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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

Corcoran, Peter Blaze. Invited talk introducing the play, “Our Blue Planet: Will it Survive till Tomorrow?” Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. November 5, 2009.

Corcoran, Peter Blaze. Invited talk with Wangari Maathai. Symposium on Climate Change Education and Sustainable Cities. United Nations Environment Programme. Nairobi, Kenya. August 31, 2009.

Weakland, Joseph & Maria Roca. “Student Participation in Campus Sustainability: Examples from Florida Gulf Coast University.” World Environmental Education Congress 5. Montreal, Canada. 13 May 2009.

Corcoran, Peter Blaze, Jessica Mendes, & Donna Roberts. “The Role of Academic Centers in University Transformation: Florida Gulf Coast University’s Example.” World Environmental Education Congress 5. Montreal, Canada. 13 May 2009.

Davis, Sarah. “Combating Nature Deficit Disorder.” World Environmental Education Congress 5. Montreal, Canada. 12 May 2009.

Osano, Philip M., Peter Blaze Corcoran, & Joseph Weakland. “Young People and Earth Charter Ethics: A Generational Conversation.” World Environmental Education Congress 5. Montreal, Canada. 12 May 2009.

Wohlpart, A. James & Peter Blaze Corcoran. “A Voice for Earth: American Writers Respond to the Earth Charter—Readings and Reflections.” Inaugural Humanities and Sustainability Conference. Florida Gulf Coast University. Fort Myers, Florida. 9 May 2009.

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The Earth Charter Scholarship at FGCU

The Center is home to the Earth Charter Scholarship Project, directed by Dr. Richard M. Clugston. The Earth Charter Scholarship Project seeks to enhance the Earth Charter’s contribution to accelerating the transition to sustainable ways of living. Its goals are to develop additional high quality, readily accessible Earth Charter-based educational resources that can accelerate needed changes in lifestyles, in organizational and professional practices, and in social policies to create a just, sustainable, and peaceful future.

GOAL II

To educate for an ecologically literate citizenry and to advance civic engagement in the critical environmental issues of the Western Everglades and Barrier Islands. Key areas of emphasis will include ethics, activism, and the literary arts.

Our Blue Planet: Will it Survive Till Tomorrow? An Environmental Musical, Washington, D.C.

Center Director Peter Blaze Corcoran traveled to Washington D.C. on November 5, 2009, to participate in “Our Blue Planet, Will it Survive Till Tomorrow? An Environmental Musical.” The musical is set in the year 2100 where the people of Earth struggle with the devastating aftermath of climate change. Corcoran gave the opening remarks for the musical, introducing the Earth Charter and setting the tone for the rest of the production. Corcoran reflected on the world’s increasing social and ecological fragmentation. The production questions whether people and governments can come together to help save our planet and ensure our future. The musical was presented in five acts and combines Japanese music with the classics of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Gershwin along with traditional Western and Japanese dances. The musical was directed by Professor Emeritus of Seikei University Ryokichi Hirono and features violinist Kiyomitsu Obana, actor/choreographer Toshijiro Zenki, actor/singer Tekkan, and actor Hiroyuki Wantanabe.

Symposium on Climate Change Education and Sustainable Cities, Nairobi, Kenya

The Center facilitated a visit by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on August 31, 2009, in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr. Maathai and the Center Director addressed an invited audience of one hundred diplomats, United Nations officials, local dignitaries, and scholars from African universities gathered for a “Symposium on Climate Change Education and Sustainable Cities.” The symposium was part of the annual meeting of the Inter-Agency Committee (IAC), which manages the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD).

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Maathai urged her audience to bridge the gap between ethical principles and practice, saying, “We know what to do. Why aren’t we doing it?” The occasion represented a powerful opportunity to elevate the role of the Earth Charter within the Decade and within UNEP. Maathai challenged UNEP and the IAC to adopt the Earth Charter as an organizing principle for the remainder of the Decade.

In his speech, Corcoran described the Earth Charter’s development and recognized Maathai’s great contribution to a better future for Africa. “She touches our hearts and minds with her courage, with her commitments to environmental education and self-determination for Africa, and her stubborn hope that governments and intergovernmental agencies will bring about the people’s desire for peace through environmental sustainability.”

