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EARTH CHARTER AFFILIATE REPORT FOR FLORIDA GULF COAST UNIVERSITY
CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION
February 20, 2009 – December 31, 2010
Introduction
In a move intended to deepen FGCU’s commitment to sustainability, University President Wilson G. Bradshaw signed an Affiliation Agreement with Earth Charter International, establishing a formal association between the two organizations to facilitate appropriate dissemination and use of the Earth Charter. The Agreement states that it “builds on a shared interest in the vision of the Earth Charter…. and (was) written in the spirit of promoting decentralized activity and the empowerment of individuals, communities and organizations.”
The signing ceremony on the FGCU campus followed the Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture Panel on Friday, February 20, 2009, on the campus of FGCU, which featured a group of Earth Charter scholars from around the world, including Earth Charter council member Steven C. Rockefeller. A second Lecture Panel was held that same evening at Sanibel’s St. Michael and All Angel’s Church, featuring talks by Rockefeller and Yale University religion and ecology scholar Mary Evelyn Tucker.
The Earth Charter Affiliate Agreement is the latest move by Florida Gulf Coast University to demonstrate a tangible commitment to environmental sustainability, one that President Bradshaw indicated would be taken very seriously. We believe the agreement has a two-fold significance. It elevates the sustainability mission of FGCU and the role of the Earth Charter in the work of the University, while also expanding FGCU’s access to intellectual resources via connections with other universities worldwide and their respective work with the Earth Charter.
Also in 2009, the Center laid plans to pursue a global role in Earth Charter scholarship. The Center sought financial support from several sources to advance its leadership position in promoting Earth Charter scholarship in the international Earth Charter movement. We received a grant from the Rockefeller Philanthropic Collaborative to convene a small group of internationally-recognized Earth Charter scholars for a residency at Florida Gulf Coast University and on Sanibel Island for February 2009.
The Earth Charter Scholars Consultation took place on Sanibel Island, February 18-24, 2009. This meeting focused on understanding and strengthening the Earth Charter’s contribution to education for sustainable living in higher education.
The Earth Charter Scholars Consultation was the first since the Earth Charter was finalized in 2000. Many scholars participated in the development of the Earth Charter between 1987 and 2000 and many areas of scholarship have evolved in the current decade. This was the first gathering, however, for the purposes of setting the scholarly agenda for Earth Charter education. Visiting participants in the consultation included Steven C. Rockefeller, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Mirian Vilela, Kiran Chhokar of India, Shafía Sucar of Mexico, Brandon Hollingshead, Brendan Mackey of Australia, and Michael Slaby of Germany. The consultation preceded the establishment of the Earth Charter Scholarship Project at the Center, coordinated by Rick Clugston. Since the Earth Charter has been such an inspiration for the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education at FGCU, we saw this gathering as a fitting way to mark our Fifth Anniversary Celebration.
The report that follows documents initiatives inspired and guided by the Earth Charter at Florida Gulf Coast University and the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education from the date of Affiliate Agreement signing ceremony on February 20, 2009, to December 31, 2010. The report is by no means exhaustive, but it attempts to offer a broad picture of our efforts as an official Affiliate of the Earth Charter Initiative. Because the Center is the hub of most Earth Charter activity at the University, we have chosen to structure the Affiliate report by the Center’s Mission and four Goals.
MISSION OF THE CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION
The Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education works toward realizing the dream of a sustainable and peaceful future for Earth through scholarship, education, and action. The Center advances understanding and achievement of the goals of environmental and sustainability education through innovative educational research methods, emergent eco-pedagogies, and educational philosophy and practice based on ethics of care and sustainability. The Center seeks to elevate the environmental mission of Florida Gulf Coast University and serve the university community, the local community of the Western Everglades and Barrier Islands, and the wider community of scholars.
GOAL I
To advance innovative educational research methodologies and pedagogies in environmental and sustainability education. This work will include developing methods for the assessment of sustainability, philosophical research, and curriculum and program development, and will take place in a variety of educational settings and geographical locations, ranging from local to global.
Environmental and sustainability education books that emphasize the Earth Charter
Osano, Philip M. and Corcoran, Peter Blaze, Eds. Young People, Education, and Sustainable Development: Exploring Principles, Perspectives, and Praxis. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers, 2009.
