HIGHER EDUCATION, STRONG SUSTAINABILITY,
THE EARTH CHARTER, AND RIO+20
Prepared by Richard M. Clugston, Ph.D.
Coordinator, Earth Charter Scholarship Project
Prepared for the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education
DRAFT
March 22, 2011
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Introduction
Despite 25 years of global chatter about sustainable development, climate change, poverty
alleviation, and so on, we are making insufficient progress toward a just, sustainable and
peaceful future for all. In fact, on the majority of indicators of sustainability, things are getting
worse. National governments pursue their own narrow short term interests, civil society is
fragmented, multinational corporations shape the global agenda to achieve short term profits
with little real concern for the environmental and social dimensions of a triple bottom line.
Part of the reason so little progress has been made towards creating a truly sustainable world is
that the mainstream response to the challenge of sustainable development has been to focus on
eco-efficiency in the service of economic growth. Our voracious globalising economy has been
greened in part, but we have not altered its course to embrace a stronger vision of sustainability.
Colleges and universities in the United States have increased their efforts to incorporate
sustainability in their academic programs and operations. Yet most of this progress is adding
sustainability material to a small set of disciplines and professions (e.g, ecology, architecture,
environmental law, etc.), and achieving ecoefficiency gains in the campus’ energy use and in the
design and operations of buildings and grounds.
If we are to meet the sustainability challenges of our time, colleges and universities will need to
teach and practice a deeper form of sustainability than just ecoefficiency and ‘greening’ a small
set of courses. The Earth Charter points to what this deeper form of sustainability might be, and
over the 20 years as the Earth Charter was drafted and put into practice, a wealth of Earth
Charter education materials have been developed to help inform changes in the critical
dimensions of university life.
UNESCO, which is responsible for coordinating the United Nation’s efforts to shape education
for sustainable development (ESD) states,
Education at all levels can shape the world of tomorrow, equipping individuals and
societies with the skills, perspectives, knowledge and values to live and work in a
sustainable manner. Education for sustainable development is a vision of education that
seeks to balance human and economic well-being with cultural traditions and respect for
the earth’s natural resources. ESD applies transdisciplinary educational methods and
approaches to develop an ethic for lifelong learning; fosters respect for human needs that
are compatible with sustainable use of natural resources and the needs of the planet; and
nurtures a sense of global solidarity. (“ESD in Brief”)
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UNESCO also observes that “many, perhaps most, formal educational institutions, as well as
many nonformal and media based educational/advertising enterprises, are not promoting ESD.
Rather they are conditioning individuals to work for other ends, whether that is overconsumption
or the promotion of fundamentalist and intolerant social projects.”
The Earth Charter and Strong Sustainability
The Earth Charter Preamble states that we “stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history”
(paragraph 1) and that “fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of
living” (paragraph 4). Fundamental changes are needed in the way universities teach, conduct
research, and model sustainability. If we applied the principles of the Earth Charter as “a
common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses,
governments and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed” (paragraph 6) neither
our economic system, nor most universities, would have passing grades.
The promise of the Earth Charter, I believe, is that it guides us toward a deeper and fuller vision
of what sustainability really requires. For me, the Earth Charter’s 16 main principles and 61
supporting principles provide the best definition we have of sustainable development, as well as
a guide and standard for “good globalization.” The integrated vision of the Earth Charter
Preamble, the principles, and “The Way Forward” point toward a worldview that is necessary to
meet our global challenges. Over the 20 years that individuals and organizations have been
drafting the Earth Charter and translating it into action, a wide variety of Earth Charter based
educational materials have been developed.
“There is a consensus today that there are three distinct but interrelated dimensions of sustainable
development, namely, the social, economic and environmental. They are often described as the
three pillars of sustainable development (the Triple Bottom Line). This understanding is sound
as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough or deep enough for two reasons. “ (Rockefeller)
First, a genuine, operative triple bottom line does not exist, and the future continues to be
discounted at the same rate that it was before we agreed that we should preserve resources for
future generations (Brundtland). Looking at how the private sector and governments really
operate, especially in the recent fiscal crisis, short term economic concerns trump all others.
Even if we could strengthen the social and environmental pillars, there are risks if the three
dimensions are seen as competing demands requiring trade-off, compromise, and political
accommodation.
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Embracing ecoefficiency as a means to reduce costs and improve productivity, thus enhancing
profit, and recognizing and reporting on efforts to care for people and planet (without really
internalizing these in the bottom line) is the weak definition of sustainable development.
