The ceremony was held at the Museum of Natural History in New York.  Kapawi Lodge was built in traditional Achuar style and is owned and operated by the Achuar people of Ecuador.  This beautiful eco-tourist lodge has also been recognized by National Geographic.  Located on the southeast border of Ecuador, Kapawi Lodge is in the pristine Upper Amazon Basin of Ecuador.  

Read more about Kapawi Eco-Tourist Lodge and this prestigous award at http://www.kapawi.com  or www.Pachamama.org

Her beauty radiates in the perfection she sees in her own being!  Her pure voice echoes that of the Grandmother Spirit, the spirit of love and wholeness.  

She inspires me to recognize the perfection in who I am moment to moment … whether my mind likes what it sees or not! 

Perfect!  And so it is!

Robin

Mozhdah was born in Kabul but fled to Canada with her family when she was five.  Today she has become an Afghan ‘Oprah’ with her own television show addressing core family and societal issues  to give women and children their freedom and respect! 

Afghanistan’s “Oprah’ helps heal country’s wounds 
afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com

Source Post by: CNN correspondent Atia Abawi
Filed under: Life and Culture

Whatever your spiritual beliefs, this will touch your soul, I promise!

Thanks Shawn Gallaway and IChooseLove.org for this beautiful song!

The sweet powerful energy of the gathering of an estimated 35,000 peoples from 149 nations crossing all economic boundaries was rejuvenating. Even now, back home the experience feeds my hope for our world.  Earth Day 2010 was the closing day of a “people’s conference” which could well launch a new paradigm for our planet. 

A love and honoring of Pacha Mama - an indigenous concept of Mother Earth that encompasses all elements of our universe – is the common thread that connects our hearts. Regardless of the words prepared, in our hearts we share a deep honoring of Mother Earth.  We know that if we honor the inalienable rights of Mother Earth, within that context we honor the rights of humankind.

Seventeen work groups used the power of the world wide web during the weeks leading to the conference to craft a series of declarations focusing on humankind living in harmony with nature, the rights of Mother Earth, Indigenous Peoples, and more.  During the conference hundreds of people crammed into the stadiums and auditoriums to craft the final proposals. 

My personal attention was on the Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth and the voice of the women who had gathered with us.  The People’s Agreement and the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth will be presented to the United Nations in preparation for the Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico in early December.  

Proposal Universal Declaration of
the Rights of Mother Earth

Preamble

We, the peoples and nations of Earth:

considering that we are all part of Mother Earth, an indivisible, living community of interrelated and interdependent beings with a common destiny; gratefully acknowledging that Mother Earth is the source of life, nourishment and learning and provides everything we need to live well; (Read more …)

Article 1.       Mother Earth

(1)  Mother Earth is a living being.

(2)  Mother Earth is a unique, indivisible, self-regulating community of interrelated beings that sustains, contains and reproduces all beings.

(3)  Each being is defined by its relationships as an integral part of Mother Earth. (Read more …) 

” May the entire world fall in love with a woman that changes their heart and may that woman be the Earth.”
- Caroline Casey

John Vidal, The Guardian April 13, 2010 writes “The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth which opens next week in the small Bolivian town of Cochabamba, will have no direct bearing on the UN climate talks being conducted by 192 governments. But Bolivian President Evo Morales says it will give a voice to the poorest people of the world and encourage governments to be far more ambitious following the failure of the Copenhagen summit.  For more …

Four Years. Go. is a campaign to change the course of history,  for humanity to take its future into its own hands, to wake itself up, and to motivate itself into action. And to do it now.

This historic conference is a grass roots response to the a call for broader international commitments to addressing climate change issues.   (Read about thedelegation led by Robin Milam and Michael Stone and also our Benefit Event.)

The call for a Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth is following the precedent set by Bolivia’s neighbor to the northwest.  In 2008 Ecuador rewrote its constitution to include a Bill of Rights of Nature.

The Ecuadorian Constitution now includes:

Chapter: Rights for Nature

Art. 1. Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.

Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public organisms. The application and interpretation of these rights will follow the related principles established in the Constitution.

Art. 2. Nature has the right to an integral restoration. This integral restoration is independent of the obligation on natural and juridical persons or the State to indemnify the people and the collectives that depend on the natural systems.