Earth Day Celebration in Mexico

At the invitation of Mexican President Felipe Calderon, the Center Director traveled to Guanajuato, Mexico, for an International Earth Day celebration on April 22, 2010. The primary focus of the event was the tenth anniversary celebration of the Earth Charter, an international declaration of shared ethical principles for creating a just, sustainable, and peaceful future. Corcoran spoke at an Earth Charter conference at the University of Guanajuato. In his speech, Corcoran emphasized that “universities must take a much stronger leadership role – indeed, they have an ethical responsibility to do so.”

Steven C. Rockefeller delivered a talk on “Harmony between Human Rights and the Earth Charter.” In his speech, Rockefeller explored the relationship between the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the Earth Charter. His talk in Mexico echoed his 2009 Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture at Saint Michael and All Angels Church. The mayor of Guanajuato presented Rockefeller with the keys to the city at a ceremony earlier in the day. The Center’s participation in the Guanajuato Earth Day events came shortly after its Six Annual Fundraising Celebration on Sanibel.

Earth Charter meetings at the Peace Palace, The Netherlands

FGCU participated in a conference celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Earth Charter at the International Peace Palace in the city of The Hague, The Netherlands. With the theme of “Dialogue, Collaboration and Action for a Sustainable Future,” the June 29, 2010, event was ten years to the day since the launch of the Earth Charter in 2000. The purpose of the meeting was to reflect on the international initiative’s first decade and charted a course for its future. It also provided the Center with an opportunity to look at FGCU's work in the global context.

Over 200 invitees attended, including Earth Charter Commissioners, Affiliates, members of the Earth Charter International Council, youth leaders, and other partners. Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende actively participated. The event was convened by former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers. 850 interested people who were not able to travel to The Hague followed the discussions on-line.

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The event also featured several new books focusing on the Earth Charter. The Center presented on Young People, Education, and Sustainable Development: Exploring Principles, Perspectives, and Praxis (2009) at an authors’ reception. Dutch officials from the national program, “Learning for Sustainable Development,” helped fund the publication and attended its European debut.

Earth Charter Events in France and Jordan

The Center Director recently represented the Center in two international events related to sustainability, the Earth Charter, and education. Corcoran spoke at a special celebration of Earth Charter +10 in Amman, Jordan, and addressed members of diplomatic delegations at UNESCO in Paris, France.

As a guest of Her Royal Highness, Princess Basma Bint-Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Dr. Corcoran attended a meeting of ten Arab nations in Amman to discuss the Earth Charter. Corcoran was invited to give an opening address at the celebration and later gave a keynote address on behalf of Earth Charter International. In his talk, Corcoran spoke on the Earth Charter Initiative's ten years of success in the areas of education, private sector, youth and global governance. On the last day of the celebration, the nations of Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates signed the Dead Sea Declaration and presented it to Princess Basma. The Declaration represents the commitment of the nations to collaborate to form a regional Earth Charter network with the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD).

In Paris, Corcoran met with the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) Reference Group, an advisory committee to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with which he has been active for several years. The Center Director also addressed UNESCO staff and diplomats on “Interactions with Faith Values and Earth Charter Values.”

Terry Tempest Williams Student Dialogues at FGCU

2010: E-waste and Ethics: Where do BlackBerrys Decompose?

Entitled, “E-waste and Ethics: Where do BlackBerrys Decompose?,” this year’s Terry Tempest Williams Student Dialogue will coincide with the Center's Earth Charter +10 week on campus. The Dialogue is a signature event of the Center, and this year it will focus on the issue of electronic waste, or “e-waste.” Due to our ever increasing reliance on consumer technologies, the problem of e-waste continues to grow, and it has been doing so in relative obscurity. Electronic waste is described as discarded, obsolete, or broken electronic devices such as computers, monitors, laptops, televisions, cell phones, DVD players, and portable music players. While many retail companies who manufacturer electronics offer take back programs or sponsor recycling events, policies, procedures, and laws on e-waste are few.

