Recently, 192 mostly socialist governments, led by Bolivia, asked the U.N. to create a treaty that would grant the same rights found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to “Mother Nature.” The treaty supports a legal system to maintain a balance between human rights and what they perceive as the rights of other elements of the Earth’s community — the plants, animals and terrain.
Bolivian President Evo Morales said, “The central enemy of Mother Earth is capitalism.”
Guess which country is the most capitalistic? Based on Bolivian law, there are 11 rights granted to nature, including the right to life and to exist, which means that you will not have the right to cut down a tree in your yard. According to the treaty, nature will have the right to pure water and clean air, and nature’s cellular structure cannot be modified or genetically altered. This means the agricultural industry will have to stop modifying crops, making them resistant to disease and insects. Nature cannot be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects, which will put an end to freeways and mega-malls.
It’s not clear if these rights extend to insects, but it does include all living creatures. Now I know the cockroaches will take over the world.
A San Francisco (where else?) organization, the Pachamama Alliance, has been trying to make this movement a reality, complete with enforceable laws in communities across this country. Van Jones, who once proclaimed himself a communist, joined the board of Alliance after leaving his post as the “green jobs czar” in Barack Obama’s administration. Of course, the president did not know of his past Marxist leanings. Jones then threw his support behind the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature to carry this crazy concept around the world.
The constitution of Ecuador includes such provisos as nature has the right to be completely restored, and it mandates that the government ban organisms and organic material that can alter the genetics of nature.
In 2001, federal regulators turned off the irrigation water that fed agriculture lands because of some endangered species of sucker fish. The farmers grew potatoes, alfalfa, horseradish and other crops that died without the water, putting many farmers out of business and raising the cost of these crops. There are species of animals that disappear every year without the influence of humans. Nature has a way of removing weak or fragile species. Do we miss them? Probably not.
We are presently paying a high price for oil because of environmentalists. The products that we buy are costing more, essential food prices are rising and jobs are lost, causing hardship to many families. Environmentalists have convinced the government that it would be better for Mother Earth if we did not drill for oil in America or off of our coasts. We now are paying the price and the price is going to keep rising. Just imagine what the cost of living will be like if lawyers start suing on behalf of Mother Earth and her community of plants, insects and rocks.
This movement sounds like something out of the “Twilight Zone,” where nature grows out of control and destroys the human race. Does this sound preposterous? It just might not be.

Calderone is a conservative who lives in Midway. He is a professional salesperson and for 30 years has written articles for trade publications in various fields.