Visionary thinkers and activists such as psychologist Mary Pipher, biologist Sandra Steingraber, author Riane Eisler, eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, poet Rachel Bagby and urban organizer Kimberly Wasserman are among the participants offering big-picture strategies and proven social-change tools for making a difference in the world.
The Congress, following up on a successful 2012 event, was conceived by Carolyn Raffensperger, who is interviewed below. “This is not the equal rights of the emerging, early feminism,” she explains. “This is the next stage of claiming responsibility.”
Ann Manning, Initiative Director of Future First, the organization sponsoring the Congress, notes, “One of the key goals of the 2014 Women’s Congress is to see how the constellation of environmental problems is connected to our current economic structures. We can change this by making those connections more visible to people.”
This fits squarely with the work of the commons, says OTC co-director Julie Ristau, one of the Congress organizers and a member of the leadership team. “Looking out for future generations is the core of a commons way of life, and our best, most practical hope.”
Indeed, the “Centrality of the Commons” is one of six key principles to be embraced guiding the Congress: “We recognize that we owe--and future generations deserve--a healthy commons, passed down from each generation to the next. We must take care of the things we share, and we share a lot.”
One of the unique characteristics of our age is that we are suffering Pre-Traumatic Stress Syndrome-- we know what’s coming. We are witnessing the destruction of the environment for our grandchildren.
“We are all members of a great human orchestra and now it is time to play the Save the World Symphony. You do not have to play a solo, but you do have to know what instrument you hold and find your place in the score.”
- Sandra Steingraber, biologist, author, and cancer survivor.
“We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it.”
- Paul Hawken
Carolyn Raffensperger, an environmental lawyer and public health advocate,
is one of the America’s leading proponents of the Precautionary Principle. This common sense idea states that when an action is suspected of causing harm to people or the environment, the burden of proof is to demonstrate the action is not harmful before moving forward. The European Union has adopted the Precautionary Principle as a statutory requirement in some areas of law.
Raffensperger, executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network (SEHN), coined the phrase “ecological medicine” to describe the large role that the natural world plays in health and healing. The focus of her work now is developing new models for governance based on the principles of precaution, the commons and ecological integrity.
These goals spurred her to initiate The Women’s Congress for Future Generations in 2012, which is followed the 2014 Women’s Congress to be held in Minneapolis November 6-9. It is sponsored by Future First, which invites both men and women to stand together to ensure a clean and healthy world for future generations.
On the Commons: What is the purpose of the 2014 Women’s Congress, and why are you holding it at this particular time?
Carolyn Raffensperger: Women’s voices are relatively absent in the political arena, especially in the realms of climate change, sustainability and agriculture. Many women are doing wonderful work yet they have not been the major spokespeople. But today women are rising up to take leadership. Women bring life into the world, and we have a responsibility to make sure the environment is healthy and whole.
The Congress is a place for women to talk about that responsibility and to articulate new places for women’s voices in politics. We invite men to participate too, and we invite them to share the unique responsibilities of this work. This is not meant to leave men out-- but to shift the traditional roles.
In thinking about the kind of world we want to live in, we are summoning our wild and woolly imaginations about governance in our society. Crowdsourcing social innovation is part of what the Congress is about. And one of our examples here is a man-- Benjamin Franklin. He introduced the first public library and created the first fire department. No one had ever heard of such things at that time. Somebody had to have the idea and know how to do it.
We are asking people to bring their full selves to the Congress, not to hide away their hearts and act only out of their brains. This is a place to be happy, full of grief and pissed off as we choose wise ways forward.
One of the unique characteristics of our age is that we are suffering Pre-Traumatic Stress Syndrome-- we know what’s coming. We are witnessing the destruction of the environment for our grandchildren. Some of us wake up at 3 in the morning and wonder what will become of this world. If we are all alone in our fear and our anxiety, we are in deep trouble.
There’s a real need for people to come together and choose the future we want for ourselves and future generations. There are solutions we can reach toward: social shifts, cultural shifts, working together. But the message we hear most places is that it’s all up to us individually-- go change the lightbulbs you are using.
