The Earth Charter
We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.
The Preamble above is taken from The Earth Charter, a widely recognized, global consensus statement on ethics and values for a sustainable future. Created by global civil society, endorsed by thousands of organizations and institutions, the Charter is not only a call to action, but a motivating force inspiring change the world over. It is a powerful blueprint for re-framing the way in which we perceive ourselves and our environment. As the world begins to self-organize into smaller, self-sustaining communities and economies, the resurrection of a new model for co-creation will be made manifest through symbiosis and coherence of global mind, breaking down our old global linear nervous system and orchestrating it into an embryonic space of constellated wholeness, a true regenisis of society. We are entering into the universal life, the next stage in our evolution as a human species, emancipating the potential and possibility for all of humankind.
The Earth Charter International is designed to empower individuals, communities, and organizations to take action and promote the Earth Charter worldwide.
The strategy builds on the concept of Decentralized Empowerment, and is intended to help the Earth Charter Initiative grow dramatically. As the signals from our world become increasingly urgent regarding climate change, biodiversity loss, armed conflict, water scarcity, poverty and human rights, the Earth Charter's unifying vision and ethical principles for action are needed more than ever.
The new strategy is the outgrowth of ECI Council (the international board of directors) discussions regarding strategies for scaling up. The new policies enacted by the Council encourage people, communities, and organizations everywhere to self-organize and to take action -- without relying on direction from any central coordinating administration -- to promote the Earth Charter and to put it to work in practice.
To help promote and guide this expected upsurge in activity, the Council has produced a set of Action Guidelines for Decentralized Empowerment. The Guidelines are intended to function as a "virtual coordinating mechanism" and reference document, to provide a sense of consistency and direction to self-empowered participants in the Earth Charter Initiative. Please click here to read the Action Guidelines.
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