As the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education reflects on this problem, we are reminded of the Principle 7 of the Earth Charter:

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“Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safe guard Earth’s regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.”

Principle 7 asks us to look at how our increasing human population affects our increasing material consumption and how we may be ignoring social justice and causing harm to the environment. The Earth Charter also challenges us to “reduce, reuse and recycle the materials in production and consumption systems, and ensure that residual waste can be assimilated by ecological systems” (Supporting Principle 7.a).

This year’s event provided a space for us to reflect on our response to the little explored topic of e-waste. Panelists included Jim Puckett of the Basal Action Network, Eric Otto, Assistant Professor of Environmental Humanities, and Jessica Mendes, graduate student at FGCU. The event will be co-moderated by Center student assistants Ariel Chomey and Jordan Yingling, and a special invocation will be given by Miccosukee elder, Andy Buster.

The Dialogue took place on Thursday, November 4, 2010, in the Student Union Ballroom on the FGCU campus.

2009: Young People, Communication, and Sustainability

Ishmael Beah, author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, returned to FGCU for the Terry Tempest Williams Student Dialogue on November 4, 2009.

In A Long Way Gone, a chronicle of his experience as a child soldier in Sierra Leone, Beah uses words to create a powerful message of hope in extreme adversity. Incoming FGCU freshmen read A Long Way Gone in 2008 as part of the First Year Experience Readership Project. Beah (third panelist on the right) was also the special guest speaker for the 2008 Convocation. This year, the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education invited him to join a discussion on how young people can communicate and collaborate for a sustainable and peaceful future. The event explored topics such as digital collaboration toward sustainability, critical engagement with consumer media, and the theme of hope, despair, and the future in environmental rhetoric. Panelists included Arabella Daniels of the Student/Farmworker Alliance, Cruz Salucio of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (immediate right), and Center Advisor Jacob Scott (bottom right). Jacob participated virtually from Bristol, England using telecommunication software. FGCU President Wilson G. Bradshaw welcomed the panelists and offered opening remarks. The Dialogue took place on Wednesday, November 4, 2009, at 7:00pm in the Student Union Ballroom. Stakeholders, community members, students, and campus leaders congregated outside the Ballroom for conversation and snacks before the event.

Earth Charter +10 Week at FGCU

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As part of the global celebration of ten years of the Earth Charter, the Center held its own Earth Charter +10 week on campus to commemorate this significant occasion. The Center hosted a number of different events throughout the week. This included a campus-wide conversation on what it means for FGCU to be an Earth Charter Affiliate, a student-led dialogue entitled “E-waste and Ethics: Where do BlackBerrys Decompose?”, and a ceremonial tree planting. The week was meant to raise awareness about the Earth Charter and to display FGCU’s commitment to Earth Charter principles.

The week began on Monday, November 1, 2010, with a conversation on what it means for FGCU to affiliate with the Earth Charter Initiative. The event was open to all on campus and was hosted by University President Wilson G. Bradshaw. Bradshaw and a group of Earth Charter scholars from around the world signed the Affiliate Agreement between FGCU and the Earth Charter Initiative in February 2009. During the conversation, college deans, faculty, representatives from Student Government, students, and staff assessed our commitment to the Earth Charter and shared ideas on how the Earth Charter can be better integrated into University life.

On Thursday, November 4, 2010, the Center hosted its annual Terry Tempest Williams Student Dialogue as part of the week's events. The Dialogue was meant to provide a space for students, faculty, and community members to reflect on the little explored topic of electronic waste and our response to this growing environmental, social justice, and policy issue. The panelists for the evening took a look at e-waste at FGCU and in the local community, the global impacts of e-waste, and the ethical principles behind consumption and waste. Members of the audience were urged to become more aware of the effect their choices have on the environment. The Dialogue was framed around Principle 7 of the Earth Charter which urges us to “Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.” Panelists for the evening included Jim Puckett, Director of the Basal Action Network; Dr. Eric Otto, Assistant Professor of Environmental Humanities at FGCU; and Jessica Mendes, a graduate student at FGCU. The event was co-moderated by Center student assistants Ariel Chomey and Jordan Yingling. Andy Buster, an elder of Florida’s indigenous Miccosukee tribe, gave a special invocation.

