented, it is eternally unnecessary that it occurred. There are no human caused environmental accidents. An appeal to ignorance is an admission of negligence in education, information, equipment, testing, addressing foreseeable problems, etc. Blind testing and guinea pig experimentations on the Earth are immoral.
Few would plan the destruction of an ecosystem in itself, for no reason. Instead, these ecocides occur because they are a means to a human end and serve a select few. They are intentional and planned.Examples include: the spraying herbicides (Agent Orange) in the Vietnam War. (3)
The sonar destruction and whales and sea mammals by the US Navy:
Rear Adm. Kevin Slates, the Navy’s energy and environmental readiness division director.“Without this realistic testing and training, our sailors can’t develop or maintain the critical skills they need or ensure the new technologies can be operated effectively,” (4)
The ecocide of tropical ecosystems for lumber, pulp and plantations ofpalm oil for food, sugar cane for bio fuel, (5a,b,c)ranches for cattle,mining for industry, tar sands (5d)etc.; the slaughter whales, sea mammals and birds for exotic foods(6a,b) and animal trafficking,(6c,d.e) nuclear meltdowns (6f); and so on, are done for “reasons.” The reasons are classified as protection,food, commerce, energy, tradition,science, and so forth.Ethical evaluations of the reasons show they were and are unnecessary, hence immoralas in unproven vast “trial and error experiments”with unknown consequences to the Earth such as HARRP(7a)and geoengineering. If shown necessary and beneficial through controlled, limited, peer reviewed experiments, they are moral. (7b)
TheDraft deals mostly with the act and consequence. Preventing a consequence has two forms: the first is to halt the act and the second is to prevent the act. The draft addresses the present (act) and future (consequence), but not the past (intention)except in the form of a potential loss. Forcing the hidden intention into the open as a planwould expand the law to cover the prevention of the crime of ecocide. In short, the intention could be filed as a written plan with the court and approved by ecologists, naturalists and indigenous peoples paid for by the interested parties. If there is no judicial approval or certified plan, appropriate fines and confiscation of property (such as bulldozers, chain saws, vehicles, leases, etc.) follows. Heads of state who defy this law could be branded EcocideCriminals and their property confiscated when possible including bank accounts, investments, etc.Upon default, corporations engaging in these activities could also be branded, fined and confiscated. This law could include trapping, hunting, prospecting, ranching, etc. Indigenous tribes could be exempt in their traditional activities, and they could be appointed wardens with the power of arrest. The requirement of proof of the extent of ecological damage is avoided by requiring a submitted and approved plan prior to entry into ecological areas. This forces the hidden intention into a written instrument. Ecologicalareas are any environment on the planet Earth.
Crimesagainsthumanityoccur in the world whilecrimesagainstnatureoccur in nature by an invasive world. This zone is usually termed development, civilization, progress, expansion, growth, or some other nonsensical, self-serving term. This can be reversed where nature reclaims the damaged environment removing the traces of the world. The world is a structured assembly of virtual appearancescaused by instruments, embedded with human intentions, and rarely or poorly enforced judicial laws. Those who break these laws are termed “criminals.”On the other side, nature is an assembly of fractal appearances structured by natural laws. Those that break these laws are termed “extinct, dead, etc.” The human world is virtual meaning it is artificially brought into existence. For example, houses with granite countertops and game rooms do not exist in nature.
The world is composed of purposes termed “reasons” and the human world is sometimes termed “rational.”The reasons are classified as good or evil. Good is defined as the intentional, necessary benefit of innocent beings, and evil is defined as the intentional, unnecessary harm to innocent beings. “Good” and “evil” are based in ethics, not man’s law or theology. The Nuremberg Laws are not rejected on the basis of psychology, culture, feelings, opinions, legislation, rulings, etc., but on ethical principlesthatare the foundation of justice. The ethical principles are grounded in ontology, i.e., being itself.
Humanity is an animal species that cannot be separated from nature while nature can be separated from humanity and continuewithout this aberration. Humanity is dependent upon nature, but humanity out of negligence and stupidity can destroy natural systems to the extent it destroys itself. By destroying natural systems, human criminals destroy other animals, and insofar as humans are animals, themselves. The world can no longer claim an ideology of innocence with the evidence of its terrorism.
Peacefulenjoyment[the right to peace, health, and well-being of all life] is difficult to prove without extensive and costly legal documentation. That knowledge is foremost within the indigenous inhabitants and rightly belongs to their judgment for facts of damage, and not those entirely disconnected from the ecosystem in question. For this reason, indigenous groups are natural wardens of the ecology, and their judgment is paramount. (8)
Peace is opposed to war; however, the ecocide of Haiti involves the collection of firewood, introduction of goats, and activities that are not overtly violent and can appear peaceful.The majority of damage to Haiti was done in reparation of theFrench debt with the timber. (9a)Out of ignorance and arrogance, French plantations also destroyed the habitat. (9b)
Current industrial plantation activities such as palm oil in Sumatra meet the legal criteria of ecocide. The criminal cases of Sumatra and Java illustrate the necessity of a plan filed with the International Court of Justice, Hague.(10 a,b, c) Approved by the indigenous people and ecologists as to the necessity of any plantation or project in benefiting the world’s ecosystem, the permit could be granted. Indigenous people are historic, noninvasive, self-sustaining tribes living within that ecosystem.
