“The main enemy of Mother Earth is capitalism.” — Evo Morales

Bolivian  Climate Conference Draws Thousands

See live coverage of Cochabamba here–until it’s over on Earth Day, April 22nd

Bolivian President Evo Morales launched the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth on Tuesday, welcoming over 10,000 people from 135 countries and dozens of social organizations to what he declared to be an alternative to the United Nations climate talks.

In a moving multicultural ceremony in a stadium outside Cochabamba, amautas — indigenous cultural leaders — performed an official opening ceremony offering a gift to mother earth “Pachamama”.

A written goal of the conference is “to save the planet,” and Morales, who opposed the U.S.-backed Copenhagen Accord during the last international climate conference, was clear about where he’d like to start.”

By Claudia Lopez Pardo, from Solveclimate.com

I wrote these notes while Evo Morales was speaking live last evening.  These quotes were from his translated remarks.

“The main enemy of Mother Earth is capitalism.”
“Capitalism proposes unlimited growth.   2.8 billion people are existing on less than $2 a day.
Capitalism makes everything into commodities.  Water traditional cultures, human genome, if we don’t change the capitalism system then any measures that we do adapt will have limited scope.

There can only be harmony with nature if there is equality amongst humans themselves.

We need a new economic system here which respects the rights of humans and of nature.

Developing countries do need to improve but they in no way can follow the path of developed countries….”

More information can be found on OneClimate.net and the summit’s official site here.

What was Morales talking about?  Capitalism is destroying the earth in a very simple way — it promotes unlimited growth, which promotes consumer growth, product growth and waste growth.  Any economic system that relies on growth will eventually deplete the resources of the planet, which is now holding about 7 billion people and will hold 9 billion in 10-20 years.

It means that the rich get richer, as we are seeing now, and the poor get poorer, which we are also seeing.  Capitalism sets up a system where the poor must rely on charity to survive.   It’s not sustainable.

Here is another viewpoint:

Prensa Latina via Links International Journal of Socialist Revewal

April 20, 2010—Cochabamba, Bolivia — Bolivia’s President Evo Morales Ayma condemned the capitalist system in the opening session of the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth today.

Morales, speaking at the April 20 conference inauguration, started his speech with a slogan, “Planet or death, we shall overcome.”

He said that harmony with nature could not exist while 1 per cent of the world’s population concentrates more than 50 per cent of the world’s riches. Capitalism is the main enemy of the Earth, only looking for profits, [...]