Terry Paul Choyce
April 27, 2008, Brunswick Street United Church
For over 11 years my life has been enriched and transformed by the words, music, and life of Carolyn McDade, who wrote much of the music in today's service. Last year a beautiful CD was created by Carolyn and women from all over North America, including many from Atlantic Canada, called My Heart is Moved. She based many of the lyrics of this music on the words of the Earth Charter.
In 1987 the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development asked for the creation of a new charter that would contain the fundamental principles for sustainable development. In March of 2000 the Commission approved the final version of the Earth Charter, which was written by representatives from all over the world. The 3 who came from Canada were Elizabeth May, Maurice Strong, and Severn Cullis- Suzuki. I am going to read just parts of this important document to you.
PREAMBLE
We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise.
To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.
Earth, Our Home
Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life. The forces of nature make existence a demanding and uncertain adventure, but Earth has provided the conditions essential to life's evolution. The resilience of the community of life and the well-being of
humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and clean air. The global environment with its finite resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of Earth's vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.
The Challenges Ahead
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. We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being
more, not having more. We have the knowledge and technology to provide for all and to reduce our impacts on the environment.
The emergence of a global civil society is creating new opportunities to build
a democratic and humane world. Our environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive solutions.
Universal Responsibility
To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility
for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in nature.
We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community. Therefore, together in hope we affirm the following interdependent principles for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations ,businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.
Here are a few of the principles. There are too many for me to read now, but you can go to www.earthcharter.org to read more about the Earth Charter.
- 1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.
- a. Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its
worth to human beings.
- b. Affirm faith in the inherent dignity of all human beings and in the intellectual, artistic, ethical,
and spiritual potential of humanity.
- 2. Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.
- a. Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to
prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.
- b. Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to
promote the common good.
- 3.Secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future generations.
- 4.Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.
- 5.Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.
- 6.Treat all living beings with respect and consideration.
- 7.Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.
As citizens of this planet, as stewards of the Earth, and as Christians, it is our responsibility to care for this glorious creation of God. In the past most of us have done a pretty poor job of making sure the Earth is unpolluted, its resources managed carefully and distributed fairly, and its human and nonhuman inhabitants treated with care and respect and equality. It is apparent with the precarious conditions of the Earth now, that we must change our ways. For the sake of ourselves and all who come after us, we must act immediately to make this world a clean, healthy, loving place.
I'm going to end with the final statement from the Earth Charter: "Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of 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.
©Terry Paul Choyce. Used with permission from the author.
