Earth Charter

"Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life."

The forces around us make living a demanding and uncertain adventure, but Earth has given us the conditions we need in life's evolution. The sustainability of the community of life and the well-being of humanity depends on making sure we preserve a healthy biosphere with all of its ecological system like: plants, animals, fertile soils, waters, and air. The protection of Earth is a vital essential to our survival. Our demanding desires of production and consumption is causing serious environmental destruction, decrease of resources, and a huge extinction of species. Injustice, poverty, violent conflict, and ignorance are causing great suffering and a rise in human population has overburdened our ecological and social systems.

Photo Concept by: Joe Carter

"The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life." 

Fundamental changes are necessary in our institutions and way of living. We need to see that when it comes to basic needs, human development is about being more, not having more. We have the technology and knowledge to provide and reduce our impacts on the environment and the emergence of a global civil society is starting new opportunities that will build a democratic and humane world. We must make a decision to live in a sense of universal responsibility and everyone shares this for the present and future of the well-being of our living world. We need a shared vision of basic values that will provide us with a good foundation for the emerging world community and together we can start a sustainable way of life for us all. 

Photo Concept by: cleanuptheworld.org

"To fulfill this promise, we must commit ourselves to adopt and promote the values and objectives of the Charter." 

This is going to require a change of mind and heart, as well as, a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility. We have to develop a plan of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally. We have to come together and harmonize diversity with unity; every individual, family, organization, and community plays a vital role. In order to build a sustainable global community, the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, and support the Earth Charter principles of international environment and development. 

Photo Concept by: Pat Bertram

Healing Earth's Scars

"Thirty years ago, the Hudson River and its surrounding waterways were so polluted that its population of short-nosed sturgeon became the first fish species to be listed (in 1972) as endangered". (Goodall 166).

This caused a huge effort to clean up the river and over the past 15 years, the population of these fish in the Hudson River has grow by more than 400%. The Manhattan area has become way more urbanized, so the cleaning of the waters is a huge conservation success story; there are even plans to bring oyster reefs and shoreline wetlands in Harlem. I think it is a great idea to introduce more of this type of environment in an area where most people have never seen wetlands or exotic marine life; with them being exposed to this they will be more likely to help protect it.

Photo by: Avery Collin

"The aquatic ecosystems have been destroyed-the Yangtze River dolphin became extinct." (Goodall 168)

There has been so much destruction of habitats worldwide and having harmed so much of their own environment, China is desperate to get the materials like timber and minerals to help with economic growth, that is plundering the natural resources of other countries. Especially in Africa where many people in politics are willing to sell of their children's future just to make some quick money; it is getting worse because of the country's staggering number of people in need and a failing government that refuses to admit that there is anything wrong in their country. 

Photo by: Jasmine Waltz

"It would be irresponsible to introduce ways of growing more food and saving the lives of more babies, without, at the same time, talking about the need for small families." (Goodall 171)

It has been shown that as a woman's education improves, the size of families decrease. Having information about family planning, access to health care for their children, helps women to really plan for their families. If women also receive education things will also start to get better; so many people have started scholarship programs for girls because a poor family is likely to educate the boys instead of the girls. I think this idea is great in the sense that woman will be looked at as more as just homemakers and child bearers but as a people that have something to offer to the world. 

Photo by: Ellie Woods

The Obligation to Endure

"The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials." (Carson 153)

Throughout the history of living on earth there has always been am interaction between the living and their surroundings. The earth's vegetation and animal life has been formed by the environment around them and only one species, man has had the significant power to change the nature of their world. The increase in change and the speed of which new situations are made based of the pace of man rather than the pace of nature is destructive. To change or better the environment from what man has done will take generations to fix if even possible at all.

Photo Concept by: Seppo.net

"Much of the necessary knowledge is now available but we do not use it." (Carson 159)

We teach and train ecologists in our universities and we even give them jobs in governmental agencies but we rarely use them or take their advice. We allow things like chemical death rain to fall as though there is nothing we can do to prevent it from harming our environment. Have we become a mesmerized state of mind that sees the world and what is happening to it as something that we really can not change? This is a scary thought because to accept the destruction that is happening and will continue to happen to our world is not the way to go about it. We as a people have changed society and the way the world operates on many occasions so I know we can better the way we treat our world if we all come together to make this change happen. 