On Friday, November 5, 2010, FGCU’s Earth Charter +10 week culminated with a ceremonial tree planting of a “University Earth Charter Tree.” We report on this significant event in its own section immediately below.

Planting of “University Earth Charter Tree” to Culminate FGCU Earth Charter +10 Week

In the culminating event of Earth Charter +10 week, the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education and FGCU celebrated the LEED Platinum certification of Academic Building 7, the lives of three recently deceased Native American friends of the Center, and ten years of the Earth Charter. The planting ceremony was originally intended to be an official “Tree of Peace” planting conducted by Chief Jake Swamp, the Native American founder of the Tree of Peace Society. However, due to his unexpected passing, Center staff reimagined the event to

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reflect this tragic turn of events. Born from this loss was the “University Earth Charter Tree” planting during which we sought to honor indigenous elders Chief Jake Swamp, Oannes Arthur Pritzker, and Deanna Francis.

Center Director Peter Blaze Corcoran began the event by introducing members of the Meherrin Nation and the Snipe (Sandpiper) Clan, who conducted a Native American Thanksgiving Invocation in their native Tuscarora tongue. Students, Faculty Associates of the Center, and Center staff read excerpts from the Earth Charter and reflected on how the University community might align itself to its ethical principles. After addressing the crowd, each speaker tied a ribbon to a branch of the University Earth Charter Tree. The first two ribbons were the FGCU blue and green, symbolizing water, sky, and land. Black, red, yellow, and white represented the diversity of humankind.

To end the ceremony, the young children from the Family Resource Center on FGCU’s campus were invited to help pour water around the base of the tree. Equipped with their own watering containers, the children led the way as the rest of the people in the crowd followed to make their own contributions. The beautiful weather, enchanting music, and inspiring words helped to create a great atmosphere for the event - making the University Earth Charter Tree planting a memorable occasion in Florida Gulf Coast University’s history.

GOAL III

To provide professional development for educators in environmental education and education for sustainability. The priority audiences will include University administrators, faculty, and in-service and pre-service teachers.

Work with Faculty and Staff Associates of the Center at FGCU

The Center works with many faculty and staff at the University who formally identity with the Center through an individual professional development plan. Faculty and staff undertake specific projects related to environmental and sustainability education, including scholarship and institutional sustainability initiatives. Increasingly, we are encouraging faculty and staff associates to use the Earth Charter in their work. The following section describes what our campus associates are doing with the Earth Charter at FGCU.

Earth Charter Mini-grants

In the 2009-2010 academic year, the Center created a program for small grants ranging from $250 to $1,000 to for Faculty Associates. The focus of the grants focused on encouraging scholarly projects tied to the Center’s goals and to the Earth Charter. These scholarly projects fall under three broad categories:

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1. Scholarly Projects—those that support teaching or research of environmental or sustainability education

2. Seed Grant Projects—those that provide ground work for or explore the possibility of a grant or that enable Associates to complete a grant and

3. Specialized Training or Certification Projects – those that provide faculty with specialized training that results in certification or formally recognized credentials relevant to the mission of the Center.

We invited proposals that included staff and students. Applicants submitted completed forms to Senior Faculty Associate Dr. Sharon Bevins. Grant recipients must submit a report of activity before funds are awarded. A list of mini-grant recipients and project titles for the 2009-2010 academic year is below:

Patricia Fay and Win Everham: “St. Lucia Interdisciplinary Field Experience: The Human-Land Relationship”

Nora Demers: “Provide Earth Charter Meals during the Summer University Colloquium”

Lucero Carvajal: “Develop a new approach to transition workshops and transfer orientations that is ecologically friendly and student oriented”

Marguerite Forest: “Develop a comprehensive database of environmental education in the Western Everglades and Barrier Islands”

Morgan Payne: “Design and implement a course based service-learning project for students enrolled in the Summer Colloquium 2010”

Anne Hartley: “Develop a multidisciplinary upper-level elective on sustainability”

Eric Otto: “Teach students to discern between ‘forecasts of imminent doom’ and very real forecasts of environmental catastrophe”

