WHAT IS THE EARTH CHARTER?
The Earth Charter is an ethical framework for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society during this 21st century.
It seeks to inspire in all people a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the whole human family, the greater community of life, and future generations. It is a vision of hope and a call to action.
The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. Created by a global consultation process, and endorsed by organizations representing millions of people, the Charter "seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family, the greater community of life, and future generations." It calls upon humanity to help create a global partnership at a critical juncture in history. The Earth Charter's ethical vision proposes that environmental protection, human rights, equitable human development, and peace are interdependent and indivisible. The Charter attempts to provide a new framework for thinking about and addressing these issues.
How do we integrate world citizens into a grassroots movement to bring this into being? Can the people of the Earth promote this idea so as to not lose power to the overriding corporate global resource grab that is ubiquitous and increasing?
With the TPPA the Transpacific Partnership Agreement and the TTIP Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership being foisted upon many countries in their respective regions, is the Earth Charter robust enough to ensure that humanity will be able to have a just and fair future?
We are now also deeply embedded in an era of the Security State of Global Proportions how is this going to affect the Charter?
As we near 2020, we are seeing that the Charter may need some revising and that we as a humanity have to go beyond ecological sustainability and repurpose how we respond to the rapidly increasing ecological, economic and societal challenges that are all presently converging.
Regeneration of the environment has to be a priority of the highest order, as well as looking deeply at the particulates in the air, water and food chain. With geoengineering being played with, what are the repercussions in our fast altering world, where democracy is now being seen as becoming very poorly represented and even problematic? (the two party electoral system in the USA and the UK) Whilst big world media becomes more omnipresent, globally yet concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.
Environmental Modification Convention
There is a need to give more teeth to enforce the rule of law on countries that break these conventions, especially ENMOD.
The Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD), formally the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques is an international treaty prohibiting the military or other hostile use of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects. It opened for signature on 18 May 1977 in Geneva and entered into force on 5 October 1978.
The Convention bans weather warfare, which is the use of weather modification techniques for the purposes of inducing damage or destruction. The Convention on Biological Diversity of 2010 would also ban some forms of weather modification or geoengineering.
Yes, we definitely need regulation to stop unbridled degradation of the earth’s resources, because as most people know the corporate world’s only aim is to make a profit for shareholders. With corporate ‘responsibility’ seen with increasing suspicion we need to have this discussion of how we justly care for the 7.5 billion human inhabitants and the future of our biosphere especially children of today and tomorrow.
This is a repeat of an interview broadcast in 2006 and no doubt this important subject needs to be addressed far more in the public arena - now - 10 years after broadcast.
http://earthcharter.org
Time Banks, Green Dollars, Savings Pools
The interview initially starts with latest topics of Universal basic income, Bitcoin and crypto currencies and that people are awakening to the fact that central bankers don’t have a clue as to solve this ongoing and deteriorating crisis.
In NZ the situation today looks pretty good to the casual observer - listen to MSM and government sources and we are in a stable and robust moderately growing economy - everything is quite good, some of our major trading partners are experiencing some head winds but … ‘she’ll be right.’ If you rule out the dairy shock of the last 14 months and take out the Auckland property bubble but don’t worry about those little wobbles, we as a country are doing just fine!
What this means that we in NZ are going to be following most of the rest of the world into 'debt deflation' which over the coming years is going to take hold with a greater severity.
We have been a lucky country and managed to come through the recent (GFC) Global Financial Crash of 2008 along with Australia and NZ being almost alone in the world because we had many trade ties to China and we did not get hammered like other countries - Australian minerals and NZ dairy were doing very well. China being the last big bubble to implode and it looks like it is going to do so now as well - this is big news, for if China starts to deflate, the rest of the world has nowhere to go … who is going to prop up all the bubbles and asset prices? It appears that there is soon going to be a rush to get out of all the equities markets. As this has all been built on debt finance and short sighted policies.
Most small cities in NZ can do a certain amount of business locally, so that what is produced locally and the money that changes hands, gets recycled through the commercial areas of that town and district. however when it comes to big ticket items, money and goods or materials they may come from a larger more distant source, the money that goes around in a smaller isolated town or city, has a tendency to quickly go back out of town, sometimes very rapidly, hence keeping the area less financial and liquid.
If you have a local currency, like time banks this can cycle through the localised area continuously supporting local community and business, however if you have a national currency it comes and then leaves and if there is a head office overseas, the money actually leaves the country. For example the near on $5 billion in profit from the large Australian trading banks, and the 4.7 million NZ population, gives one cause to realise how much money leaves NZ for other countries.
At present local and regional government are becoming interested in embracing forms of alternative currencies (listen to the interview for more)
Covering the immediacy of putting in a Time Bank, you get the community engaged, working, and creating value and worth.
Time Banks are able to work in very well with voluntary agencies and there are a number of them in NZ and growing from strength to strength.
Project Lyttlelton http://www.lyttelton.net.nz as a time bank example, has become the glue of the community that as they had been established prior to the Christchurch earthquake it was through their tightly associated team and connectivity, that they were able to mobilise within minutes of the earthquake, have people on the ground and assisting hugely with civil defence, police, ambulances and the fire department and council.
Phil also gives a narrative as to how a time bank can be set up. Once you set up with freely available software and you have your team of early adopters you can branch out. Plus, get some of your charitable and non profit organisations onboard early because you can also assist these NGO’s donating ‘numbers of hours’ to them, which means that you can assist them with additional help, because of ‘serial volunteers' - people who like to work and donate their time and effort to the community. These people love to work for community and they are just living their values. This way Time Banks can put their ‘accumulative time’ into a ‘community chest’ which can be called upon and used by various charities etc. But also in a simple situation of a hairdresser swapping hours for their lawns to be mowed or gardening for house painting. Tuition for baby sitting etc.
