Final Conclusions working group 1: Structural Causes

We are faced with a profound structural crisis as a consequence of having reached the planet’s limits.  We are confronted with the terminal crisis of a patriarchal development model based in the slavery and destruction of human beings and nature. The climate crisis we live in isn’t only a problem of rising atmospheric temperatures, but also the global destruction of conditions that make life possible on the planet and the harmonic relationship of humans with Mother Earth. 

Pre-conference of Bolivian indigenous peoples and social organizations on climate change and the rights of Mother Earth

Working Group 1: Structural Causes of Climate Change

Background

Since time immemorial, development of Western culture and domination of nature began with the destruction of communities and peoples’ lifestyles as well as their production, socio-economic and cultural systems. The balance and harmony of Mother Earth and Living Well imposed a logic of man’s domination over land, where man logic is above all (first me, then me and always me) and the domination and exploitation of man by man.

To us, everything has life and is interrelated. In contrast, the West does not take into account life, for them neither mountains nor rivers have life, the only thing that has life is human being, or everything that moves. Before community interests, capitalist system take precedence over individual, personal and individuals interests, leaving aside the essence of living in close relationship and the understanding between beings and energies in order to harmonize the interaction between human beings and Mother Earth.

GROUP 1: STRUCTURAL CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Greenhouse gases are not a cause, but an effect. What some are attempting to do is to control the fever without treating the infection that is producing it. So far, studies have focused on the relationship between greenhouse gasses, the rise in temperature, and its impact on the planet.

This group is seeking to promote the analysis of the underlying, structural root causes of climate change. We aim to reveal how and in what way the rise in greenhouse gases are a product of a model of life and development under the capitalist system that is premised on the supremacy of human beings over nature, and to identify sectors and concrete examples in which we may perceive that structural relationship between the dominant system and climate change.

The challenge of the working group is to produce a document that systematizes the analysis, arguments, data, and examples that help to promote discussion about the structural root causes of climate change.