Photo Concept by: thebigrocks.com

"There is still very limited awareness of the nature of the threat." (Carson 160)

This is the era that is dominated by industry, in which making a dollar at whatever cost is priority. When the public protest because of some evidence of damaging results of pesticide applications, they are fed half truths. We need to stop false assurance and sugar coating facts because the public has the right to know the truth; they are the ones being asked to assume the risks that the insect controllers predict. The public must decide what they want to do and that can only happen if the are presented with all the right facts.

Photo Concept by: fourletterword.com

Biodiversity

"Biodiversity means the diversity of life - the rich diversity of life forms on our beautiful planet." (Shiva 38)

Biodiversity gives the conditions for life's maintenance, as well as, different ways in which that life is shown. This is the embodiment of centuries of cultural growth, because humans have evolved with other species in the diverse ecosystems that is the world. With biodiversity shaping the world's diverse cultures; the erosion of biodiversity and cultural diversity go hand in hand. However, both have been threatened by the globalization of an industrialized culture based of off technology and the growing want of resources. We are all looking for different ways that will conserve our being and provide sustainable solutions for our health and nutrition. 

Photos by: George Carter

"Biodiversity is not just a conservation issue, it is an issue affecting economic survival." (Shiva 50)

Biodiversity can be viewed as the means of production for the poor who have no access to other means of production. For food, medicine, crafts, etc. the poor depend on the wealth of biological resources and skills that go with biodiversity. As this goes away, the poor are pushed further into impoverishment and deprived of the health care and nutrition that biodiversity gives. The way the consumption of the rich and powerful can determine the consumption of the poor by contributing to the erosion of biodiversity. 

 Photo Concept By: Wiley-Blackwell

"It is estimated that 100 million of the world's poorest people depend on fishing for all or part of their livelihoods." (Shiva 53)

Most of the large fishing boats are under transnational corporations and use all the latest technology in fish-detection, catching and processing, making them great hunting machines, and leading to the problem of overfishing. The decrease of the commerical value results in the development of technologies and large catches are made possible because of the destruction of livelihood and diverse species. For example, shrimp in India was an export commodity through fisher development; and little by little there become less shrimp to catch and eat. Also landings of the major sea bottom-dwelling fish began to decrease due to the excess fishing and the destruction of the seabed. 

Photos by: Marine Conservation

A Tale of Two Farms

"The monumental ruins left behind by those past societies hold a romantic fascination for all of us." (Diamond 20).

We often are amazed as children when we first learn of these interesting ruins through pictures and when we grow up we plan many vacations just so we can experience seeing them up close. We gain this attachment to the spectacular beauty of it all and you can tell that the ruins tell an incredible story. When you look at all these huge and mighty buildings you begin to wonder how can a society who created such power in their buildings not still be around today. This makes me think about America and how we are seen as such a powerful country but how long will that power last? Rome may not have been built in a day but it is now just a monument of a once great people the Romans; the rate America is going it might not be long until America falls as well.

Photos by: pixelkuss.com

"It has long been suspected that many of those mysterious abandonments were at least partly triggered by ecological problems: people inadvertently destroying the environmental resources on which their societies depended." (Diamond 20).

This suspicion has been confirmed by discoveries found in recent decades by archaeologists, historians, climatologists, etc. Past societies have brought their own downfall on themselves by damaging their environment with deforestation and habitat destruction, soil problems, water management problems, overhunting, overfishing, human population growth, etc. Population growth made people adopt increased means for agricultural production so they could supply food to the growing number of people who needed it. Consequences of this was food shortage, starvation, and wars between the people fighting over the little resources available. In the end population decreased and the society lost their political, economic, and cultural edge that it once had. 

 

Photos Concept by: Jason Reid

"Environmental problems that are hard to manage today were surely even harder to manage in the past." (Diamond 25).

In the past societies we were not able to read about ecological damage and other things like we can today. The societies that ended up collapsing were just like us and they were prone to either fail or succeed. Yes, there may be be some differences between the situations the past faced and what we face today but there are still enough similarities that we can learn from thanks to what happened in the past. We are lucky that now we have the technology and knowledge to help us out so that we will not become a collapsed society but actually flourish for generations to come. 

Photo Concept by: Lisa Crew

Plan B 4.0

"The evolution of modern cities was tied to advances in transport." (Brown, 145)

Transportation in our society is a big contributor to pollution in our environment; everyone seems to want to drive some of the most non-environmental vehicles out there, regardless of the destruction it is causing in our air. I think if we focus transport systems based on rail/bus lines and bicycle/pedestrian paths it will have the best effect in providing mobility, low-cost transportation, and a better healthy environment. The rail system gives a city the foundation it needs, providing of a secure way of mobility that people can rely on. Also with the bikeways and walkways highlighted in the transport systems it makes a decrease in automobile use; which causes pollution and congestion to go down – makes the people and the environment healthier.