“The Earth Charter provides a strong definition of sustainable development, recognizing the
three standard pillars but organizing them in a particular way. ‘Environment’ is not merely the
resource base for human consumption, not just one of the three factors to be considered. Rather,
it incorporates the greater community of life including human beings and the life-support
systems on which we all depend. This shift to a broader life-centred perspective marks one key
difference between ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ sustainability. Furthermore, the social dimension -articulated in the Earth Charter in terms of principles for economic and social justice, democracy,
non-violence and peace -- represents a set of pre-requisites and goals for sustainable
development rather than negotiable or merely optional considerations.” (Bosselman and Engel)
“Second, there is a fourth pillar - the global ethical and spiritual consciousness that is awakening
in civil society around the world and that finds expression in the Earth Charter. This global
ethical consciousness is in truth the first pillar of a sustainable way of life, because it involves the
internalization of the values of sustainable human development and provides the inspiration and
motivation to act as well as essential guidance regarding the path to genuine sustainability. The
lack of progress in the transition to sustainable development is often attributed to a lack of
political will. What is not generally acknowledged is that the lack of political will reflects a lack
of ethical vision and moral courage among our leaders and to some degree among most of us -we, the people. The Earth Charter recognizes the ethical and spiritual as well as the
environmental, social, and economic dimensions of the sustainable development challenge.”
(Rockefeller)
A salient theme that cuts across many of Earth Charter based approaches to ESD is the need to
focus more on cultivating capacities such as awe and wonder and living in a way that we all can
live,– especially for those of us who already have enough. As the Earth Charter states, “after
basic needs are met, life is about being more, not having more” (Preamble paragraph 4).
The Earth Charter calls on us to confront in as compassionate way as possible the drivers of our
unsustainable ways of living, and to be moved to action to change them. This is not an easy task,
for it draws us into facing the systemic ills of our social structures and our own personal
contradictions. This calls for new human-earth relationships (Berry and Tucker, 2006) and for us
to clarify the definition of sustainable development as well as the purpose of education (Orr,
1992).
What this will require is that we not only, in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, make our lives our
message, but make our institutions our message! David Orr challenges us to recognize that often
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it is the most educated humans that do the most damage to the social and ecological fabric
necessary to support sustainable living for all. He also argues that our buildings and other
institutional practices are crystallized pedagogy, teaching students and others what we really
value in life.
David Gruenewald provides a useful perspective on the Earth Charter’s potential contribution to
higher education when he states,
The Earth Charter’s educational proposals appear to recognize that the disciplinary
boundaries, norms, routines, and standardizations that characterize conventional
education work against the experiential, collaborative, interdisciplinary, action-oriented,
and transformative goals of the Earth Charter. (99)
What the Earth Charter offers instead is a set of shared if contested counterstandards “by
which people may measure progress toward a just and sustainable society, standards
enforced by the authority of moral judgment and the power of public opinion” (Sauer,
2002, pp. 26–27). (Gruenewald 100)
A transformative discourse… constantly challenges the assumptions and purposes behind
existing practices and articulates a fundamentally different vision. Such is the vision of
the Earth Charter. (100)
Thus from an educational perspective, the power of the Earth Charter is in its potential to
engender conversations, to interrupt our discourse, and to challenge our norms and
routines with a comprehensive, socioecological vision for society and education. For if
Bowers (2001) is right and we need to replace the destructive metaphors of modernism
with new, and old, ecological metaphors, we desperately need conversations out of which
these metaphors can emerge and circulate. As a cross-cultural people’s treaty for global
interdependence and shared responsibility, the Earth Charter is a text around which these
conversations might begin. (100)
Sustainability and the Critical Dimensions of University Life
The following is figure is the framework we developed for the “Global Higher Education for
Sustainability Partnership” Resource Project. It was used to guide the development of resources
to assist universities in strengthening the various dimensions of their academic and institutional
lives to realize their institutional commitment to a sustainable future. (Footnote on GHESPParticipants in GHESP represented some 1000 universities that had signed the Tailloires,
Copernicus, Kyoto declarations.)
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At the center of this chart is our understanding of the meaning of sustainable development and
the educational processes and content needed to promote understanding and action for a
sustainable future.
In the circle around this understanding are the critical dimensions of university life. This includes
teaching, research and service – the traditional mission of universities. In addition the circle
contains administrative and operational functions, and a focus on the extracurricular aspects of
student life. In each of these dimensions, a genuine commitment to sustainability would result in
a set of policies and practices that expressed this commitment. For example:
1. The mission, policies, strategic plans of the university would make sustainability a central
commitment of teaching, research, service and operations. In visiting the university’s
website (or campus) this commitment would be prominently featured.
