Category:Eco-ethics

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Planet Citizen Vision of Living Earth

GreenPolicy360: Protect Life, Be Pro-Life, Prevent Extinction

Earth Right Now / EarthPOV / Earth Observations

Steve Schmidt / GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: In the 1990s, in Santa Fe, a city named after St. Francis, I began drafting what became the founding platform of the U.S. Green Party. The U.S. Green Platform was, as I described it, a "values-based platform" and it was intended to set in place a foundation of values that Green politics shared. We looked to "key values" and an international Green parties "four pillars" as a "politics of values" that would be applied to "the issues" of the day, the questions of the day, and this would, with integrity (as opposed to money-in-politics, influence-buying and/or opportunism) bring forward a "call to action" with Green positions. Not an ideologically determined document, drawn to be 'political correct', but a democratic statement reflecting life-affirming hopes and beliefs that was an eco-ethics, a vision of a better world and how to make a positive difference in our 'vita activa', our daily actions.

It's always good to see how our day-to-day choices and actions are part of multiple threads, a tapestry woven by kindred groups and causes, religions and movements. So, with respect, let's look at some who share eco-ethics, a 21st century vision, a legacy we hope to send forward to coming generations.

A Values-based Politics

Earth Charter -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Charter

The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. Created by a global consultation process, and endorsed by organizations representing millions of people, the Charter "seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family, the greater community of life, and future generations."[1] It calls upon humanity to help create a global partnership at a critical juncture in history. The Earth Charter's ethical vision proposes that environmental protection, human rights, equitable human development, and peace are interdependent and indivisible. The Charter attempts to provide a new framework for thinking about and addressing these issues. The Earth Charter Initiative organization exists to promote the Charter.

The idea of the Earth Charter originated in 1987, by Maurice Strong and Mikhail Gorbachev as members of The Club of Rome, when the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development called for a new charter to guide the transition to sustainable development. In 1992, the need for a charter was urged by then-Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, but the time for such a declaration was not believed to be right. The Rio Declaration became the statement of the achievable consensus at that time. In 1994, Strong (Chairman of the Earth Summit) and Gorbachev, working through organizations they each founded (the Earth Council and Green Cross International respectively), restarted the Earth Charter as a civil society initiative, with the help of the government of the Netherlands.

The drafting of the text was done during a six-year worldwide consultation process (1994–2000), overseen by the independent Earth Charter Commission, which was convened by Strong and Gorbachev with the purpose of developing a global consensus on values and principles for a sustainable future. The Commission continues to serve as the steward of the Earth Charter text.

Earth Charter Principles

The four pillars and sixteen principles of the Earth Charter are:

I. Respect and Care for the Community of Life

Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.

Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion and love.

Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable and peaceful.

Secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future generations.

II. Ecological Integrity

Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.

Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.

Adopt patterns of production, consumption and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights and community well-being.

Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired.

III. Social and Economic Justice

Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social and environmental imperative.

Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.

Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care and economic opportunity.

Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.

IV. Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace

Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision-making, and access to justice.

Integrate into formal education and lifelong learning the knowledge, values and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.

Treat all living beings with respect and consideration.

Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence and peace.

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A Catholic Pope (who names himself after St. Francis, and who writes the first eco-encyclical in the Church's history)

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Pope_Francis_on_the_Environment

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Laudato_Si

Laudato Si, an Eco-Encyclical Letter

Integral Ecology

The Letter: Laudato Si

The Pope, the Environmental Crisis, and Frontline Leaders

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rps9bs85BII

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Buddhists Raise Voices for Peace

Soka Gakkai International (SGI) / Nichiren Buddhist

The belief of the Soka Gakkai centers on recognizing that all life has dignity with infinite inherent potential; this immanent "Buddhahood" exists in every person and can be awakened through the Buddhist practice prescribed by Nichiren. Further, a person's social actions at every moment can lead to soka, or the creation of value (the theory of the interdependence of life). Societal change is facilitated through "human revolution", a way of living in the world that creates value.

Daisaku Ikeda

Ikeda's vision for the SGI was described in 2010 by Olivier Urbain, then director of the Toda Peace Institute founded by Ikeda, as a "borderless Buddhist humanism that emphasizes free thinking and personal development based on respect for all life."

Ikigai

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Ikigai: Reason for Being

Love | mission | vocation | profession | passion

— What you are good at — What you love — What the world needs — What you can be paid for

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A New Vision of Life on Earth -- Earthrise

As Planet Citizens We See Our Home Planet in a New Light

Beginnings of the Modern Environmental Movement

 

Planet Citizen Vision of Living Earth

GreenPolicy360 Page Highlights

 

Planet Citizens

Time for Planet Citizen Action

A Call to Action to Preserve & Protect Life on Earth

It's Your Time and, as GreenPolicy360 speaks of 'Becoming Planet Citizens'

We believe 'Each of us can make a positive difference stepping up & doing our best"

 

Strategies of Resilience & Survival

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See the Big Picture, It's All Connected

SJS / GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: As interconnected Planet Citizens our challenge is to improve our Quality of Life and Secure our Common Future...

Launch new initiatives, improve the environment, change the way governments run, impact and transform how businesses work

We encourage you to join in, dream and create your own green stories venturing on and making a positive difference every day

Now is time to go beyond old ways of thinking and shape new visions of our communities and our living home -- Planet Earth

 

It's Your Breathing Planet

www.planetcitizen.org

PlanetCitizen.org / Earth System Science / Measuring "Vital Signs"

Planet Citizens, Planet Scientists

Earth Science Vital Signs

Earth Right Now

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Planetary Awareness www.planetaryawareness.org

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Pope Francis speaks of Climate, Politics, Personal Responsibility

"It would be sad, and dare I say even catastrophic, were special interests to prevail over the common good and lead to manipulating information in order to protect their own plans and interests"...

