Earth Charter Podcast: Turning Conscience Into Action Earth. Charter International

In this interview, Jeremy Lent starts by offering an overview of some key ideas he articulates in his book “The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe.” He emphasizes the importance of generating an alternative worldview based on the understanding of our deep interconnection, and the notion of flourishing, particularly flourishing as an integrated organism. On Ecological Civilization, he invites us to visualize how the world could look like if we changed the dominant underlying operating system of our current civilization from one of extraction and exploitation to one that seeks to set the conditions for all beings to flourish on a regenerative Earth. This means envisioning not just changing one aspect, but everything. He stresses that in order to get on the path to an ecological civilization, we can look at life itself and ecosystems and apply that learning to our human societies, such as by cooperating and working together for mutual benefit. Lent makes the point that deep transformation starts with the recognition that our own ways of thinking need to be questioned and changed.

Almost thirty years after the end of apartheid, Black South Africans still fight for African liberation from colonial narratives. While previous generations struggled to end apartheid, younger generations now face the task of reimagining themselves, their communities, and the world. Mamphela Ramphele and Nolita Mvunelo discuss the need for intergenerational collaboration to combine the wisdom of older generations with the energy of younger ones. The need for social equity ties into the idea of ecological civilizations as an alternative to our current society. Ramphele and Mvunelo emphasize the need to consider freedom for all life, not just humans and see the Earth Charter as an opportunity to help build a new narrative for ecological civilizations.

Professor Nicholas Robinson first explains the history of environmental law and the role of the IUCN in its development. He then continues to discuss the importance of the Earth Charter, its connection to environmental law, and its current relevance. Dr. Robinson believes that the Earth Charter is unique because of the diversity and number of people involved in its drafting. This resulted in a consensus on shared principles and ethics accepted by people all over the world. Robinson sees the Earth Charter as a beacon amidst the current anxiety about the environment and believes that it provides a framework to implement the Sustainable Development Goals. Finally, Dr. Robinson discusses the concept of ecological civilizations and how it could be the answer to capitalism. 

Dr. Vandana Shiva shares key ideas from her book Earth Democracy and discusses the need to establish an Earth Democracy where we acknowledge that we are all part of the Earth, and that everything, including trees and rivers, have a right to exist. She connects this to the idea of Ecological Civilizations, democracies based on ecological oneness. These stand in opposition to today’s western civilizations that separate humans from nature and each other.

Shiva also talks about her work fighting industrial agriculture and promoting seed sovereignty. When companies like Monsanto began patenting seeds and making farmers dependent on them, she began to promote seed sovereignty and native seeds. She believes seeds are the embodiment of life and should not be treated as inventions or commodities, but rather as a commons. Through her work she has found that native seeds promote biodiversity and are more nutritious and outperform industrial seeds. If we work with the Earth and replace what we take, using organic practices, she believes we can meet our food needs, reverse climate change, and regenerate biodiversity.

Tu Weiming, one of the most influential Confucian thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries, contributed to the drafting process of the Earth Charter bringing Confucian thoughts of the importance of interconnectedness and community into its principles. In this conversation he talks about Confucianism, how it can apply to our current societal and environmental challenges, and how it relates to the Earth Charter. 

He also discusses the importance of self-cultivation or “learning to be human” within Confucianism. He emphasizes that the purpose of this it not to attain inner happiness or develop individualism. Rather, the emphasis is on the communal act and becoming part of a network of relationships in four dimensions, the self, community, Earth, and heaven. 

Dr. Bourn shares some key ideas he addressed in his latest book and discusses education’s role in society and social change, particularly the purpose of higher education. Given that it can be difficult to differentiate between themes like education for sustainable development, global citizenship, and peace education, Bourn advocates for understanding the context and how the people using these terms define them. Dr. Bourn believes that higher education educators and administrators need to take the lead to create a pedagogy of hope to address the anger and anxiety students feel about environmental issues. Rather than viewing key topics like sustainability and decolonization simply as items to check off on a to-do list, Dr. Bourn believes higher education administrators should focus on creating spaces for dialogue about them. While there are no quick fixes or ready-made toolkits to remedy these issues, the Earth Charter can be used as an ethical framework to provide guidance.