2. Understanding and contributing to sustainability would be a major factor in the hiring,
tenure and promotion of faculty members, in research and in the design of majors and
general education requirements.
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3. The operations of the university would support green practices, reducing the institution’s
carbon and ecological footprints, e.g., renewable energy; LEED certified buildings; local,
humane, organic food, etc.
Students and the wider campus community would engage in “transformative discourses” focused
on such questions as: How can we create conditions so that the soon to be 9 billion humans can
lead decent, healthy, fulfilling lives, while enhancing biological and cultural diversity, and
preserving opportunities for future generations to live full lives? How can we create a financial
system that respects and cares for social and environmental well being, as well as economic
growth, and no longer discounts future generations? How can we live in a way that all can live,
eliminating poverty and violence and, as the Earth Charter states, “awakening a new reverence
for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and
peace, and the joyful celebration of life” (“The Way Forward,” paragraph 5)?
Of course, it is very difficult to create a university that embodies strong sustainability in an
economy that is unsustainable, and with disciplines and professions that are not oriented toward
research and practices that are necessary for a sustainable future. A university is an “organized
anarchy,” a holding company for diverse and often antithetical views on what is real and what
matters. Not all members of the academic community would agree that their institution should
focus significantly on sustainability, and many are rightly wary of advocacy.
Yet universities have played major roles in past social transitions which enabled societies to
more effectively respond to the challenges of their times. The Earth Charter and its associated
educational resources can assist universities in responding to the critical sustainability issues of
our time, as the following examples illustrate.
Good Practice Examples of Universities Pursuing Strong Sustainability with the Earth Charter
Over 500 universities (or university departments or centers) have endorsed the Earth Charter.
The 2007 UNESCO/Earth Charter Initiative report, “Good Practices using the Earth Charter,”
describes how twelve of these universities (and many other organizations) are using the Earth
Charter. Below are three examples from this report illustrating how the Earth Charter is being
used in various university settings to make some of these needed shifts.
“The Journal of Education for Sustainable Development” Current Issue: September 2010, frames
the sustainability challenges we face and explores the meaning of sustainable development and
education for sustainable development through the lens of the Earth Charter, drawing on the
experiences of a range of Earth Charter educators. It introduces the reports of projects using the
Earth Charter in ESD, including teacher training programs, university reform and community
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and youth education in Brazil, the USA, Belarus, Costa Rica, Canada and Germany. It describes
how Earth Charter education for sustainable ways of living can help realise and deepen the
emerging understanding of ESD in the context of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development. Good practice examples are also included below.
Case One: Policy, Planning and Administration
The case description below involves endorsing the Earth Charter and making it a guiding
framework for campus planning and program evaluation.
The University of Wisconsin
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
A major catalyst for UW Oshkosh’s work with the Earth Charter are the annual Earth
Charter Community Summits. First conceived by Jan Roberts in 2001, there are now more than
thirty Summits – local community gatherings – held in the US every October. Following the first
Earth Charter Community Summit in Oshkosh in 2001, the Earth Charter was endorsed by all
four elements of the UW Oshkosh’s shared governance– faculty, students, academic staff, and
classified staff. Top university administrators, including the Chancellor, also gave their
enthusiastic support. This was the beginning of a significant re-focusing towards sustainability
on campus and engagement with the wider community. Sustainability is now one of the
university’s “Governing Ideas,” along with Collaboration and Engagement.
The main goals of our efforts can be summarized as follows:
Development of the Earth Charter Community Summits as significant annual events
Implementation of sustainability principles across the university and encouraging the
same in the local community
Fostering collaboration and good relations between campus and off-campus communities
Establishing the UW Oshkosh as a national leader in responsible, sustainable practices
Establishment of Earth Charter Oshkosh as a year-round presence in the university and
wider community
Integration of Earth Charter principles into academic areas and everyday life
Although the concept of the UW Oshkosh being a ‘green campus’ is a new and (for some)
surprising development, it has quickly become a key part of the university’s public identity. A
direct outcome of the first summit was the creation of a campus environmental audit in 2003.
The campus adopted a Campus Sustainability Plan in 2008, and a Climate Action Plan in 2009
with a target of carbon-neutrality by 2025. These plans involve achieving green standards in
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new building equivalent to the LEED ”gold” rating. UW Oshkosh has also implemented a series
of energy conserving building retrofits on existing buildings.
