Bolivia says Plants have Human Rights

[IzisviAziria]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights

If you decide to skip the link, basically, Bolivia is passing a law which essentially grants Mother Earth the same basic rights most humans still don't have: the right to life. They're granting plants the right to a lifecycle, the right to clean air and water, the right to not be genetically modified at a cellular level.

The goal, obviously, is to step in the right direction toward reducing our destruction of the planet we live on, an admirable goal to say the least. It's quite ambitious in its implications, though it remains to be seen how effectively such a law can be implemented.

So what do you think Escapists? Is this a step in the right direction? Can it have the intended effect? Do you want it to have the intended effect?

For myself, I'll say that I do feel it's a step in the right direction, but I seriously doubt that it will be implemented effectively at all. Bolivia is an extremely poor country. But I like that it's trying to change the way people view the planet they live on. I think a lot of people abstract themselves from the planet and in doing so, feel more justified in consuming it. Perhaps laws like this can help us take the first step in re-grounding ourselves on the planet.

 

[Hunter15]

it sounds really stupid, but it dose have a good cause

 

[similar.squirrel]

..Interesting. I believe that taking care of the environment is the greatest act of kindness you can do for your fellow man [seeing as we all live here, as will future generations], so I guess this is good. A bit..wishy-washy, and it will probably be a pain to implement, but a novel idea nonetheless.

I wonder what James Lovelock will have to say on the matter..

 

[Malkavian]

In my view, this is a poorly thought through law, which has absolutely only symbolical meaning, will be hard as hell to ever enforce in a legal system, and it will fade into obscurity very quickly, eventually becomming one of those laws that are used in some slim way to win/lose a trial.

 

[Legion]

It'd make more sense to have a law that states "For X amount of plants destroyed you must plant Y amount of plants to balance it out".

 

[Tomo Stryker]

Its about as smart as giving human rights to lamp lights. Waste of time for whoever made this and a complete waste of time to those who try to enforce it.

 

[IzisviAziria]

In my view, this is a poorly thought through law, which has absolutely only symbolical meaning, will be hard as hell to ever enforce in a legal system, and it will fade into obscurity very quickly, eventually becomming one of those laws that are used in some slim way to win/lose a trial.

I agree, that enforcement of such a law will limit it to being symbolic more than anything else. However, I feel that this is mostly due to Bolivia being such a poor country. So then, I ask you, if a similar law were passed in a more developed country, would it have a better chance of succeeding?

 

[Jonluw]

That's incredibly stupid. Every living organism that's higher up on the food chain than producers rely on the deaths of plants to sustain their life.

There's no getting around killing plants. It's practically what they're there for.

Edit: Also, I guess 'clean air' for a plant would be CO[sub]2[/sub] saturated?

 

[EllEzDee]

Its about as smart as giving human rights to lamp lights. Waste of time for whoever made this and a complete waste of time to those who try to enforce it.

Are lamplights actually alive though? Exactly. Difficult to enforce, but the idea is sound.

 

[IzisviAziria]

That's incredibly stupid. Every living organism that's higher up on the food chain than producers rely on the deaths of plants to sustain their life.

There's no getting around killing plants. It's practically what they're there for.

Edit: Also, I guess 'clean air' for a plant would be CO[sub]2[/sub] saturated?

Are you purposely taking it out of context, or are you just thick?

 

[Bobbity]

It sounds stupid, but it's reasonable enough; especially so if you think of it in terms of protection rather than 'rights'.

 

[Tomo Stryker]

Its about as smart as giving human rights to lamp lights. Waste of time for whoever made this and a complete waste of time to those who try to enforce it.

Are lamplights actually alive though? Exactly. Difficult to enforce, but the idea is sound.

You're mocking me aren't you?

 

[EllEzDee]

Its about as smart as giving human rights to lamp lights. Waste of time for whoever made this and a complete waste of time to those who try to enforce it.

Are lamplights actually alive though? Exactly. Difficult to enforce, but the idea is sound.

You're mocking me aren't you?

I mock you in your sleep.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Hell, you know what they say:
It's so stupid it just might work.

 

[A Random Reader]

The law is nice at first glance, but poorly thought out.

They cut themselves off from any enhancements science makes on plants, and open a new line of prosecutions for people killing plants. It's nice in that it tries to give equal status to people and plants, but is stupid in that plants and sapient creatures will never be equal. It's like going up to a rock and declaring that it has the right to remain undisturbed. The only way that you could bring equality to both would be to give plants sapient thought, and we all know how that would turn out.

 

[CommanderKirov]

Wait what?

 

[Titan Buttons]

This is a very interesting concept and has meret to be implemented

 

[Tomo Stryker]

This is a very interesting concept and has meret to be implemented

Just like diapers for peoples mouths. Some people might just shut up because of a dirty mouth.

 

[manythings]

The law is nice at first glance, but poorly thought out.

They cut themselves off from any enhancements science makes on plants, and open a new line of prosecutions for people killing plants. It's nice in that it tries to give equal status to people and plants, but is stupid in that plants and sapient creatures will never be equal. It's like going up to a rock and declaring that it has the right to remain undisturbed. The only way that you could bring equality to both would be to give plants sapient thought, and we all know how that would turn out.

Even better question; does that law mean that farms are now, basically, giant baby genocide factories?