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Earth chartered
The Earth Charter Commission has issued its final version of the Earth Charter, a statement of ethical principles, similar to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, that will help guide the conduct of people and nations towards each other and the Earth and work towards ensuring peace, equity and a sustainable future. The Charter was created as a result of a decade-long consultation process between diverse groups throughout the world. The list of principles are organised into four sections - Respect and Care for the Community of Life; Ecological Integrity; Social and Economic Justice and Democracy; and Non-Violence and Peace. The Earth Charter Commission plans to review responses to the document over the next two to four years and will consider possible amendments. The focus will now move to using the Earth Charter as an education tool in formal and non-formal education, and as the basis for business and professional codes of conduct and national development plans.
Leonardo Academy Inc., a non-profit organisation dedicated to reducing pollution, has launched its new web-based newsletter called Cleaner and Greener. The first issue of the newsletter promotes the Cleaner and Greener Certification Program, based on four practical and doable steps for building owners and other organisations. This includes rewarding organisations for the emission reduction benefits of their energy efficiency and renewable energy actions, reporting their emissions and emission reductions to Cleaner and Greener, retiring some emission reductions that they have created or purchased, and asking the organisations that they do business with to carry out the same four steps. The issue also presents information on a contest open for college students and invites them to prepare public service announcements for the Cleaner and Greener Environment Program. Visit their website at www.cleanerandgreener.org/News/letters.htm.
The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EFILWC), a publicly funded autonomous agency of the European Union, has recently announced a new database service on its SD-Online website. The new Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises Support Database contains 60 sustainable development support initiatives specifically designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This means that the number of links to sustainable development websites available through SDOnline now totals 537. One can freely access information related to network-orientated organisations working in the field of sustainable development, conferences on sustainable development topics, databases of links to practical sustainable development resources and software tools available on the Internet, and training courses. SD-Online plans to further introduce two new databases soon - one covering sustainability-oriented support systems aimed at SMEs and a second featuring case studies of sustainable SMEs. The databases, which can be accessed from the appropriate sidebar buttons on any of the EFILWC's SD pages, are regularly maintained and updated. Viewers can also submit information about their own sustainable development initiatives to the website as well as sign up for the foundation's monthly SD Online newsletter and receive regular updates by email. Visit www.eurofound.ie/. |
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