Vote for a sustainable future
Climate Change Matters Trust
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Earth Charter
We stand at a critical moment in the Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. To move forward we must recognise that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are a global community with the need for a common destiny - sustainable development.
The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st Century. The Earth Charter is the product of a decade-long, extraordinary process of global consensus building and is widely endorsed by people and organisations throughout the world as a statement of common visions, values and ethical principles for creating a sustainable future.
The Earth Charter can provide a useful framework for learning about sustainable living challenges, to become familiar with global ethics, and to consider how to address the broad needs of your community in an integrated and holistic way.
The principles of the Earth Charter are based on contemporary science, international law, and the insights of philosophy and spirituality. These principles are intended to have enduring significance for people of all cultures and belief systems and to act as a guide for people to clarify their shared values. These principles are grouped around themes of:
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Respect and Care for the Community of Life
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Ecological Integrity
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Social and Economic Justice
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Democracy, Non-Violence and Peace.
To find out more you can visit the Earth Charter Initiative website. It has loads of information about the Earth Charter, how you can get involved, and current news about Earth Charter initiatives happening across the globe. You will have to navigate through the site as we cannot provide direct links to specific material. We recommend that you visit the Resource Centre (via the Home page, Get Resources section). Categories that have specific relevance to teachers include 12: Education Primary and Secondary and 14:Youth
Available resources developed by educators from across the globe include:
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Exploring the Earth Charter, a collection of activities for schools and communities to study and apply Earth Charter principles
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Earth Charter Curriculum Stimulus Material & an Australian case study
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Roots and Shoots, a youth program from the Jane Goodall Institute
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Earth Charter Youth Initiative (via the Youth Initiative blog page)
To visit the Earth Charter Initiative website click here
To visit the Earth Charter Australia website click here
