Monday, April 21, 2014

Earth Charter

Kamilah Van

Professor Brenda Thomas

IDS 3920 CRN 10140

Journal Entry Earth Charter

 

The Earth Charter is a document that stands and supports the future of the Earth. Its intent is to establish a set of guidelines that humanity can follow in order to protect the resources we have in order to have a prosperous future. This document serves as a guide for all of use to live sustainable lives for the good of the home we all share. "Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life." As repeated in class constantly we all have a role in the protection of Earth. It is not only expected but it is encouraged through the text, trips and class discussions we have constantly. What I like about the document is that it is broken down into four sections that attempt to tackle and address some of the problems we are dealing with currently. Hopefully this document can have the power to be adopted by all and given as much value as we could our constitution and other documents for global good.


 

The following statement is towards the opening of the document: "The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living". This statement offers to set the tone of the document and leads to the many important parts that will take place. The document is broken down into four sections: Respect and Care for the Community of Life, Ecological Integrity, Social and Economic Justice, and Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace. These sections host many other subjects that will help with the point of the document. I feel that by reading this it puts into the perspective the responsibilities that we all have for the Earth. At this point in my college experience a vast majority of what I have learned about the environment has been taught to me in various courses. It is important to expand my knowledge and actually want to apply these concepts after I graduate. The time has come for sustainable living to become something that is seriously done in every area of human existence. It's time that people take more responsibility and put more emphasis on the issues. I feel that once a document like this can be genuinely adopted then progress can begin.



I liked reading the document because it broke down how we can make an effort to fix some of the problems going on. Since the issues host a wide variety of subjects there is something that all areas of authority can find significant. "In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development". In an effort to continue to educate people about documents like this it is important that education continues. Apart from this class I'm not sure that I would have known that a document like this existed. One thing I can say is that FGCU is making an effort to make sure that when students leave this institution they have a better understanding and relationship to the issues at hand. Here is the link to the Earth Charter Document: http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html

No comments:

Post a Comment