On campus, the university’s Chancellor has directed the formation of a sustainability council,
appointed a full-time Director of Sustainability and a faculty Leadership Fellow in Sustainability,
and provided student internships. Their charge is to devise ways of integrating sustainability (in
the broad Earth Charter definition) on campus, including operations, teaching, research, and
outreach.
Case Two: Curriculum Innovation
The case description below involves making the Earth Charter relevant to general and
disciplinary education.
The Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education
Florida Gulf Coast University
Fort Myers, Florida
A major component of the Center’s work is to bring current scholars in environmental literature,
religious studies, and political science to campus to meet with students and to deliver public
lectures. Key areas of emphasis include ethics, activism, and the literary arts. The Center
promotes the Earth Charter in its signature events, in institutionally-oriented research, and in
what we call Earth Charter scholarship.
The Center has developed a “Guide to Eating Humanely and Sustainably with the Earth Charter
at Florida Gulf Coast University.” The Earth Charter provides an alternative to industrial
agriculture and the economic exploitation of labour and environment, challenging us to “Adopt
patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth’s regenerative
capacities, human rights, and community wellbeing” (Principle 7). The Guide aims to link Earth
Charter ethics to sustainable ways of life and to assist in the development of a culture of
sustainability at our university and in the region.
Our most significant area of Earth Charter related research, along with essays and talks, is the
publication of two books. The first, The Earth Charter in Action: Toward a Sustainable World
(KIT Publishers, Amsterdam 2005). The second book, A Voice for Earth: American Writers
Respond to the Earth Charter (University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia2008), provides a
literary voice to the ethical principles outlined in the Earth Charter.
Along with advancing Earth Charter scholarship, the Center works with faculty and staff to
infuse the Earth Charter into the curriculum at Florida Gulf Coast University. FGCU’s efforts to
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facilitate an interdisciplinary discussion of Earth Charter ethics has occurred at different levels –
as a component in a course, as an organizational framework for a course, and as a unifying
principle in a curriculum. The “University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future,” FGCU’s
mandatory course in environmental education and sustainable development, includes the Earth
Charter as a component to introduce students to a broad understanding of sustainability. Students
read and discuss the Earth Charter in class and are then required to write about the document in
one of the five short academic essays assigned in the course. It is often the subject of a lively
discussion as students and faculty members read the principles and sub-principles together and
consider their value and its efficacy. This open-ended discussion is founded on strong critical
and creative thinking skills.
Case Three: Using the Earth Charter to mainstream sustainability throughout the university’s
operations and curricula
The Methodist University Sustainable Program
Sao Paulo, Brazil
The Methodist University Sustainable Program was developed in a bottom up way and began
with the introduction of sustainability as a core value in the Institutional Political-Pedagogical
Plan, followed by the creation of a Sustainability Committee and actions defined in an Education
Program and a Structural Diagnosis of three environmental resources: water, energy and
greenhouse gas emissions. The first step of the Education Program was to establish how and
where sustainability could be included within the curricula of undergraduate courses. The second
step was to prepare the professors and lecturers of the identified subjects to mainstream
sustainability in their curricula using the Earth Charter as a guideline. The first module of an
education leadership program was conducted and resulted in the Sustainability Academy seed.
Sustainability provides a university an opportunity to confront its core values, practices,
entrenched pedagogies, and the way it uses resources and its relationship with the broader
community (Wals and Jickling, 2002; 230). It can be a catalyst for institutional change and for a
transition towards new ways of knowing, introducing teachers, students and administrators alike
to a new pedagogical world that opens up promising avenues for both institutional and individual
practice (Wals et al., 2004: 348).
Sustainability is both a practical and moral subject. It is interdisciplinary as much a matter of
concern to the humanities as to the sciences. It is, at once, an inescapable dilemma of our time, a
matter of study and reflection, and a challenge to action. It raises questions about globalization
and personal responsibility. It constitutes, in fact, all that a discipline calls for: a greater
understanding and a basis for the moral authority of knowledge (Cullingford, 2004: 250).
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But constraints also exist in academia, including the complex organizational, institutional, social
and cultural defenses against change that all institutions deploy. Meta-change of the type
represented by a shift of society to sustainability is particularly challenging because of the
general lack of critical social evaluation and learning mechanisms for understanding complexity
and adjusting to the big picture, a limitation endemic to bureaucratic and disciplinary education
(Edelstein, 2004: 271).
