THE CHALLENGE AND THE PROMISE OF THE EARTH CHARTER
FOR HIGHER EDUCATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Prepared by Richard M. Clugston, Ph.D.
Coordinator, Earth Charter Scholarship Project
Prepared for the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education
March 15, 2010
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CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION
THE CHALLENGE AND THE PROMISE OF THE EARTH CHARTER
FOR HIGHER EDUCATION FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
The failure of the climate change negotiations at Copenhagen provide the latest example of our
governments’ inability to reach agreement on the requirements and responsibilities for dealing
effectively with major sustainability challenges. In Copenhagen, all countries sought to extract
from the bargaining process the best short-term gain for their constituents and resisted imposing
potential additional costs that might diminish economic growth and the high levels of
consumption it requires. Despite 20 years of global chatter about sustainable development,
climate change, poverty alleviation, and so on, little substantial progress has been made. In fact,
on the majority of indicators of sustainability, things are getting worse.
Colleges and universities in the United States have made significant progress in incorporating
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’ built environment.
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”)
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.
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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.
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, transformational suffering, living
in a way that we all can live, and finding one’s vocation – 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
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
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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)
The following is figure is the framework we used in the “Global Higher Education for
Sustainability Partnership” to accelerate the transition to sustainability in higher education.
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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. For us this is grounded in the Earth Charter.
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.
To become a university genuinely committed to a sustainable future – a university that embodies
the values and follows the principles of the Earth Charter – there must be significant shifts in
each of these dimensions of university life.
Over 200 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:
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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. The
Facilities Management office on campus created a “Green Master Plan” that is guiding the
university and part of this plan involves achieving green standards in new building equivalent to
the LEED ”silver” 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 team. Its
purpose is to devise ways of integrating sustainability (in the broad Earth Charter definition) on
campus, including in the curriculum, outreach, infrastructure, and food services.
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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
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.
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Case Three: 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.
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.
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This document is thereby perceived as bearing a significant impact on the learning processes of
students and the overall performance of the university.
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).
How best can a university focus on redesigning its programs and operations to respond to
sustainability challenges? 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:
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 preserve 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)?
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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/