Handbook English - Earth Charter Initiative

e faithful to the words and spirit of the original text, and link the Charter only with organizations,
products and events that are consistent with its values and vision.
How you can participate in the Earth Charter Initiative
1. Disseminate the Earth Charter and raise awareness about it among your friends and in your local
community.
2. Endorse the Earth Charter and encourage the organizations to which you belong and your local and
national governments to use and endorse the Earth Charter.
3. Start an Earth Charter study group and explore how to use the Earth Charter and apply its principles in
your home, work place, and local community.
4. Start a small, independent action group for advancing the Earth Charter’s mission and goals. Earth
Charter action groups are encouraged to be entrepreneurial, imaginative and creative in developing and
implementing their own strategies. Action groups should be action orientated. Two or three people
can together create an action group. Consider focusing the initial efforts of your action group in a
specified area such as the arts, business, education, the media, religion or government. An action group
should concentrate its efforts working within a specific organization, institution, or community where
the members of the group have good connections and are able to easily engage others with the Earth
Charter. Action groups should endeavor to inspire others to form additional action groups. Over time
an action group may want to expand its own network and also build connections with other Earth
Charter groups and activities.
5. Help the work of one of the Earth Charter Initiative focus areas – Education; Business; Communications
and Media; Religion, Spirituality and Ethics; Youth and United Nations and Global Governance.
6. Collaborate with Earth Charter Partners and Affiliates and with other organizations that have endorsed
the Earth Charter in your region.
7. Make financial contributions or provide other resources and needed services in support of Earth Charter
International and other Earth Charter projects.
8. Consult and follow the Action Guidelines for Decentralized Expansion of the Earth Charter Initiative,
which may be found on the Earth Charter website.
There are many ways to use the Earth Charter in schools, businesses, governments, NGOs, conferences, and
public events. For example, it can be used as:
• an educational tool for developing understanding of the critical challenges and choices facing
humanity and the meaning of a sustainable way of living.
• a call to action and an ethical guide to a sustainable way of life that can inspire commitment,
cooperation, and change.
• a values framework to guide governments at all levels in the design of policies and strategies for
building a just, sustainable and peaceful world.
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Earth Charter Initiative
HANDBOOK