When, in the course of human events, it becomes apparent that the
activities of humankind are causing severe and potentially catastrophic
injury to the land, air and water that compose our home - the Earth -
it becomes necessary to declare humanity's innate Dependence on the
Earth, and demand that governments take immediate action to redress
such harmful acts and make elemental changes to prevent further injury
to the Earth. Such declaration requires the causes that impel such
demands be set forth.


I hold these truths to be self-evident: that all humans are created
equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness; that humans are but one life-form amidst the chaotic
perfection weaving the web of life that exists on Earth; that should
human activity damage the web, life, as it is now known, will cease to
exist; that time is of the essence. That to safeguard these rights and
ensure the continuity of Homo sapiens as a viable species, Governments
are instituted among People, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed. - That when world business practices coalesce
with the laws of governments to harm life on Earth, it is the right of
people to bring an end to such injurious practices and ineffectual
laws, and enact new laws; laws that root their foundations in
principles that will secure the continued vigor of the web of life, and
provide for the prolonged existence and welfare of humanity. Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that laws long established should not be changed
for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath
shown that people are more disposed to suffer, while evils are
sufferable, than to right themselves by modifying the forms to which
they are accustomed. But when a long train of environmental abuses,
pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to overwhelm life
on Earth; it is their right, it is their duty, to alter such design and
demand new laws to protect the web of life, thus securing sanctuary for
the human race. Such has been the patient sufferance of humans, and
such is now the necessity, which compels them to demand fundamental
changes to laws not suited to safeguard the environment. - The history
of humanity's relationship with the Earth is a history of greed and
power to take from nature without recompense, all having in direct
object the establishment of monetary wealth with little, if any, regard
for the sacredness of life on Earth.



The world's current and growing population of nearly 6,500,000,000
humans transcends the Earth's capacity to absorb our consumptive and
polluting behaviors. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid
world:



I. We are fouling the skies with greenhouse gases that have altered the
Earth's atmosphere, initiating global warming. Such warming is causing
planetary climatic change that endangers all life forms.



II. We are polluting the air, water and land in, and around, towns and
cities of the world so that the health of humans, flora and fauna is
imperiled on a global scale.



III. We are diverting, depleting and polluting the Earth's fresh water
resources so that humans are oft unable to find clean water and, in
many locales, water borne flora and fauna struggle to survive.



IV. We are overfishing and polluting the Earth's oceans, seas, lakes
and rivers so that survival of a growing number of aquatic species is
threatened.



V. We are endangering and causing the extinction of a wide variety of
the Earth's plant and animal species by disrupting, polluting and
destroying their habitats.



VI. We are contaminating the Earth's productive soils with fertilizers,
herbicides and pesticides; modifying natural crop species via genetic
engineering; and paving over and building upon untold acres of fertile
land. Taken together, these practices jeopardize the Earth's
agricultural bounty.



VII. We are cutting vast tracts of the Earth's natural forests
resulting in denuded hillsides that erode in rain showers and, in
countless locations, no longer sustain trees that recycle carbon
dioxide into oxygen.



VIII. We are mining immense amounts of the Earth's rich ores and minerals causing pollution to land, air and water.



In summary, we are taking freely from the Earth, irresponsibly using
her natural resources with a wanton disregard of the future. We now
live in fear of our own unyielding needs and desires, which gravely
injure life on Earth and threaten our ongoing survival.



In every stage of human activity causing harm to the web of life,
citizens have petitioned courts for Redress in the most humble terms.
These incessant petitions have been met by new and ever-increasing
injury to the Earth. Thus, the laws involved are tainted by every act
that despoils the environment and are unfit to shield the Earth from
harm.



Nor have we been wanting in attention to our governments. We have
relentlessly warned them of the daily injuries inflicted upon the Earth
and the far-reaching consequences thereof. We have reminded them of our
inherent connection to the Earth for everything we have from air,
water, food, clothing and shelter to cell phones, palm pilots,
computers, automobiles and atom bombs. We have drawn their attention to
our birthright on Earth, and appealed to their intrinsic bonds with
nature and religion. They too have been deaf to the voices of reason
and action. Hence, I must acquiesce in the necessity, which demands
immediate attention to humanity's peril on Earth and hold them, as I
hold myself and present-day civilization, Enemies to our continued
existence.



I, therefore, a human on Earth, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the
Universe for the rectitude of my intentions, do, in the Name, and by
the Authority of the good people of the world, solemnly publish and
declare: that humans are dependent on the Earth for our survival; that
the Earth is in imminent danger of irreparable injury to her life
supporting functions; that we have found these functions unique to the
Earth in our exploration of the near bounds of space; that now is the
time to act firmly, with resolute conviction, to save our home the
Earth. And for support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of divine Providence, I pledge my life, worldly goods and
sacred honor.



With the Earth enduring ever-increasing environmental harm each ensuing
day, is it not time for such a declaration?

Together, we can save the
Earth.





Cliff Seigneur