UN Tells Us to Work For Environmental Justice

The United Nations have often seemed to be completely worthless to me while I was growing up. I never took the time to find out much about them until recently. I stumbled upon a book that was written by one of the members of the committee in charge of setting up the world’s first international court which will, amongst other tasks, ensure impunity for international crimes ceases to exist, naming George W. Bush as one of the examples of those who need to be sued a.s.a.p. That did it – I suddenly became much more interested. Even though the date is set for 2048, I have a newfound faith in humanity.

While reading some of the files that are listed, I came across a charter that specifically details all the laws concerning nature, sustainability and international rights for them. It is actually every country’s responsibility to ensure their natural resources are looked after and well maintained, including all citizens and international organizations. Surprisingly enough, there is a clause that states that those that wage war must do so without damaging nature… which I’m sure most world leaders disregard. How many even know about this law?

Interestingly enough, it even adds that it is not only permitted, but encouraged as much as possible, by the UN, to organize groups in order to ensure all laws are respected and none are violated. Read this excerpt, taken straight from the UN’s file:

21. States and, to the extent they are able, other public authorities, international organizations, individuals, groups and corporations shall:

(a) Co-operate in the task of conserving nature through common activities and other relevant actions, including information exchange and consultations;

(b) Establish standards for products and manufacturing processes that may have adverse effects on nature, as well as agreed methodologies for assessing these effects;

(c) Implement the applicable international legal provisions for the conservation of nature and the protection of the environment;

(d) Ensure that activities within their jurisdictions or control do not cause damage to the natural systems located within other States or in the areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction;

(e) Safeguard and conserve nature in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

This, of course, includes all forms of wildlife such as whales, seals, dolphins, wolves, deer, and any animal on the endangered species list or on the brink of being added.

How do you feel about these laws? Who believes that the UN will manage to, eventually, limit the damage caused to the environment by taking the criminals to court?

Do you like this article? Let me know by voting for me! You can also receive an email notification every time I post a new one by clicking on my username, SnakeWitch, then on "Follow".

Please share, tweet and pin!

If you want to support a vegan writer starting out, please 'like' my Facebook page. You may also post your own articles and adverts, so long as they follow the environmental and vegan values I have!

Image credit: Tobias Akerboom (at hutmeelz)

More about UN, united, nations, world, law, international, protection, environment, environmental, justice

