Tag: anti-corporatism

Cross-posted at The Environmentalist (published at Reuters via The Environmentalist) and Daily Kos.

Next week Ecuador votes on providing constitutional rights to rivers, tropical forests, islands and air.  Polls now show that 56% support and only 23% oppose a bill of rights for nature, similar to legal rights provided to people. This bill of rights would change the legal status of natural resources from property to a “right-bearing entity.”

Ecuador is taking this approach to protect its people from the health care problems caused by pollution when multinational corporations swoop into their country to grab their natural resources, leaving behind damaged and polluted environments for the country to clean-up. This approach would also expedite lawsuits to protect both the environment and people while obtaining damages to pay for clean-ups.