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Need Some Basic Info on the Earth Charter? Here it is!
What is the Earth Charter?
The Earth Charter is a people’s treaty. What does that mean? It means that real people like you got involved and helped to shape the principles and the language of the Earth Charter to make sure it represented everyone.
What does it do?
The Earth Charter provides an ethical framework for a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the twenty-first century. Ecological sustainability is important, but the full meaning of the Earth Charter extends beyond our shared environment to promote a truly caring community of life. The Earth Charter stands for social and economic justice, nonviolence, democracy, and peace. There’s never been anything like this before: a global statement by real people about how to build a better world for everyone.
What can I do with it?
First of all, read it. Secondly, think about it. It really makes sense, right? Then consider how the Earth Charter can be used by all kinds of people in all kinds of places—including governments, businesses, and schools—to instill values and ethics into the way we live and work together. Check out our Make It Happen page for ideas on what YOU can do NOW.
How was the Earth Charter created?
The United Nations (UN) tried to create a global ethics statement in 1992 and failed. People outside the official meetings had more exciting ideas and more energy for the project than those inside the UN. Two years later, Mikhail Gorbachev and Maurice Strong revived the effort with a new attitude. Propelled by their leadership and the force of grassroots activists, the Earth Charter became people’s treaty and the Earth Charter Movement began to gather momentum worldwide.
Then the Earth Charter Commission was established in 1997 to draft the Earth Charter in consultation with people all over the world, including diverse religious and cultural groups. As chair of the drafting committee, Steven Rockefeller convened numerous drafting conferences in Europe, South America, Canada, the US, Africa, and Asia. Through this painstaking process, a common language was found that broke through cultural and national borders. If consensus could not be reached on any particular point, it was omitted or a solution negotiated. The drafting process reflected the ultimate goal of the Earth Charter in its recognition for worldwide cooperation from all people, regardless of gender, socioeconomic status, culture, religious tradition, and ethnicity. A final draft was achieved in 2000.
Why do we need an Earth Charter?
Let’s face it, it’s a new century and that means a new approach to life on Earth. Being alive at this moment in time offers all people an opportunity to re-examine their values in order to meet the ecological, societal, and global challenges that face humankind today.
As global citizens, we have to think and act differently than people did in the past in order to ensure a sustainable future. For one thing, people in the West can no longer feel superior to people in the East and those living in the Northern Hemisphere need to understand the concerns of billions of people living in the Southern Hemisphere. Why? Because environmental protection, human rights, social equality, and peace and democracy are all connected. The Earth Charter has, effectively, been endorsed by an Earth Charter Commission which represents the global North, South, East and West. It recognizes the need for these changes in our lives by providing a new ethical and social value-based framework for living together in peace.
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