Veganara
November 23, 2012, 12:59 am
Voted. Another great article Annie. I am cautiously optimistic about what the UN might be able to do. I have "liked" your FB page, btw, and sent you a Friend Request. So are you working as a translator in Colombia? I thought you were a sign-language interpreter. But you also do foreign-language translations? Cool. I am a linguist too. Btw, please check out my latest recipe for Beetroot Houmous, hope you like it! :-)
Log in to reply.
alan
November 23, 2012, 4:12 am
great article...i voted...please read my new article "My Vegan GrandMom Strongest""
Log in to reply.
Skip Stein
November 23, 2012, 3:09 pm
Well I didn't know about that 'law' as I'm sure many don't and everyone ignores. The UN has become a standing joke. It has never been effective for doing much of anything in all the years of it's existence and trillion$ of dollars. It does do some food distribution and 'peacekeeping' but to a large extent it is a waste of money/effort. While I applaud your efforts to protect animals, I have never believed in the success of trying to legislate morals. I prefer the approach of health and wellness and nutritional veganism. In the end it accomplishes much of the same goal of cleaning up the Planet and saving so many animals that are brutalized for 'food'. It goes beyond that as much of our forests (including the Amazon Rain Forest) is cut down to make room for cattle to graze; destroying who knows how many ecosystems? The pollution/runoff from animal factories (not to mention the total brutality and miss-treatment of the poor creatures) pollutes our lakes, streams, rivers and the oceans! GMO 'foods' cause vast amounts of herbicide (Roundup) to be sprayed, destroying so many life forms (both plant and animal) and generate 'super-species' (again both plant and animal) that may be devastating in the long term to our Planetary Health and Human's ability to survive. As most here I thing would agree, we and the Planet are linked into a symbiotic relationship; when one is healthy so goes the rest. Now we see symptoms of a very sick Planet and a sick Human Population (obesity, diabetes 2, heart disease, cancer, etc). The cause? Mostly greed and quest for Power & Control of the few over the many. The thing that no one seems to realize is that the Many can and should control the Few. It is so simple, the few depend on the many for their purchasing power. The Many too often depend on the governments (all of them) for too many of life's necessities, instead of being more self-sufficient and developing personal responsibility and resources. This plays into the hands of the greedy and power hungry who continue to manufacture poisons, drugs and processed poisons that further control the populace. A fat, sick and nearly dead (great documentary btw) populace of so many countries are docile and unlikely to rise up and protest. The answer I mentioned is simple! STOP consuming poisons, crap and overly processed 'food'. STOP purchasing GMO ladened products! STOP consuming the products of these evil (yes I really believe in evil!) greedy world dominating corporations. WE THE PEOPLE still have the power to resist. Become more self sufficient! Out of work, start a business! (not all that hard to do; just takes WORK). Sick and/or obese? Change your lifestyle and nutrition! The best offense is to become Healthy & Well! It will save YOU and the very Planet we Humans are responsible for. Take away the POWER from the few by taking back control of YOUR lives and thus reducing the dependency on others. Help your neighbors and friends/family by shopping LOCALLY, supporting local merchants, credit unions (NOT banks), local farmers (encourage organic!) and work to help others instead of sitting in front of the TV getting constantly indoctrinated by the FEW. Get to know your neighbors, invite them over for a wonderful vegan meal; you don't have to tell them it is vegan, in many cased they will never know the difference (trust me, we have done it several times). Of course, my darling wife has become a vegan master chef (see her Pinterest site for thousands of recipes she has organized!). You see, if we all do this sort of thing, the end result IS the saving of the animals, the planetary resources and will naturally clean up much of the environment. Forcing someone to do something for someone else is never a great idea, but showing how folks can help THEMSELVES brings things home! Start in our own home, clean out the pantry, STOP giving these FEW your hard earned money that they are using to suppress your FREEDOM. Think and Act for yourselves and your neighbors. Make friends, talk and be an example of HEALTH & WELLNESS. All the rest will follow. Hope you all had a wonderful Vegan Thanksgiving. I am still so full, I don't think I will eat for a while (not really there are still vegan pies and leftovers to dine on for days!). Cheers, Skip Stein
Log in to reply.
1. SnakeWitch
  November 23, 2012, 6:11 pm
  Thank you for your post. I agree with you in the sense that grassroots is a very powerful tool to bring change into the world. However, grassroots activism will not always succeed in doing things like stopping one country's leader from trying to take over another country, or stealing someone else's ressources. I also believe that if there is a way to punish this sort of behaviour, it helps reduce it. I am, of course, not saying that this is the solution to the world's problems. I am saying that I approve the fact that there is something going on in the UN and I am hoping that having this sort of court will bring about the type of justice that is currently very much needed. I would also like to point out that you gave the very reason why such a court is necessary: people today are much too lazy, mostly due to the crap that goes into our food, to do anything. They also won't think for themselves or are just too naive and will believe anything you stuff down their throats. That's why international justice needs to be done. Notice, also, that I am saying that the UN is almost begging us to help them out because this task is far too great for them to take it on, and anyways, NGOs have had a reasonable amount of success to do this. Therefore, I still stand on the grassroots-way of doing things; I just don't believe in putting all my eggs in one basket and still vote for a responsible government that will actually do what it is supposed to do and make criminals pay for them crime.
