Earth Charter Bulletin
The Earth Charter--a "people's treaty" to guide humanity's relations with the planet--continues to be a focus of the Center's activities and publications. Since you last heard from us, BRC staff have been working to introduce the Charter's principles to an expanding network of scholars and activists. We look forward to continuing these efforts and to sharing our progress with you in future newsletters.
In early November, the Center published "Women's Views on the Earth Charter." The booklet contains a collection of essays by women leaders that explore the relationship between the issues that are crucial to women and the principles and values of the Earth Charter. Thoughtful and provocative insights are offered by:
Elise Boulding, Professor of Sociology, Emerita, Dartmouth College
Esmeralda Brown, Southern Co-Chair, NGO Steering Committee of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development
Susan Davis, Executive Director, Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
Maximo Kalaw, Executive Director, Earth Council Institute
Patricia Mische, President, Global Education Associates
Beatriz Schulthess, Coordinator, Indigenous Peoples Program of the Earth Council
Soon-Young Yoon, Columnist, Earth Times
"Buddhist Perspectives on the Earth Charter," also published by the Center in November, presents the views of leading Buddhist scholars on the contribution of Buddhist teachings to an emerging environmental ethic. These essays are written from the diverse studies of Mahayana, Thai, Tibetan, Nichiren, and Zen Buddhism. Contributing religious scholars are:
Grace Burford, Faculty Member, Integrative Studies Program, Prescott College
David W. Chappell, Professor and Graduate Chair, Department of Religion, University of Hawaii
Susan Darlington, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies, Hampshire College
Rita M. Gross, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire
Yoichi Kawada, Director, Institute of Oriental Philosophy
Stephanie Kaza, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Vermont
Sallie B. King, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Religion, James Madison University
Donald K. Swearer, Professor of Religion, Swarthmore College
Both booklets contain the text of the Benchmark Draft Earth Charter and an informative overview article by Steven Rockefeller, Professor of Religion at Middlebury College, who is coordinating the drafting of the Charter. Booklets can be ordered from the BRC for $3.00 each.
This past November in San Francisco, a BRC-sponsored Earth Charter Reception at the American Academy of Religion annual meeting introduced the Earth Charter to the sixty scholars who attended. Steven Rockefeller described the document as "a spiritual vision that goes beyond shared ethics" and urged everyone in the room to become familiar with the Charter's principles and to incorporate them into their teaching. Bucknell University Professor of Religion Mary Evelyn Tucker encouraged the guests at the reception with her own experience of using the Earth Charter in teaching. "With all its imperfections," she reported, "the document generates among young people a tremendous sense of hope and possibilities for a sustainable future." Several of the religion professors who attended the reception expressed a new appreciation for the importance of the Charter. Many Earth Charter publications were distributed and many more conversations with religious scholars took place at the Center's publisher's booth at AAR, under the banner of "Emerging Earth Ethics."
Professor Steven Rockefeller at the AAR reception
BRC is participating on the Earth Charter National Committee , which is taking up the task of promoting awareness of the Charter throughout the United States. On December 5, Center Director Virginia Straus attended the first meeting of the National Committee held at the offices of its secretariat, the Center for Respect of Life and Environment in Washington, DC. The Committee has targeted six sectors for public outreach--civil society; education; religious and spiritual; professional, labor, and business; political and government; and the media. Over the coming months, strategies will be devised to communicate the Charter's principles and provide supporting materials to the various sectors.
Click here for more information on
BRC activities and publications related to the Earth Charter
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