Editors Philip Molo Osano and Peter Blaze Corcoran completed the book Young People, Education, and Sustainable Development: Exploring Principles, Perspectives, and Praxis with the help of Center Editorial Assistants Joseph Weakland and Brandon Hollingshead. The book features a Preface by Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, a Foreword by James Gustave Speth, and an Afterword by Ruud Lubbers. The book contains 38 chapters co-authored by 68 contributors representing 25 nations. This project represents a considerable aspect of the Center’s research during the period of this report. It was published by Wageningen Academic Publishers on Earth Day, April 22, 2009.
The book Young People, Education, and Sustainable Development: Exploring Principles, Perspectives, and Praxis is expected to serve the following purposes:
showcase theories, principles, and practices of youth, education, and sustainable development in order to create awareness amongst educators, policy makers, nongovernmental professionals, business leaders, politicians, and the general public;
capture and document local and global education initiatives by and for young people that promote the transition to sustainability in different parts of the world;
draw the attention of policy makers and educators to the need and importance of youth participation in sustainable development as a contribution to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and thereby provide a case for increased attention and resources toward education programmes for young people worldwide.
The contributors are drawn from a wide range of expertise: scholars, practitioners, and researchers in education, youth, and sustainable development; young leaders and students; experts from governments, international institutions such as the United Nations; and practitioners in civil society. In addition, a balance of representation in terms of generations, geographies, and genders was achieved.
After the publication of the book, the Center facilitated three book launches. The global launch of the book took place at the Twelfth General Conference of the African Association of Universities on Tuesday, May 5, 2009, in Abuja, Nigeria. The North American launch occurred at the Fifth World Environmental Education Congress in Montreal, Canada, in on May 12, 2009. A European launch is scheduled for June 29 at an Earth Charter +10 gathering in The Netherlands.
A new scholarly volume on the Earth Charter, in development
The Center continued the conceptual development of a new scholarly volume on the Earth Charter. This latest book on the Earth Charter explores the applications, theoretical connections, and relevance of the Earth Charter to various academic and scholarly fields of endeavor in the sustainability movement. The book is intended for use in undergraduate university classes that speak to the challenges we face in environment, sustainable development, and globalization. This book would fill a gap in current Earth Charter scholarship. Although the Earth Charter is not widely used in the academy, it is widely used across cultures, geographies, and generations.
The volume is envisioned as a short book of 10-12 chapters or 180-200 pages. The introductory chapter will provide a general overview of the Earth Charter. This will emphasize the Earth Charter as an ethical framework for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful world. Contributions to the volume will be selected from high quality essays on the Earth Charter that have yet to be formally published, available essays that are to be edited and refined, and new commissioned essays. During the period of this report, the editors refined the concept for the book, and began the process of inviting contributors and forming an editorial advisory group.
A policy brief on the Earth Charter and higher education
As part of the Center Director’s visiting professorship at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), he has committed to co-authoring a major white paper on the Earth Charter with Professor Hamid Zakri at the Global Centre for Sustainability Studies (GCSS) at USM. GCSS plans to publish a discussion series on education for sustainable development. It will explore major intellectual and scholarly issues that affect sustainability and development in higher education. The Editorial Team completed preliminary work on the paper during the period of this report, including sending Zakri an email containing a literature review and outline for the policy paper in June 2010. Corcoran met with CGSS colleagues to discuss the project further in late August/early September 2010.
Other Earth Charter-related publications
Weakland, Joseph P. and Peter Blaze Corcoran. “The Earth Charter in Higher Education for Sustainability.” Journal of Education for Sustainable Development 3.2 (2009): 151-158.
Editorial associate Joseph Weakland and Director Peter Blaze Corcoran authored an essay for the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development on “The Earth Charter in Higher Education for Sustainability.” In the paper, they argue that central challenge of sustainable development is to provide material sufficiency for the human population while preserving the integrity of Earth’s biosphere. Current modes of economic production and consumption accomplish neither of these ethical imperatives. Institutions of higher education must show leadership in the transition to sustainable ways of life. As a people’s declaration of ethical principles for securing a just, peaceful, humane and sustainable future, the Earth Charter can serve as a valuable resource for tertiary educators.
Special section on the Earth Charter and Higher Education. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development 4.2 (2010).