Donna Roberts: “ECOSanibel educational celebration to mark the 10th anniversary of the Earth Charter with children's activities, lectures, workshops, and visual arts components”

Claude Villiers: “Provide guidelines for effective use of Recycled Concrete Aggregate in roadways, buildings and other facilities”

Mary Walsh, Miles Mancini, and Maria Roca: “Research project that will examine environmental messages in popular television programs (and their commercials) through the lens of media ecology”

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Kristine De Welde: “An Earth Charter meal (lunch) organized and carried out by a team of students from the class and curriculum development to more effectively incorporate the Earth Charter”

The Center will initiate a new round of grants in 2011.

Earth Charter meetings with Faculty and Staff Associates

The Center held a workshop for summer and fall grants on April 30, 2010. The purpose of the meeting was to identify particular environmental and sustainability education projects that the Center would support through minigrants of up to $1,000 this summer and fall. Special attention was given to the Earth Charter as part of its tenth anniversary this year. The meeting was attended by approximately 20 faculty and staff associates of the Center.

The Center arranged a mindful Earth Charter brunch based on Earth Charter principles followed by a workshop on February 5, 2010. The meeting was well attended by approximately 20 faculty and staff who shared their ideas and experiences using the Earth Charter. Faculty were invited to bring syllabi, and reflected on how they might incorporated the Earth Charter into their teaching. The Earth Charter Teaching “Breakfast Series” has been traditionally organized for CAS faculty. However, faculty from other colleges were welcome. No prior experience with the Earth Charter was necessary. Faculty discussed plans for this term, including a week of critical analysis of, and reflection upon, the Earth Charter at FGCU. The group also discussed the Sixth Annual Fundraising Celebration on Sanibel Island on Thursday, March 18, 2010.

Early in Spring 2010, the Center convened a small meeting of Center advisors and friends to help plan for Earth Charter +10 at FGCU. The meeting took place January 15, 2010. The meeting was particularly well-attended by approximately 15 campus academic leaders. Rick Clugston, who joined the staff of FGCU as Earth Charter Scholarship Project Coordinator, gave a presentation to establish the context for our work in the year to come. The purpose of the meeting was to review the challenges of the Earth Charter in higher education, to review briefly FGCU’s work with the Earth Charter thus far, including the accomplishments of the Earth Charter Scholarship Project, and to look to the promise of the Earth Charter at FGCU. This was particularly timely, as 2010 is the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Earth Charter. The meeting also sought to coordinate a series of inter-related events planned for April 5-9, 2010. The events will include an FGCU Earth Day, a visit by Chief Jake Swamp, the official opening of Academic Building 7, as well as Earth Charter +10 events.

White papers on the Earth Charter

Center Advisor and Earth Charter Scholarship Project Coordinator Rick Clugston has authored two policy papers. “The Earth Charter Scholarship Project: A Progress Report” focuses on how FGCU has utilized the Earth Charter to realize its mission of environmental sustainability, and explores what next steps are possible and desirable. The report also outlines several scholarly projects for 2010. In a white paper entitled “The Challenge and the Promise of the Earth Charter For Higher Education for A Sustainable Future,” Clugston examines how the Earth Charter has been woven into the critical dimensions of university life and uncovers opportunities for

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deepening understanding and action for sustainability as defined by the Earth Charter framework.

Humane and sustainable food system initiative at FGCU

Our first major research program is in sustainable food systems at FGCU. The Earth Charter has been particularly significant to our work with food systems. Since eating is an ethical act, the Earth Charter’s ethical vision is helpful in examining the often overlooked consequences of our food choices. For example, we might ask, when preparing for a meal, do we participate in food systems that work in synergy with the life processes of Earth or in those that are exploitative of human labor and the environment?

The Center’s “Food Working Group” is using Earth Charter Principles as an ethical framework for a humane and sustainable food system at Florida Gulf Coast University. Center staff have undertaken a study of the centralized process of agribusiness distribution that brings food to campus dining halls. Inspired by the Earth Charter’s call for “quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world (Earth Charter Subprinciple 7.f), the Food Working Group has also examined ways in which the University can provide students with food that is locally sourced, organically grown, fairly traded, and produced with care for animals and the environment.