That Christchurch City at present is looking at the possibility of a council backed regional currency - which is a very interesting concept. Margaret Jeffries is even talking about a UBI Universal Basic Income being included in this discussion.
Software used is called Community Weaver by Time Banks USA http://timebanks.org/get-started/community-weaver/
Also, Community Forge - Hamlets
http://communityforge.net/en/software
Note that the whole of NSW in Australia are on a Community Forge system.
Madison in Dane County is a time bank in Wisconsin USA and has over 2000 members at http://danecountytimebank.org
The founder of Time banks was Edgar S Cahn who was an invalid, yet he could still think and do simple tasks and he set out to create a time bank, because he did not like being seen as in-valid!
https://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/c&b/2005/fall/nonmonetary.pdf
We also cover Professor Thomas Greco who is presently in Greece to educate and assist in creating alternative currencies as Greece’s economy has floundered. That the imposed austerity exacerbates the problem that it is claiming to fix, because the people at the lower socio economic spectrum are the ones who suffer the most because all their money is spent keeping themselves from going under. So austerity starves the economy of liquidity thus you restrict economic activity. Time banks and ‘Green drachma’s’ can really pull the strings of community together and get an economy up and running very quickly and bring more stability and peace to the community. thgreco@mindspring.com for more information.
Phil says that it’s a good idea to have a back up and have a connection to a time banks or some other localised currency system - because you never know when you may need one.
http://www.le.org.nz
A very interesting interview, with one or two seconds of scratchy recording due to a chronic limitation in the use of copper wires in NZ’s telecom system.
Why is this government touting the TPPA, a complex and convoluted path to achieve a $2.7 billion by 2030? In 2015, over $4.5 billion was earned by our four big Australian banks alone which was a 30% increase in returns over a 7 year period. Our country's sovereignty and democracy is about to be lost for such little gain from the TPPA, particularly compared to corporate profit levels.
Since the TPP’s signing on the 4th February the government is steaming ahead with ratification, first reviewing the TPP agreement and the National Interest Analysis (NIA) through the present Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (FADT) Select Committee process.
Over 3000 New Zealanders have provided the government with their views and evidence, at hearings in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland, with more through the remainder of April in Wellington. The report from the FADT committee is due before the Parliament in May. If approved the Minister Todd MacClay will introduce enabling legislation to the House which will amend our New Zealand domestic legislation where it is inconsistent with the TPP treaty arrangements agreed by the 12 parties.
Greg Rzesniowiecki, aka Gregfullmoon, has evolved to fill the role of public advocate specifically on behalf of the public interest concerning the TPP. Born in Australia, and having worked in engineering and as a union organiser, Greg moved to Motueka where he was a member of the Renewables a local climate action group. He quickly came to realise that TPP would make government’s ability to regulate for carbon emission reductions problematic.
It was local government in the form of Auckland Council which gave a lead in the struggle with TPP. In December 2012, the Auckland Council adopted a comprehensive 12 point policy in respect to the TPP. This policy has now been adopted by 12 New Zealand Territorial Authorities who in their territories represent 60% of the NZ population. Greg was involved in supporting that effort.
Greg has also been supportive of local TPP Action groups when planning their rallies and actions, assisting in Nelson, Wellington and Hamilton on various occasions.
Greg says we will have several more opportunities to voice our disapproval in the remainder of the year, however if we want to ensure that New Zealand does not ratify the TPP we need to make sure that the Government does not have the numbers in the house for the TPP and its enabling legislation. This means pressuring local MPs and members of the smaller parties such as Peter Dunne.
Activists also are continuing to promote the call for a binding referendum on the TPP prior to final assent. Greg was central in petitioning the Governor General to ask him to demand that the Prime Minister puts the question of the TPP to the people, otherwise the Governor General will refuse to give the legislation the final assent which requires the Governor General’s signature.
For more information on the TPPA See this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwqMp1ykbW8 or go to http://itsourfuture.org.nz/
For more information about New Zealand’s already eroding sovereignty, go to http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/cafca-standfor.html
This interview was sponsored by The Awareness Party http://www.theawarenessparty.com/
Permaculture is a designed science system that is the most innovative planetary method available - of pulling all the disparate forces of nature together in a harmonious movement to live within the seasonal flow of the web of life.
Geoff is continually invited to go to many countries from very developed, to others that are environmentally distressed and now, situations of conflict where he finds himself putting both conflict and environmental circumstances back together - in a sustainable form. Even looking towards establishing eco city developments and eco villages as examples, as the permaculture design system covers all climates, all landscapes and virtually all contingencies.
Permaculture to him is essentially a journey of discovery through a career of assisting people towards embedding sustainable knowingness – which has been taught as a subject since 1979 - to over 15,000 students and NZ too has a number of superb students now fully trained as experienced teachers, many working globally as leaders in their field.
There is also a growing awareness that we need to be resilient and self-reliant and though not seen out in the public realm, behind the scenes there are many people who have a feel for the land, and see themselves asking the question how does a human being live on a planet and in community and sustainably.
That the word ‘sustainability’ is today used in every global aid proposal - where conversely when the Clark Labour Government administration here in NZ left power, it is alleged that the new National Government administration passed a memo to all governmental departmental heads, asking them to not use the word sustainability in any ecological or environmental context.