On the Commons: How does the Congress fit in with work of the climate justice movement, the feminist movement and the commons movement?
Carolyn Raffensperger: The political realm is often so different from how people live their lives. I live in Iowa, and grew up in the Midwest, where people often help out their neighbors by shoveling each other’s walks. On a practical level, social capital is built out of that kind of sharing. That’s one basis to think about a different future.
This can lead to a rising up of women, who often are in charge of the everyday matters in the household, to challenge the structural injustice in society-- including the absence of women’s voices in political decisionmaking, which means we have fewer solutions available.
Look at what people are dealing with in their personal lives. The increase of autism and breast cancer, as just two examples. Women do the majority of the caregiving on these and other diseases caused by a declining environment, but they have no seat at the table where solutions are being decided. And that’s one reason why for so long the focus the economy and jobs are seen as what matters. Conversation about everything else is pushed away.
On the Commons: What are your hopes for what comes out of the Women’s Congress?
Carolyn Raffensperger: Women around the world are saying enough is enough. We need to discuss the health of our children. We care about clean water, and what’s in the air our kid’s breath. We’ve lost sight of what the economy is really about. We’re told money is security. But the commons is the real foundation of our economy and our security.
This is really about a new set of essential rights--including the idea that future generations have rights. Today the rights of private property largely define our laws and our culture. The commons changes this picture from the rights of individuals to the rights of a group of people-- the rights of a community. A new goal would be to develop basic rights around sharing. This would mean the purpose of government is to protect commonwealth and common health for present and future generations.
The Women’s Congress is predicated on women’s recognition of the dangers to future generations. And we are withdrawing our consent from this situation. We are serious about that--consent is the basis of governance.
So what do we do? We’d like to see all 50 states to enact constitutional amendments to their constitutions that recognize the rights of future generations. That’s the kind of ideas that will come out of the Women’s Congress. I think we’ll all be surprised by the great ideas that have not been thought of until now.
KEY CONCEPTS
These are the principles on which we stand.
1. GUARDIANSHIP OF FUTURE GENERATIONS
Future generations have the right to an ecologically healthy environment, a habitable earth where they can thrive. We recognize our responsibility to tend and nurture that healthy environment. We can all become guardians and participate in decisions that impact future generations. We can designate legal guardians to review regulations for their impact on the future, and to audit the commons under our jurisdiction.
2. CENTRALITY OF THE COMMONS
The commons are the environment we all share: air, water, soil, climate, animals, insects, and human culture of music, art, language, dance, and more. We recognize that we owe—and future generations deserve—a healthy commons, passed down from each generation to the next. We must take care of the things we share, and we share a lot. A key role of government is to serve as the trustee or guardian of the common wealth and common health.
3. THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE
Our planet’s future is uncertain. We recognize our responsibility to prevent harm, if possible–to heed early warnings; this is a statement of ethics. As we identify practices that are harmful to our planet, endangering our future, we must hold everyone accountable for their actions today: governments, businesses, communities, and individuals.
4. SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIES
Our planet is a self-sustaining ecosystem and we are part of it. We recognize that we must not take more from the Earth than it can regenerate, or put more into it than it can restore.
5. FREE, PRIOR, AND INFORMED CONSENT
Communities, like individuals, have the right to autonomy and self-determination, especially concerning decisions and actions affecting our commons: i.e., our air, water, soil, and other natural resources. We recognize that communities have the right and responsibility to refuse actions that may damage their environment. We recognize that we can, and must, insist that informed consent of everyone affected is obtained before any action is taken.
6. WITHDRAWING CONSENT
We can withdraw our consent from decisions and actions that threaten and damage the future of our planet. We recognize our responsibility to withdraw our consent from a way of life that endangers our planet’s future. We recognize that when we—the affected, the governed—join together and withdraw our consent from corporate or government actions and practices, those who govern and conduct business have an obligation to respond.
See the Declaration of the Rights Held by Future Generations.