Earth Charter Scholarship Project Richard Clugston work with colleagues at the Center for Environment Education in India to edit a special issue of the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development on the topic of “the Earth Charter and Education for Sustainable Development.” The issue was published in 2010 and launched at the EC+10 conference in India. A list of the articles, including authors and page numbers, is below:
Kartikeya V. Sarabhai, “An Ethical Framework for a Sustainable World,” 155-156
Rick Clugston, “Earth Charter Education for Sustainable Ways of Living,” 157-166
Toh Swee-Hin and Virginia Floresca Cawagas, “Peace Education, ESD and the Earth Charter: Interconnections and Synergies,” 167-180
Javier Reyes Ruiz, “Dangers Facing the Earth Charter,” 181-185
Noel Preston, “The Why and What of ESD: A Rationale for Earth Charter Education (and Naming Some of Its Difficulties),”187-192
Yunhua Liu and Alicia Constable, “Earth Charter, ESD and Chinese Philosophies,” 193-202
Moacir Gadotti, “Reorienting Education Practices towards Sustainability,” 203-211
Stephen Sterling, “Living in the Earth: Towards an Education for Our Time,” 213-218
Edgar Miranda, “Going Global in Arlington, Virginia,” 219-226
Alicia Jiménez-Elizondo, “CREADS, A Teacher Training Course on ESD in Costa Rica,”
227-234
Rose Marie Inojosa, “Promoting the Earth Charter in São Paulo’s Municipal Education System,”
235-242
Linda D. Hill, “Forging Inclusive Solutions: Experiential Earth Charter Education,” 243-251
Mike Sheehan and Jaana Laitinen, “The Earth Charter Goes Interactive and Live with e-GLO: Using New Media to Train Youth Leaders in Sustainability on Both Sides of the Digital Divide,”
253-258
Sofia Savelava, Dmitry Savelau, and Marina Bakhnova Cary, “Practicing ESD at School: Integration of Formal and Nonformal Education Methods Based on the Earth Charter (Belarusian Experience),” 259-269
Waverli Maia Matarazzo-Neuberger and Vicente Manzione Filho, “The Methodist University Sustainable Program: Using the Earth Charter to Mainstream Sustainability,” 271-278
Reiner Mathar, “Practices of Integrating the Earth Charter into Education Activities in German Federal States of Hessen and Rheinland-Pfalz,” 279-282
Hiro Sakurai, “Make a World of Difference: Hearing Each Other, Healing the Earth,” 283-286
Franklin Chamda Ngassa, “Using EC-Assess to Assess a Small Biofuels Project in Honduras,” 287-296
Dimity Podger, Georgia Piggot, Martin Zahradnik, Svatava Janoušková, Ismael Velasco, Tomas Hak, Arthur Dahl, Alicia Jimenez, and Marie K. Harder, “The Earth Charter and the ESDinds Initiative: Developing Indicators and Assessment Tools for Civil Society Organisations to Examine the Values Dimensions of Sustainability Projects,” 297-305
Rakhyun E. Kim, “The Principle of Sustainability: Transforming Law and Governance,” 309-312
“Earth Charter Educational Resources,” 313-316
Wohlpart, A. James. “Encountering Wildness.” Feature Essay. Earth Charter Global Oneness. Ed. Lisa Marika Jokivirta. 2010.
Earth Charter-related presentations at professional conferences
Hollingshead, Brandon. “Crafting Principles for Sustainable Development: The Earth Charter and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development.” Second International Humanities and Sustainability Conference. Florida Gulf Coast University. Fort Myers, Florida. October 9, 2010.
Weakland, Joseph, Peter Blaze Corcoran, Brandon Hollingshead. “Defining Sustainability with the Earth Charter.” Second International Humanities and Sustainability Conference. Florida Gulf Coast University. Fort Myers, Florida. October 9, 2010.
Fay, Particia, and Win Everham. “Fostering Cultural and Ecological Sustainability through Interdisciplinarity.” Second International Humanities and Sustainability Conference. Florida Gulf Coast University. Fort Myers, Florida. October 9, 2010.
Walch, Mary Pelak, Miles Mancini, Maria F. Loffredo Roca. “From Ideal to Analytical Tool: The Earth Charter as a Lens into Popular Culture and Cultural Narrative.” Second International Humanities and Sustainability Conference. Florida Gulf Coast University. Fort Myers, Florida. October 9, 2010.
Corcoran, Peter Blaze. “The Earth Charter in Southern Africa.” Southern African Development Corporation, Regional Centres of Excellence Conference. Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. May 15, 2010.
Weakland, Joseph. “Composition as Ecological Study: Writing and Sustainability at Florida Gulf Coast University.” 2010 Annual National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference. March 31, 2010. St. Louis, Missouri.