In 2001 the Institute for Ethics & Meaning in Tampa organized the first Earth Charter Community Summits with the purpose to engage individuals and groups at the local level in learning about the Earth Charter and implementing its principles into their personal lives and community policies and practices. Since then Earth Charter Community Summits were held annually as grassroots efforts to bring people together to be inspired in making the Earth Charter's principles a reality in their lives and communities.

The annual Earth Charter Community Summits have been held simultaneously in cities across the US and a few international communities. The summits, celebrated simultaneously in different cities across the US and a few international communities, were connected via satellite broadcast so that participants could hear the words of keynote speakers from other cities and engage in a “round-robin” in which they shared their enthusiasm for the Earth Charter. This gave the participants the experience of being part of a national effort to use the Earth Charter. The Earth Charter Community Summits have been successful in informing, educating, and engaging people of diverse backgrounds through Earth Charter related festivities, music, art, speeches and dialogues.

Local summit organizers are volunteers who simply want to bring the Earth Charter to their home-towns. Many do not have organizing backgrounds but are guided by their passion for the Earth Charter. The local organizers design the festivities and programs of the summits for their communities. In 2004 the Earth Charter USA Communities Initiatives (ECUSA-CI) has grown out of the Institute for Ethics & Meaning’s work and has taken the lead in coordinating the summits and in facilitating an informal alliance of Summit cities that are implementing the EC’s vision and principles.

The Summits reach beyond activists to educate the general public about the Earth Charter and to spark their engagement in local Earth Charter initiatives. Some of the initiatives that have come out of the Summits include educational workbooks and lesson plans for schools and the endorsement by University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, which led to a campus environmental audit guided by the Earth Charter. This initiative has generated projects to have the Earth Charter integrated into graduate school curriculum and the formation of a Student Organization in Business Ethics and Research in the University of New York in New Paltz. City endorsements include Seattle, Washington and the county of Ventura, California. Santa Barbara, CA. will use the Earth Charter as a guide for the re-localizing of food and energy.

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