How can we think about our civilization in a sustainable way?
Not a so long time passed since we forced ourselves to have a stop. A forced pause, which made us think. The automated way of life in large urban centers did not leave us free. A lot of goal fulfillment, hitting results, an incessant search to always demand more and more. A machine for grinding people, as a journalist said once. But have you ever stopped to think about what well-being really means to you? No. I don't have time for that. But all of a sudden, we social beings force ourselves to rethink the way we live our lives and coexist with the planet.
A new worldview. You can?
A new vision of the world brings us to an idea of utopia. From the intangible to the tangible. Let's take a journey to the values of traditional cultures, to a natural and cultural human ensemble that unites old, new, landscape all in harmony. The conception of indigenous peoples, whether they are native caiçara people along Brazilian coast or Andean peoples of the highlands, is to live in harmony with nature. Through community life, we recover belonging, being nature, recovering the logic of cooperation.
Through the experiences and practices of a society with a long memory, such as indigenous communities, we rethink our way of life through Good Living. Good Living is related to a common harmony of human beings, not only with each other, but with the natural world. This is not a romantic or utopian vision. Put into practice, it presupposes greater popular participation in decision-making. To see possible ways to reduce poverty, empower people and generate well-being. It is to bring equality between people. Rescuing community life is Good Living. It's thinking about the whole.
In the Americas, Buen Vivir was incorporated into the constitutions of Ecuador (Good Living) and Bolivia (Living Well). Nature is legally recognized as a subject of rights. It may even seem strange and at first glance it is difficult to understand. What would be a subject of rights? When we think about it from this point of view, we can create a legal action in the name of nature; report the losses that this nature has suffered and account that the compensation of such losses needs to be reverted to nature. An example would be the right to a clean river. The action would be on behalf of the river and could be applied by a non-governmental organization that already fights for environmental rights. Nature as a subject of rights becomes defensible, that is the difference. Defending someone who had no right before. It implies a paradigmatic change in the mind of a lawyer, but it is already underway in the Latin America.
What really matters in our lives? What we need?
Nature is a living being. It is not at our disposal as a source of inexhaustible resources. We are part of nature and when we deplete its resources, we weaken ourselves. Conceiving life with rights to nature is a new way. An important step towards the effective recognition of international environmental rights. It's a rethink. Change the lifestyle we are having today. Rethinking society and the means of production. Reuse ores that have already been extracted. Take reverse logistics seriously. Rethink consumption patterns. Reform instead of buying a new one. Rescue the small values of life. Overcome the discourse of fear and intolerance. Ancestral cultures point the way. To think outside the box. To accept ancestral technologies that can generate food with more dignity for the lives of rural people. We lack belief that things can be different. We don't need to rely on global leaders to decide for us at conferences of the parties. The time has come to think of a society with more joy and mutual respect. Buen Vivir is like a "starwars force" where it is possible for us to connect with a greater good. And may the force be with you!
Luisa Maria Sarmento Soares
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