  Log in to reply.
  1. Skip Stein
    November 23, 2012, 6:32 pm
    While I accept your sentiments, I just abhor big government. It is them and these very multinational global corporations that have created the disasters we see all over the Planet. Wars, and starvation, disease and poisonous 'treatments' for disease are ALL the result of the greed and power seekers. We cannot rely on government to DO things FOR US. WE must do it ourselves. Unfortunately, I also agree that there are too many capable and able individuals already with their hands out. They want to sit and watch TV and let the Government take care of them. It is the corruption in government, the greed and power seekers who are the root cause and unless WE THE PEOPLE stand up to them all is unfortunately, lost forever. Once the rest of humanity decides that they are NOT capable of fending and caring for themselves and their families, we are all doomed to abject slavery at the hands of the few and powerful. This is WHY America was Founded in the first place; to ESCAPE from onerous government restrictions, religious views forced on others without consent or approval and the sever taxation and redistribution of income. It has always been about CONTROL. Before now WE couldn't unit and take control, but with a FREE and OPEN Internet we can communicate and support each other to build a truly Free and Open Society where NO ONE can tell another how to think, believe or act; all within reasonable civilized laws and order; but LIMITED. When we allow another to make decisions on how we live, eat, think, it is all over! Governments are now trying (and succeeding) in curbing Internet Freedom. They monitor ALL communications (email, cell phone, land lines, ect.). The observe constantly, from satellite to traffic cameras, banks and convenience stores and soon there will be drones overhead in many major cities. This is NOT FREEDOM that thousands have died to preserve. It is criminal acts of suppression, all in the name of 'protecting' we citizens. BULL, it is all about control, suppression of Freedom and slavery. Remember the greatest and best concept ever states was simply "To DO unto others as you would have them DO unto you!" It is simple. DO you think the power hungry want to be enslaved as we are? Do you think THEY consume GMO 'foods'? Heck NO. While they do eat meat (which I definitely think is just plain dumb), they are as uninformed as so much of the planet and will also succumb to debilitating disease. Well enough. I've got to go tend my hydroponics! Cheers, Skip Stein
    Log in to reply.
    1. SnakeWitch
      November 23, 2012, 8:21 pm
      Yeah. I know - capitalism is another form of slavery. Well, generally working for someone else is in quite a lot of cases, anyways. And I agree about governments being corrupt, but from the book I read, it seemed as though - at the very least the author - was sincere in his desire to take those that get away with murder - like Bush - by trying to make it look as though both God and the entire world is on their side. Bull, I agree, but somehow I felt good about it. And my instincts are usually good about this sort of thing. I have yet to see a president or prime minister that truly cares about the country's population. Although Obama seems like a great president - and seriously, I'm relieved he won over Romney - he supports GMOs. I remember him talking about it once. Uggghhhhh.....
      Log in to reply.
      1. Veganara
        November 23, 2012, 8:39 pm
        I agree with both of you, Skip and SnakeWitch, I am kind of on the fence here! Skip is right in that it does seem futile to try and legislate for morality, and big government and politics is always corrupt. SnakeWitch is right in that it can also do some good. I believe in grass-roots activism too, changing people's hearts and minds, so that they naturally WANT to do the right thing (not it being a question of the government forcing them to live their lives a certain way). But we do need rules and laws and a way of maintaining the social structure too. I don't know what the answer is, but organisations like the UN can sometimes help. (Have you been on Facebook lately btw Annie? I sent you a Friend Request! I like your professional page too.)
        Log in to reply.
        
        SnakeWitch
        November 24, 2012, 4:21 pm
        I'll take a look! Maybe I skipped it... I've been busy lately.
        Log in to reply.
Shabs Online
November 24, 2012, 5:08 am
I agree with Veganara that the WANT for the good deeds automatically leads to them...but then, yess rules and regulations too are necessary..as I believe, the world is too big to follow the same path altogether....unless adequate intelligent laws are imposed, things can't go the right way completely....great post!Voted!
Log in to reply.
kristo
November 24, 2012, 9:57 am
voted number nine!
Log in to reply.
Whitney Metz
November 24, 2012, 11:27 am
Excellent article! Voted and liked your facebook page.
Log in to reply.