In Search of an Ecological Constitution

Reformulating the Relationship between Society and Nature

Ezio Cordella Costa

• Publisher: Editorial Catalonia
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9789563249484
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Public Law
• Index: Law

One of the differentiating factors of our present is the increased environmental awareness. However, this has not yet been converted into social, economic and law systems that reveal the multiple challenges that are imposed on us. The destructive impulse of the dominant ideologies in the twentieth century maintains the hegemony of their spaces, barely trying to adapt itself into a new reality that surpasses them.Meanwhile in 1972 we believed there was a marked environmental degradation, in 2022 we recognize that we are in the middle of the sixth mass extinction of the species, the earth temperature has already increased in more than one degree Celsius and a significant percent of the planet's sweet water is contaminated. If the Constitution that Chile is planning to write and set in force in the years to come, wants to capture the logic of our times, it is essential that it sets as something basic, the environmental conditions where the legal-political communities, constituted by the chileans communities, are going to develop.This book explores the details of the "Ecological Constitution" concept, that refers to the provisions that have to be contained in a Constitution in a transversal way and that, setting the environmental protection as a central axis of the social organization, attempts to harmonize the social and nature activities.The new Constitution of Chile won't change everything, but it can constitute a first fundamental base on that change. This book is an invitation to dream with that possibility and reflect on the different ways that the Constitution can take us in that direction. The systematic changes are urgent and we are in the position to begin with them.Ezio Costa Cordella

VIII. Final Thoughts

Throughout this book I have attempted to describe what an Ecological Constitution would look like and argue in its favor, in the understanding that it is a normative arrangement that would be beneficial for us as a collective and under which we can look at the future with a little more hope and peace of mind.

The initial analysis was around the reasons why we need an Ecological Constitution and how it could help us overcome the biggest challenges we currently have as a generation –all the people who are living on Earth at this moment in time. The climate and ecological crises that threaten our existence and that have been caused by our irresponsible action are the backdrop for this constitutional process and for the global processes around social change. We have the chance to debate it before conditions get worse, and this window of opportunity is very important.

In that discussion, an important variable is the way social structures will model our relationships in the future. This involves the way we relate to each other and the way we relate to nature. The Law has not been able to provide the key for us to effectively protect our environment and this work intends to be a contribution in that search, which is possible today because we are rebuilding Chile, restarting our power once again and reflecting on the country we want for the first time.

An Ecological Constitution will be a set of norms that transversally make our legal system greener. We have gone over the principles for the State to function, for the interpretation of the law, to guide us in the way we create a society. In the same way, we have considered the minimum acceptable fundamental rights needed for people in environmental matters, but also acknowledged the value of nature, its element, and animals.

We have explored the limits of human action that –through incentives for efficiency and productivity– would prevent the destruction of the possibilities of our future and collective wellbeing. We have also reflected on the distribution of power and wellbeing regarding how it relates to natural common assets. Finally, we have analyzed the organic composition of the State, from both a territorial and institutional perspective, in order to observe the ways in which we could have a stronger tendency in favor of the environment’s protection.

The challenge clearly does not end with the Constitution, and this is why the final section revisits the issues and poses the next challenge: changing our way of life and of our economic structures. We cannot lose sight...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• I. Introduction
• II. Why do we need an Ecological Constitution?
• III. A State at the Service of the Environment
• IV. Distribution of Power and Environmental Protection
• V. Environmental Rights
• VI. Thinking about Nature
• VII. Changing our Way of Life
• VIII. Final Thoughts