Photos Concept by: Jose Villa

"Water enters a city, becomes contaminated with human and industrial wastes, and leaves the city dangerously polluted." (Brown, 155)

For cities, the best way to increase water productivity is to use a water treatment/recycling system that reuses the water continuously. This concept reminded me of the toilets here at FGCU and how they are dual-flush. I have never been in a bathroom that implemented this concept of pushing the handle up or down depending on what you did in the bathroom – based on what way you flushed determined how much water was used. I think this idea is such a good way to conserve how much water we are using, especially when it comes to how we get rid of our waste. Reusing or decreasing the amount of water we use will decrease the amount of waste that is getting dumped constantly into our rivers, lakes, and water supply. 

Photo Concept by: Jasmin Chua

"A growing body of evidence indicates there is an innate human need for contact with nature." (Brown, 162)

Creating eco-friendly cities takes getting people out of their vehicles and out into nature. There are some signs of changes like public transportation has increased as more people take the bus, as well as, more people riding bikes or buses because of high gas prices. Car companies are actually putting effort to make eco-friendly cars that are better for the environment and better on people's pocket because they are not constantly spending money on gas. I think getting better acquainted with your surroundings and environment will help people's understanding of it and make them want to make a change. 

Photos Concept by: Alex Davis 

A Land Remembered

Solomon MacIvey (Sol) was the son of Zech MacIvey and Glenda. Sol was just like his father and grandfather in the sense that he wanted to always be around the action and help out even at a young age. Throughout the book I noticed that Sol was different from Tobias and Zech in the fact that he wanted to be more independent and do more things on his own; like owning land and making money. These two things were not that important to Tobias and Zech but Sol made a point to put this as a priority in his life. He was very supportive to his family and was always willing to help out whether it was around the house or out herding cattle, but he always remembered how people treated his family especially when they went to Palm Beach. After that visit to Palm Beach Sol was definitely determined to out due the rich that treated his family like they were nothing; I think this was the defining moment when Sol realized he deserved more.

Photo Concept by: Rick Powers

Sol unlike everyone else in his family grows up in the time were development is really starting to pick up. He does live off the land and gets supplies from trading posts with the money they earned from herding cattle, but he also sees the environment that he once knew changing and actually capitalises on these changes. In one section of the book that I found really funny is when Sol, Zech, and Glenda go to Palm Beach and Sol notices all the beautiful birds in a bird shop; he then goes inside and after asking prices for different birds he decides to just buy 24 bird cages. The next day after climbing a tree and catching buzzards Sol goes into the market and people swarm him to buy the birds thinking they are actually exotic birds; he ends up earning $600 and winded up buying his first piece of land with it. This really made me see how smart Sol was and that he was definitely aware of the changing times and knew exactly how to change with it.

Photo Concept by: Paul Stafford

In the story Sol feels a real attachment to his Kissimmee home in the hammock with the rest of his family, because this is the home that he has always know and everyone he loves is here. However, as Tobias, Emma, Zech, Frog, and Glenda die Sol becomes less and less attached to this place because of all the memories that remind him of them. He eventually, leaves and makes his home in Okeechobee and later receives two letters urging him to come back to Kissimmee; when he gets there he realizes that the house his grandfather built is now gone and in his place orange trees. It is at that moment I saw how devastated Sol was that the house he had known and loved for so long was gone, and how much he regretted leaving a place he called home. 

 Photo Concept by: Rick Powers

Unlike the other characters Sol was the one who left behind the biggest legacy. He benefited from selling lands that he and his dad both owned, as well as, buying land when the market went under. He built hotels, houses, condominiums, bank, and growing his MacIvey empire more and more. So many buildings and parks in Miami had his name on it as a way to honor such a great man and all the development and growth that was made possible because of the man Sol MacIvey. No matter what happened to Sol what he left behind would be continuously used for generations to come. 

Photo Concept by: Morris Carter

I chose Sol MacIvey because I think he is the best representation of people in our society today. I know we have grown a lot since Sol's time but we all still have that mentality of growth and expanding not realizing the destruction that we are causing. I know for me I enjoy the malls, buildings, and other developments that are around now, but not if it cost the destruction of the environment around us. In the end Sol realized the mistakes he had made of destroying land that his family worked so hard on just for a profit and I think that is the same with us now; we are realizes we need to save the environment and the land around us or there will be no future for us. 

Photo Concept by: Adrian Helleman