The Methodist University Sustainable Program, is the first know program in Brazil to involve an
entire university with the goal to introduce sustainability transversally in all under graduate
courses curricula and in university operations. The Earth Charter principles are used as
guidelines to the program development.
Creating the Methodist University Sustainable Program (MUSP)
Methodist University of Sao Paulo is located at the Metropolitan Region of Sao Paulo. It has
25,825 undergraduate students distributed in the knowledge areas of: humanities,
communication, business, science and technology, totalling 54 undergraduate courses. In
addition it runs 43 specialization courses and 6 MSc and PhD programs, totalling 1,008 students.
The institution has 1.660 employees, 537 professors and lecturers and 242 interns. The university
has a great regional influence and is recognized as the third best private university of Sao Paulo
state. More information can be obtained at the website: www.metodista.br.
The Sustainable Program was developed considering what Creighton (1998: 11) points as the
five key ingredients to successful university environmental action: (1) understanding how the
institution works, its players, and its decision making; (2) university commitment and
demonstrated support for environmental action, often articulated in an environmental policy; (3)
a university-wide environmental planning committee or smaller issue-specific committee; (4)
individual leaders; (5) an understanding of basic principles of environmental protection.
A couple of circumstances were favorable for the MUSP implementation. Firstly, the university
was not yet so fragmented. The institution was accredited as University only in 1997, although
the theology course existed since 1938, so ‘feuds’ common in academic fragmented institutions
didn’t have enough time to consolidate. In addition, the management design of the institution
privileged collegiate forums, what brings a great permeability and a constant contact of all levels
and segments of the university structure. A second indication was perceived during the event
that awarded the finalists ideas of the Program PraMelhor. The program objective is to stimulate
the participation of all employees (administrative and academic) through suggestions and
creative and innovative ideas regarding the improvement of economic aspects and quality of life
within the institution. Seventy percent of the finalist projects were related to environmental
issues.
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The initial plan of MUSP defined two major structuring components: i. An Educational Program,
designed to introduce sustainability in a transversal way through all the undergraduate courses
and; ii. Structural Diagnosis of three environmental resources: water, energy and greenhouse
gases emissions, in order to offer subsidies to plan the reduction of the ecological footprint of the
university. This initial plan preview enough space for incorporation of other ideas coming from
university members. The MUSP was launched in early April, 2009 at a natural Park in the
outskirts of São Bernardo do Campo in a day event. The invitation was made to principal, viceprincipals, all faculties’ directors and course coordinators as well as administrative managers,
totalling almost 100 persons. The engagement of all these sectors intended to create an open
and communicative process in which all stakeholders play their own, respected roles, what Wals
et al. (2004: 348) describe as the most desirable reform approach, highly contextualized, but
with great impact.
Case Four: Service to the Community and Youth Engagement
The case description below involves reaching out to the wider community and empowering
students to create a sustainable future.
University of Guanajuato
Guanajuato, Mexico
The University of Guanajuato decided to incorporate Earth Charter values and principles into
administrative activities and academic content. Faculty members of the Pimaug Programme
called upon Bachelor’s degree students across all disciplines to undergo the necessary training to
become Youth Promoters of the Earth Charter at the University.
The following are the short and medium-term objectives of the University of Guanajuato:
To increase the number of students promoting the Earth Charter;
To maximize the dissemination of the Charter inside and outside of the University;
To promote the Charter among the university’s staff and faculty; and,
To generate spaces for debate and discussion, among other activities.
Significant progress has already been made in achieving the objectives set out for disseminating
and training with the Earth Charter. Two additional objectives that have
already been realized include: the University of Guanajuato’s official endorsement of the Earth
Charter, the design and printing of the Earth Charter for the State of Guanajuato, and the
distribution of these pamphlets at workshops.
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In March 2007, the First National Training Workshop for Youth Promoters of the Earth Charter
was held and hosted by the University of Guanajuato. Approximately 44 students from higher
education institutions from across the country were in attendance and, as a result, the National
Network of Youth Promoters of the Earth Charter was formed.
The objectives set out for the short-, medium-, and longterm are designed to assist us in
expanding the knowledge and internalization of the Earth Charter principles within the university
sphere. In our opinion, this is a crucial factor in ensuring that environmental
issues are taken into consideration in all the activities and decision-making processes of the
university.