The fact of severedamageis the consequence of immoral intentions. It can be assumed through documented past activities, Google Maps, SOMO, documentaries, or prima facie with onsite visits and protests. (11a,b,c,d) Clear cutting, goats, roads, mining, ranching, radioactive dumps, industrial farming, industrial plantations, the introduction of invasive species, etc. are well known for injecting unnecessary environmental harm and can be rejected on an historic basis or documented protests.(12a,b,c,d)New methods and technology must be shown to be beneficial before their introduction.(13a,b,c,d)Vast transformations are forbidden for they cannot be shown beneficial without trial and error. For example, current plans to transform the entire savannas of Africa into soy plantations in order to feed China will devastate the ingenious inhabitants ending in another ecocide as in American wheat plantations.(14, a,b,c,d)Single species plantations are proven failures such as the potato bright(15),and are unsustainable requiring constant human intervention.Invasive species are naturally forbidden because of the unknown damage they can cause indigenous species as in hosting various diseases in the absence of natural controls. (16 a,b)Tibet is a study in evil extinctions. (17)
Plans for highways and railroads through African migration routes hasten extinctions as shown in the near extinction of the bison.(18a,b)Invasive hunting and trapping for food, traditions, fun, tokens, aphrodisiacs(19), etc. are forbidden, immoralactivities because they are unnecessarily harmful to innocentbeings and their environments.Activities such as animal disease control are moralif they are necessarily beneficial to innocent beings.(23)They are good if these activities are intended to benefit every innocent being rather than benefit humanity.(24) It is moral to ban whaling and intervene because of dwindling numbers, and good to help whales thrive in nature by leaving them alone, curing their diseases, halting ocean pollution and weather warming activities of mankind. Virtual entities such as packagedwhalemeat do not occur in nature.(25)
Being is the only universal that transcends species barriers, and the only true, absolute value. Being cannot be relative for there is no more or less being possible in the fact of being. It is or is not. The fact of being is the ground of moral facts, and moral facts ground transcendental principles in unity of being. The unity of being is the ground of justice, truth, freedom, etc.
Relative justice is not justice. Relative justice is justice based on culture, commerce, power, interests, and such. Absolute justice is based on the fact of being, and the fact of ontological unity. This is termed benefit realized in the reflection of its own unity. This unity is managed artificially and naturally. For example, disease prevention assures greater unity while negligence assures disunity. Knowledge of the underlying cause of unity or disunity of being is a fundamental moral requirement before any activity is initiated. The form of consequence is then known prior to the act. The remaining spiritual act is the choice between good or evil.
Following from the formation of the Ecocide Act Draft; prior to its inception; with or without its adoption or rejection, human consciousness has been altered, and an informed choice is forced upon our species as to fate of other species and our planet. We are no longer allowed an escape into ignorance, virtual distractions, and disconnected responsibility for the consequences. As Sartre states, thereisnoexit. Vegetarians are as responsible as meat eaters for the ecocide of Sumatra, Nigerian Delta, African rainforests and savannas, Brazilian jungles,(26) and so on that are found in our food and paper products. Buying a hamburger, orange, or paper necessitated an ecocide.(27 a,b,c) The “necessity” in these “products” is artificial, virtual, psychological, but unnecessary in nature.Natural necessity is according to natural laws. Leather products are everywhere. Steel products necessitate dead natural systems in ore extraction, strip mining, highway systems, dams, poisoned waters, production, housing, distribution, climatic changes. It is immoral not to press for change and allow ignorant, self-serving politicians, military theories,profit driven corporations, and rich elites(28a,b)to rule the fate of the planet.(29)
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The program's goal was to defoliate forested and rural land, depriving guerrillas of cover; another goal was to induce forced draft urbanization, destroying the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside, and forcing them to flee to the U.S. dominated cities, thus depriving the guerrillas of their rural support and food supply.[4][5]
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From a military standpoint, HAARP is a weapon of mass destruction, operating from the outer atmosphere and capable of destabilizing agricultural and ecological systems around the world.
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(9a)In 1825, a treaty was signed by which France would recognize Haiti's independence in exchange for 150 (later reduced to 90) millions gold Francs (see Haiti indemnity controversy). Haiti's trees were felled and exported to France, in order to service the debt[citation needed].
(9b) Degradation and deforestation in Haiti, as in other countries, is happening at an alarming rate. Worldwide, forests have shrunk by about 142,000 square km. per year in the early nineties. Of that total amount, about 80,000 square km. fell to slash and burn agriculture. Another 10,000 square km. were deforested by the search for firewood (24).
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(11a) palm oil
(11b) deforestation
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(12a) protests
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(17)Visitors to Tibet in the late 1940s considered Tibet to have the most abundant big game population in the world. But that population is being destroyed by Chinese government soldiers who hunt endangered species with machine guns. Przewalski gazelle, boars, wolves, mountain cats, musk deer, and many other species are being hunted to extinction.
(18a)The American bison (Bison bison), also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds, became nearly extinct by a combination of commercial hunting and slaughter in the 19th century and introduction of bovine diseases from domestic cattle, and has made a recent resurgence largely restricted to a few national parks and reserves.
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(28a)Wealthy landowners in Paraguay have been caught red-handed after newly-released satellite images showed their start ling destruction of almost 4,000 hectares of forest – which is inhabited by uncontacted Indians.
(28b)The Brazilian-owned companies, River Plate S.A. and BBC S.A, were busted in a secret operation by state and indigenous authorities in the Chaco region of northern Paraguay.
(29) corruption