Upping the Stakes - Self-Evident Truths - A no-nonsense declaration

Upping the Stakes
Self-Evident Truths
A no-nonsense declaration
by Derrick Jensen
Published in the July/August 2012 issue of Orion magazine

THERE ISN’T A CHANCE in hell that something like the original
Wilderness Act could be passed today. Environmentalists today are too
much on the defensive. Sure, there have been green platforms and
policy papers, but nothing I’ve read matches the urgency of this
moment. So I decided to draft a declaration. It goes like this:

We, the citizens of the United States of America, hold these truths to
be self-evident: that a rapid decline in living conditions is taking
place all around us; that compromise is no longer an adequate way
forward (and perhaps never was); that more drastic measures must be
taken immediately in order to preserve a livable planet. From these
beliefs springs the following list of demands:

We demand that the United States Constitution be rewritten to
explicitly prohibit the privatization of profits and the
externalization of costs by the wealthy, and to immediately grant both
human and nonhuman communities full legal and moral rights.
Corporations should no longer be considered persons under the law.
Limited liability corporations must be immediately stripped of their
limited liability protection. Those whose economic activities cause
great harm—including great harm to the real, physical world—should be
punished. Environmental Crimes Tribunals must be immediately put in
place to try those who have significantly harmed the real, physical
world. These tribunals should have the force of law and should be
expected to impose punishment commensurate with the harm caused to the
public and to the planet.

We demand the immediate, explicit, and legally binding recognition
that perpetual growth is incompatible with life on a finite planet.
Economic growth must stop, and economies must begin to contract. We
demand acknowledgment that if we don’t begin this contraction
voluntarily, it will take place against our will, and will cause
untold misery.

We demand that overconsumption and overpopulation be addressed through
bold and serious measures, but not by approaches that are racist,
colonialist, or misogynist. Right now, more than 50 percent of the
children who are born into this world are unwanted. We demand that all
children be wanted. The single most effective strategy for making
certain that all children are wanted is the liberation of women.
Therefore we demand that women be given absolute economic, sexual, and
reproductive freedom, and that all forms of reproductive control
become freely available to all.

There is consensus among the scientific community that in order to
prevent catastrophic climate change beyond what the industrial economy
has already set in motion, net carbon emissions must be reduced by 80
percent as soon as possible. Because we wish to continue to live on a
habitable planet, we demand a carbon reduction of 20 percent of
current emissions per year over the next four years.

Dwayne Andreas, former CEO of Archer Daniels Midland, has said, “There
isn’t one grain of anything in the world that is sold in a free
market. Not one! The only place you see a free market is in the
speeches of politicians.” He’s right. Capitalism is based almost
entirely on subsidies. For example, commercial fishing fleets
worldwide receive more in subsidies than the entire value of their
catch. Timber corporations, oil corporations, banks—all would collapse
immediately without massive government subsidies and bailouts.
Therefore, we demand that the United States government stop
subsidizing environmentally and socially destructive activities, and
shift those same subsidies into activities that restore biotic
communities and that promote local self-sufficiency and vibrant local
economies.

We demand an immediate and permanent halt to all extractive and
destructive activities: fracking, mountaintop removal, tar sands
production, nuclear power, and offshore drilling chief among them. The
list of activities to be halted must also include the manufacture of
photovoltaic panels, windmills, hybrid cars, and so on. We must find
nondestructive ways of becoming a sustainable society.

We demand an immediate end to monocrop agriculture, one of the most
destructive activities humans have ever perpetrated. All remaining
native forests must be immediately and completely protected. We demand
an end to clearcutting, “leave tree,” “seed tree,” “shelter tree,” and
all other “even-aged management” techniques, no matter what they are
called, and no matter what rationales are put forward by the timber
industry and the government to justify them. Likewise, we demand that
all remaining prairies and wetlands be permanently protected.

Further, we demand that all damaged lands be restored, from the
redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters. Because soil is the basis of
terrestrial life, no activities should be allowed that destroy
topsoil. All properties over sixty acres must have soil surveys
performed every ten years, and if they have suffered any decrease in
health or depth of topsoil, the lands shall be confiscated and
ownership transferred to those who will build up soil.

We demand that no activities that draw down aquifers be allowed, and
that all polluted or compromised rivers and wetlands be restored.
There are more than 2 million dams in the United States, more than
60,000 dams over thirteen feet tall and more than 70,000 dams over six
and a half feet tall. If we removed one of these 70,000 dams each day,
it would take 200 years to get rid of them all. Salmon don’t have that
much time. Sturgeon don’t have that much time. Therefore, we demand
that no more dams be built, and we demand the removal of five dams per
day over the next forty years, beginning one year from today.

We demand that the United States make an annual survey of all
endangered species to ascertain if they are increasing in number and
range, and if they are not, we demand that steps be taken to make sure
that they do. The U.S. government must be charged with the task of
doing whatever is necessary to make sure that there are more migratory
songbirds every year than the year before, that there are more native
fish every year than the year before, more native reptiles and
amphibians.

The United States must immediately withdraw from NAFTA, DR-CAFTA, and
other so-called free trade agreements, because these agreements cause
immeasurable and irreparable harm to working people, local economies.
Likewise, we demand that the United States remove all support for the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, because these
organizations promote and support vast infrastructure projects such as
highways, dams, thermal power projects, and mines that disrupt or
destroy entire biomes and dispossess and immiserate hundreds of
thousands of people (in India alone, 50 million people have been
displaced by large “development” projects).

From this day forward, the only conditions under which the United
States of America should go to war is by a direct vote of more than 50
percent of U.S. citizens. Furthermore, we demand immediate closure of
all U.S. military bases on foreign soil. All U.S. military personnel
should be brought home within two years. The U.S. military budget must
be reduced by 20 percent per year, until it reaches 20 percent of its
current size. This will provide the “peace dividend” politicians
promised us back when the Soviet Union collapsed, will balance the
U.S. budget, and will more than pay for all necessary domestic
programs, starting with biome repair and including food, shelter, and
medical care for all.

In addition to the aforementioned, we demand that the U.S. government
itself undergo a significant transformation in recognition of the fact
that it can only be of, by, and for the people if it is concurrently
of, by, and for the earth. And no, the fact that the animals and
plants and natural communities don’t speak English is not a valid
excuse for failing to provide for their well-being.

Once these demands have been met, we will come up with more, and then
more, until we are living in a sane, just, and sustainable culture. We
believe that such a culture is our birthright, both as human beings
with inalienable rights and as animals who love our home. We have not
forgotten that the Declaration of Independence states that when a
government becomes destructive of our rights to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, then it is the right of the people to alter or
abolish it.