In addition, we are working to prepare a guide to eating humanely and sustainably with the Earth Charter. This guide will be based on research and experience at Florida Gulf Coast University and is intended to be broadly useful among many other institutions of higher education. The Food Working Group also received a grant from the University's Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to research and publish a campus food guide based on Earth Charter ethics.

Earth Charter Meal

The Center has used the Earth Charter Meal as a beginning exercise in linking Earth Charter ethics to sustainable living in our everyday food choices. The Earth Charter Meal demonstrates how we can eat in ways that support farmers and food system workers, protect the environment and public health, treat animals humanely, and provide food security for all.

We have used the Earth Charter Meal at Florida Gulf Coast University as an educational methodology to bring together student leaders from a diverse range of campus groups and organizations – and to unite them around the common goal of working toward a humane and sustainable campus food system. A draft text of the Guide to Conducting and Earth Charter Meal is available for download on the Center’s website, www.fgcu.edu/cese.

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GOAL IV

To provide opportunities for faculty, administrators, staff, and students from across the campus to engage in scholarly activity, teaching, and service related to environmental and sustainability education. The Center will cooperate with other FGCU Centers and Institutes to advance common interests and to achieve the University’s environmental mission.

Earth Charter collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia

The Center Director has been invited to advise the new Centre for Global Sustainability Studies (CGSS) At Universiti Sains Malaysia. Part of this work includes the development of publications in a “Policy Discussion Series on Sustainability and Development.” The first paper in the series is entitled “Universities and the Millennium Development Goals.” USM is globally renowned as a university committed to global sustainability and poverty alleviation. It employs a multi-disciplinary approach to research problems in Malaysian society and in the global community. In 2010, Corcoran was appointed as a Visiting Professor attached to the CGSS.

E-waste and the Earth Charter at FGCU

Graduate assistant Jessica Mendes and other student assistants are exploring electronic waste at FGCU in order to promote education, awareness, sustainability, waste reduction, policy and procedure insight, and increased knowledge about the purchase of environmentally friendly products and materials on campus. The students are conducting a research project to identify electronic waste policy and procedures at FGCU, identify the local, state and federal laws and regulations regarding e-waste, as well as to follow the downstream trail of e-waste from FGCU. The research consists of an original survey given to all FGCU faculty, staff and students and focuses on attitudes about electronic waste and various disposal methods. Their findings were incorporated into the 2010 Terry Tempest Williams Student Dialogue and are the basis of further action to improve FGCU’s e-waste practices.

The “Green Building”

The Center has provided advice and expertise to the University on a green building at FGCU that would house the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education. In the summer of 2009, Richard Clugston authored a paper entitled, “An Earth Charter Based Assessment of theGreen Building Demonstration and Learning Center at Florida Gulf Coast University.” The paper provides background information for an analysis of the Green Building Demonstration and Learning Center at FGCU (referred to in this paper as the Green Building) through the lens of the Earth Charter. This paper: 1) Gives a brief overview of the Earth Charter; 2) Describes EC-Assess, the assessment instrument based on the Earth Charter; 3) Demonstrates how the Earth Charter “worldview” and EC-Assess can be brought to bear on the project and gives preliminary

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findings on how existing building design and proposed programs express commitment to Earth Charter Principles and Supporting Principles; 4) Offers some reflections and suggested directions for the way forward with the green building design; and 5) Describes the process of conducting an EC-Assess of the Green Building in a Fall 2009 charrette process and raises some issues to be resolved this summer

During the 2009-2010 academic year, we made a decision to let go of the building as it had been designed, and to begin conversations about how a new building could be envisioned. This choice comes in light of Academic Building 7 being LEED Platinum certified, as well as our desire to create a building that better fits the Center’s philosophy.

During our 2010 Board of Advisors meeting, the Board agreed that the newly-imagined green building be part of a long-range strategic planning process for the Center. The Board voted to reconstitute the Center’s Strategic Planning Committee, formed of select members of the Center’s Board. The Board also agreed that the new design of the green building should be informed by a process of strategic planning for the Center. In other words, if the green building is to be the Center’s home, the architectural features of the building should complement the Center’s mission and goals.