What has also emerged is a series of ambitious objectives relating to the implementation of the
Earth Charter as an essential tool for education for sustainable development; as a key element in
community service, research and extension projects; as a support to educational materials and
publications; and, above all else, as a reference point to the everyday pedagogy of teaching staff.
This document is thereby perceived as bearing a significant impact on the learning processes of
students and the overall performance of the university.
The Rio +20 Opportunity: Deepening Higher Education’s Contribution to a Sustainable Future
2012 is the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit in Rio, and Rio will host a UN Conference on
Sustainable Development. The Conference seeks three objectives: (1) securing renewed political
commitment to sustainable development; (2) assessing the progress and implementation gaps in
meeting already agreed commitments; and (3) addressing new and emerging challenges. The
Member States have agreed on the following two themes for the Conference: (1) green economy
within the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, and (2) institutional
framework for sustainable development (see http://www.uncsd2012.org/).
Rio+20 provides a major opportunity to accelerate progress towards sustainable development.
Increasingly civil society organizations, governments, and businesses recognize the need to
redirect the trajectory of the globalizing world economic order toward a stronger, deeper
framework for sustainability – such as the Earth Charter.
Remarkably, in this era of pessimism and summit fatigue, Rio+20 is drawing deep commitment.
A variety of movements are making 2012 a rallying point for demanding a shift to policies and
practices based on a true sustainability framework.
Adoption of an “Earth Charter” is part of the unfinished business of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.
The proposal for an Earth Charter was rejected by the world’s national governments at the Rio
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Earth Summit in favour of a more pragmatic Rio Declaration as a framework for Agenda 21.
Since then, little progress has been made in implementing Agenda 21, and the need for a more
comprehensive global ethical framework such as the Earth Charter has only increased.
20 years ago, in preparation for the Earth Summit in Rio, twenty-two presidents, rectors, and
vice chancellors of universities from all over the world convened at the Tufts European Center in
Talloires, France. They discussed the role of universities and, in particular, the role of university
presidents in environmental management and sustainable development, and created a
declaration-a ten-point action plan committing institutions to sustainability and environmental
literacy in teaching and practice. Over 350 university presidents and chancellors in more than 40
countries have signed the Declaration. Over the past 20 years many higher education
organizations and networks have committed to and pursued sustainability in their teaching,
research, service and institutional operations.
Rio+20 is an opportunity to engage leaders of academic institutions and international
sustainability in higher education organizations in reviewing progress toward SD and ESD in
higher education over the past 20 years, and contributing to the two themes of Rio+20- the green
economy and institutional structures (governance) for sustainable development. It is also an
opportunity to explore how to teach and practice a stronger form of sustainability than just
ecoefficiency and greening a small set of courses.
Specifically we are proposing to engage in the following:
1. to sponsor higher education for sustainability events at critical Rio+20 events which
focus on higher education’s contribution to the Rio+20 tasks and to ESD
2. to feature “higher education and Rio+20” workshops, articles, dialogue opportunities in
our conferences, publications, websites- engaging our constituents-university leaders- in
reflecting on how the critical dimensions of their university’s functioning would be
reshaped by a commitment to strong sustainability
Conclusion
The Earth Charter Preamble states that we “stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history”
(paragraph 1) and that “fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of
living” (paragraph 4) We are to “join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded
on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice and a culture of peace”
(paragraph 1) and to “live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life,
and humility regarding the human place in nature” (paragraph 4).
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Works Cited
Berry, Thomas, and Mary Evelyn Tucker. Evening Thoughts. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books,
2006.
Bowers, C.A. “How Language Limits our Understanding of Environmental Education.”
Environmental Education Research 7.2 (2001): 141–51.
Earth Charter Commission. “The Earth Charter.” 2000. Available online at
http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html
Gruenewald, David A. “A Foucauldian Analysis of Environmental Education: Toward the
Socioecological Challenge of the Earth Charter.” Curriculum Inquiry 34.1 (2004): 71107.
Orr, David W. Ecological Literacy. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 1992.
Sauer, Peter. “Global Ethics: An American Perspective.” Orion 21.1 (2002): 18–27.
UNESCO and the Earth Charter Initiative. Good Practices in Education for Sustainable
Development Using the Earth Charter. Eds. Mirian Vilela and Kimberly Corrigan. San
Jose, Costa Rica: UNESCO and the Earth Charter Initiative, 2007. 110-115.
UNESCO. “ESD in Brief.” Retrieved March 9 2010 from
http://www.unescobkk.org/education/esd/about-esd/esd-briefing/esd-in-brief/