In the cases of severe or permanent environmental impact, including the ones caused by the exploitation on non renewable natural resources, the State will establish the most efficient mechanisms for the restoration, and will adopt the adequate measures to eliminate or mitigate the harmful environmental consequences.

Art. 3. The State will motivate natural and juridical persons as well as collectives to protect nature; it will promote respect towards all the elements that form an ecosystem.

Art. 4. The State will apply precaution and restriction measures in all the activities that can lead to the extinction of species, the destruction of the ecosystems or the permanent alteration of the natural cycles.

The introduction of organisms and organic and inorganic material that can alter in a definitive way the national genetic patrimony is prohibited.

Art. 5. The persons, people, communities and nationalities will have the right to benefit from the environment and form natural wealth that will allow wellbeing.

The environmental services are cannot be appropriated; its production, provision, use and exploitation, will be regulated by the State.

“Public organisms” in Article 1 means the courts and government agencies, i.e., the people of Ecuador would be able to take action to enforce nature rights if the government did not do so.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change includes a proposal for a Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth states “The 20th century has been the century of the human rights. First, with the approval of the civil and political rights in 1948, and second, with the approval of the economical, social and cultural rights in 1966. Now, the 21th century has to become the century of the Rights of Mother Earth and all natural beings.

Please arrive on time as your presence in our Community Meditation is the Opening Ceremony.   Global singer-songwriter Maniko will lead us in Song and Silence:  A prayer for our beloved planet and the common heart space we share.  Join us in gratitude for the richness of life on earth that we cherish and to resonate in the creative, compassionate consciousness that is so needed to bring forth a powerful vehicle for the much needed transformation of our relationship to all life.

A bounty of auction items are being donated for the event. 

Eli Rush has donated a captivating photograph of an indigenous Bolivian woman for the auction.  Trips, jewelry, dinners, wine, massages/body work, work parties and much more will be part of the evening’s silent auction.  Tickets are on sale at Harmony Books (Nevada City, CA), Briar Patch Co-op Community Market(Grass Valley), and at the door for  $15 donation.  A flier for the event is at http://www.AreWeListening.net. Information about the Conference in Cochabamba  can be found at http://www.RightsofMotherEarth.com.

In response to the lack of significant commitments by world leaders at the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen,  President Evo Morales of Bolivia has called for the First People’s World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of  Mother Nature.  A key objective of the  conference is to develop a Declaration of Rights for Mother Earth.   Delegates Robin Milam and Michael Stone will be covering this historic conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia in April for KVMR 89.5 FM radio. 

This historic Conference is billed as a peoples conference.  Sixteen key working groups will deliberate on a broad spectrum of topics  and questions related to climate change.  Questions addressed will include: “How can we build a world in which harmony is reestablished between humans and nature for the well-being of all humanity and our Mother Earth?  One objective is to encourage and promote Indigenous visions, practices, and relationships of harmony with nature, and to share proposals regarding climate change and the defense of Mother Earth.  What are the Rights of the Mother Earth? What can we do to promote and defend them at national, regional and international levels?” 

Scientists, academics, lawyers, governments, Indigenous leaders and leaders of social movements are convening to take a more grass roots approach to developing  proposals and strategies to defend life from Climate Change.  The conference is in preparation for  the next UN Conference on Climate Change in Mexico.

Michael Stone points out that “This is Blessed Unrest, the planet’s immune system in action.” As a delegate in Cochabamba, Robin Milam says “My  intention is to gather the stories, especially the women, and give voice to their wisdom through the worldwide web.”  To this end we are leading a small delegation of conscious journalist and photographers to participate in and document this momentous event.

Robin Milam is a social entrepreneur and internet marketing consultant with WSI Marketing.  Michael Stone is host of KVMR’s Conversations: Possibilities and Perspectives on Local and Global Issues. His show focuses on Environmental Restoration, Spiritual Fulfillment and Social Justice Issues.

For more information, contact Michael Stone (530) 477-7757 at http://www.AreWeListening.net or Robin Milam (530) 272-4322 at http://www.RightsofMotherEarth.com.

Contact:  Robin Milam                    
Tel:         530 272-4322
Email:    RMilam@WSIMarketing.com