Student Associates for a Greener Environment (SAGE)

The Student Associates for a Greener Environment (SAGE) is a student led branch of theCenter for Environmental and Sustainability Education. Some of its members are already student leaders in their respective campus organizations. These organizations include: Progressive Student Alliance, Environmental Association, South Florida Wildlife Association, Power of One, and the Neumann Club. The SAGE Faculty Adviser is Dr. Maria Roca. The ethical vision of the Earth Charter is central to SAGE’s work on campus.

SAGE meets once a month to discuss current activities on campus, to cross-pollinate ideas to aid the Center in making our campus more sustainable, and to brainstorm how students can organize their respective groups more efficiently. Increasingly, SAGE has recognized the need to seek out avenues of communication to the student body in order to disseminate information about the Center and its Faculty Associates and their various projects. SAGE has also worked to raise awareness about organizations that promote and encourage sustainable practices. SAGE currently uses Facebook to communicate, but is exploring a collaboration with the FGCU Eagle News, the campus student newspaper.

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THE EARTH CHARTER SCHOLARSHIP PROJECT

The Center is proud to host this globally significant project. Rick Clugston continued to serve as Coordinator of the Earth Charter Scholarship Project at FGCU. His work focused on the following four areas:

1. Continuing development of high quality Earth Charter based resources for higher education.

The Earth Charter Bibliography that was shaped by consultation discussions was uploaded to the ECI website and is continually updated. (A May 2010 version was published in Bosselman and Engel’s book.) We have almost completed the selected, annotated Earth Charter bibliography. In addition, a special issue of the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development (edited by the Center for Environment Education in India and published by Sage Press) on “the Earth Charter and Education for Sustainable Development” was published in September 2010 and launched at the EC+10 conference in India.

2. Continuing work with FGCU faculty, staff, students and the wider community.

In January, March, and October, 2010, Clugston was on campus meeting with various individuals about deepening the meaning of the Affiliate agreement, using the EC in climate change education, food services, green building design, and expanding its presence in the curriculum.

3. Securing funding for activities engaging FGCU/CESE faculty and students in the development of resources, including:

“The Earth Charter Book”: This book will explore the theoretical connections, applications, and transformative value of the Earth Charter to various academic and scholarly fields of endeavor in the sustainability movement.

“Living the Earth Charter”: Based on a course taught by Dr. Maria Roca, this set of resources will provide exercises based on contemplative practices to examine how we can live the principles of the Earth Charter, both personally and communally.

“An Earth Charter Handprint Calculator” will introduce readers to the Earth Charter and help them answer: to what extent am I/my community/ my organization living by EC principles? Footprint means the amount of resources one is consuming or amount of GHGs emitted. Handprint means positive action for sustainability (CEE India)

“Guide to Eating Humanely and Sustainably with the Earth Charter” and “Guide to Conducting an Earth Charter Meal”: Drafts of these guides have been developed by CESE’s “Food Working Group” showing how the Earth Charter can be applied to the operational dimensions of university life (here food services, but the model can be applied to energy consumption, social relationships, etc.).

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4. Contributing to international and US EC+10 efforts.

This 10th anniversary of the completion of the Earth Charter involved many celebrations as well as critical reflections on the value added of the Earth Charter to accelerating our much needed transition to a sustainable future. Clugston was involved in planning and/or participating in the major ECI events in Mexico, the Netherlands, and India. In India and in Mexico, he gave plenary presentations on “the Earth Charter and Higher Education” representing FGCU.

Clugston is currently charting a way forward for the Earth Charter Scholarship Project in 2011, including the challenge of funding this important work.

Conclusion

The period of this report, from the signing of the Affiliation agreement on February 20, 2009, to December 31, 2010, has been a productive one. As we look forward to 2011, we have similarly ambitious aims. These will include active preparations for bringing the Earth Charter to the Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, a possible new book on the Earth Charter in academic disciplines, and a book on education and climate change which will include Earth Charter topics. Please watch the Center website for these and other Earth Charter activities at Florida Gulf Coast University: www.fgcu.edu/cese.