"The Pope took particular aim at those who reject the science behind global warming..."

Pope Francis on the Environment

Integral Ecology

Laudato Si

Climate Action: An Ethical Responsibility

Beyond Preparing for Crisis Management

Biodiversity, Protecting Life

Biodiversity

All Species Day

Planetary Health Pledge / Via The Lancet (2020)

Green 'Vita Activa'

Planet Citizen Action

Climate Problems, Climate Solutions

Beginnings of U.S. Climate Science and Action to Protect & Preserve a Healthy & Sustainable Planet

Via the Ethics Institute at Penn State College of the Liberal Arts ... In 1977, Robert M. White, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wrote a report for the National Research Council a branch of the National Academy of Sciences that concluded that CO2 released during the burning of fossil fuel could have consequences for climate that pose a considerable threat to future society. (White, 1978)

• Your GreenPolicy360 remembers the National Academy report of 1977 and what followed immediately from Congressman George E. Brown -- the formal beginnings of government climate change study ... For more about the 1977/78 Congressional climate legislation and climate plan and the array of Congressional environmental science, programs and actions set in motion beginning in the late 1960's, visit GreenPolicy360's page (and links) in memory of George Brown -- https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr

A government report prepared ... in 1981 declared that "[t]he responsibility of the carbon-dioxide problem is ours - we should accept it and act in a way that recognizes our role as trustees for future generations." (Charney et al., 1979) This report also estimated that the amount of warming that would be experienced from a doubling of the pre-industrial levels of CO2 would be 3 degrees C, very close to the amount that the "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" would predict almost 30 years later." (Charney et al., 1979)

For over thirty-five years, the US Academy of Sciences has warned the US about the enormous threats of climate change with each successive report making stronger claims that human caused climate change is a serious threat to civilization. If the United States can be accused of failing to live up to its ethical responsibilities to the rest of the world on climate change, one cannot blame the US Academy of Sciences for failing to ring alarm bells. US citizens cannot claim that their most prestigious scientific institutions have failed to take a position on the seriousness of climate change.

The failure of the United States to respond to climate change can be attributed in largest part to a well-financed, well-organized climate change disinformation campaign. As ClimateEthics has previously cited, see "A New Kind of Crime Against Humanity?: The Fossil Fuel Industry's Disinformation Campaign On Climate Change". (Donald Brown, 2010a)

ClimateEthics has also repeatedly argued that the failure of the United States to respond to its ethical duties for climate change may also be attributed to the almost complete failure in the United States of the media and even climate change policy advocates to acknowledge that climate change raises not only national interests but also duties, responsibilities, and obligations to others.

See, for example, "Are Ethical Arguments for Climate Change Action Weaker Than Self-Interest Based Arguments? Why Taking Ethical Arguments Off the Table Is Like A Soccer Team Unilaterally Taking The Goalie Out of the Net. (Brown, 2010b)

https://ethicsandclimate.org/

The Ethics and Climate site contains over 185 articles (as of 2017) including 13 videos on ethical issues raised by climate change. The site seeks to help policy makers and interested citizens understand the ethical dimensions of climate change issues in contention in policy debates.

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Ethics and The National Academy of Sciences

If climate change must be understood as a civilization challenging ethical issue, can the US Academy reports on climate change be criticized on ethical grounds?

The US Academy reports acknowledge that climate change has serious adverse world-wide impacts, that is impacts outside the United States. For instance, in its most recent report, the US Academy concluded that climate change would cause the following world-wide impacts:

• Water availability will decrease in many areas that are already drought-prone and in areas where rivers are fed by glaciers or snowpack;

• A higher fraction of rainfall will fall in the form of heavy precipitation, increasing the risk of flooding and, in some regions, the spread of water-borne illness;

• People and ecosystems in coastal zones will be exposed to higher storm surges, intrusion of salt water into freshwater aquifers, and other risks as sea levels rise;

• Coral reefs will experience widespread bleaching as a result of increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification.

Climate Change is an Ethical Problem

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2016/01/09/why-climate-change-is-an-ethical-problem/

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The modern environmental era

Read more re: initial climate change study and science

In the UK

https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-amateur-scientist-who-discovered-climate-change/ -- About Guy Callendar

In the US

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:US_Public_Law_95-367.png -- At the beginning...

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/National_Climate_Program_Act_Public_Law_95-367_Sept_1978.pdf

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Can_our_environment_be_saved_George_Brown-Omnibus_Environmental_Bill_1969.pdf

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Env_policy_laws_US_'the_beginning'_of_env_era.jpg

Congressman Brown / Science Committee in Front of Climate Action

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Congressman_george.e.brown.gif

National Climate Program Act, 1978 / PDF

The first federal program established to study and assess scientifically the issues and risks of human-caused climate change

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An Initial Climate Study/Report: Historic

Energy and Climate Report, 1977, National Academy of Sciences / 175 pp. / PDF via GreenPolicy360

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James Hansen's Warning to Congress in 1988:

Ten years after the National Climate Program Act was drafted by Representative Brown and the legislation's passage led by the Congressman began the federal government's study of climate change, impacts and risks.

http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Hansen-testimony-1988.jpg

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