On mothersday, May 11, a charity concert for the International Association of Human Values and the Earth Charter took place in the historic Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. World famous musicians like the violinist Isabelle Faust of Germany and the cellist Quarine Viersen of the Netherlands performed pieces of Beethoven, Dvorak, Schumann, and Brahms, and supported the cause by performing without pay. Around 1.400 people attended the concert.

The funds that were raised will be split equally to support IAHV’s One-Euro-A-Day program that provides free education for poor children in India and the production of Earth Charter educational materials on sustainable lifestyles. The materials are intended to explore the famous Earth Charter notion on "being more instead of having more", and will be produced within the Earth Charter Program on Religion and Sustainability.

To see some pictures of the concert, please click here .

Having moved into the administrative structures of the Ecumenical One World Initiative (Germany’s Earth Charter Affiliate) the Earth Charter Program on Religion and Sustainability has gained some momentum in Germany:

• In February, EOWI published a special edition of its Earth Charter Newsletter, focusing exclusively on the new program and how religious institutions in Germany can become actively involved in spreading and implementing the Earth Charter’s vision for a more just, sustainable and peaceful world.

• The spring edition of the “Oekumenischer Informationsdienst” – the journal of key ecumenical groups, organizations and networks involved in the conciliar process in Germany – also highlighted the program and its aims and objectives.

• In a meeting with the environmental officer of the Protestant Church of Baden, an agreement was reached that the Earth Charter will be used as a background document for the training sessions for environmental tutors and auditors that the Church of Baden is hosting, while the Earth Charter Program on Religion and Sustainability will help to spread the successes and experiences of the environmental activities and projects that the local congregations are conducting.

The Global Peace Initiative of Women convened its second global summit of women spiritual leaders in Jaipur, India on March 6-10. Several hundred leaders from over 50 countries participated in Making Way for the Feminine for the Benefit of the World Community. The goal was to explore how the leadership of women, and particularly the feminine principles, can bring benefit to the world community, helping to create the platform for global transformation. The gathering was designed as a global reflection, opening with seven hours of prayer, sacred song and meditation. This created a sacred space in which dialogue could take place.

The latest edition of the British Journal of Religious Education contains an insightful essay on the use of the Earth Charter in religious classrooms. In their article „Ethics in a global world: the Earth Charter and religious education“ the authors reflect on the potential of the Charter to draw together the themes of human rights, citizenship, globalization and ecological responsibility and consider the value of the Earth Charter for religious education in pluralist societies.

“The Insolent Waters – Moral Choices for an Endangered Planet” was the title of an international Symposium held on the occasion of Rabbi Awraham Soetendorps retirement as Rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Congregation of The Hague. The event that was attended by around 200 invited guests commemorated Rabbi Soetendorp’s many achievements as Rabbi, Earth Charter Comissioner, Ambassador for the MDGs and committed world citizen.

Among the speakers were The Netherlands’ former Prime Minister and Earth Charter Commissioner Ruud Lubbers, Her Royal Highness Princess van Oranje-Nassau and Dr. Katherine Marshall of the Berkley Center for Religion and World Affairs in Washington DC who is a colleague of Rabbi Soetendorp in the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders for Islam-West Dialogue.

Research into Earth Charter archives revealed the supporting involvement of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, in the Earth Charter drafting process. In a letter to Steven Rockefeller, who at the time chaired the international Earth Charter drafting committee, the Dalai Lama blessed the international initiative with the following words:

"Compassion and love should be the guiding light for humans to live harmoniously with nature. Genuine motivation with a warm heart will make the conservation of the environment
more effective. It should be treated as the life-giving water that nourishes the roots of the Earth Charter."

The Earth Charter Program on Religion and Sustainability seeks to share and spread the light of respect and care for the whole creation, and encourages religious and spiritual communities to collaborate in the creation of just, peaceful and sustainable societies.

On December 1st, the Ecumenical One World Initiative (EOWI) in Germany took over the administrative management of the Earth Charter Program on Religion and Sustainability, employing Michael Slaby as Coordinator for ECI's international program. EOWI was founded in 1976 as one of the first Christian ecumenical initiatives that set out to explore sustainable lifestyles in the Western world.

Having served as Earth Charter Affiliate in Germany since 2001, EOWI is promoting and disseminating the Earth Charter among NGOs, faith groups and educational institutions in Germany and its German-speaking neighbouring countries.

“It is a great pleasure for us to host this international program” says EOWI’s executive director Anja Becker, and adds: “We hope that the program will contribute to the revitalization of the conciliar process of justice, peace and integrity of creation that we are supporting since its launch in 1983.”

Building on EOWI’s long standing history of creating bridges between Germany’s environmental and development-aid organizations on the one and religious organizations and the Churches on the other side, the international program has gained a strategic position to reach out to religious institutions in Germany.
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Two months after the UN General Assembly's High Level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace, the Presidency of the General Assembly published its official summary paper of the Interactive Hearing with Civil Society in which Steven Rockefeller participated on behalf of Earth Charter International (see special report posted below).

The report makes two references to the Earth Charter: In the summary of comments to the second panel where Steven Rockefeller participated as a respondent, and in the concluding section on "key recommendations". Rockefeller’s remarks are summarized as an appeal for “the promotion of global ethics as a unifying strategy in the midst of religious and cultural diversity”.

In the key recommendations, this line is taken up as the final and concluding point: The Earth Charter is depicted as an “interesting example” for the “development of a code of conduct based on global ethics”, which could be one of the objectives of an United Nations body for interreligious and intercultural cooperation.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the United Nations Orthodox prayer service, 13 November:

I send sincere greeting to this annual prayer service for the United Nations.

This evening finds me far from New York in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. I have travelled to Latin America to see for myself the terrible toll environmental degradation and climate change are already inflicting on the planet and its people.

I am heartened that all of you have gathered to devote this year’s service to the theme of climate change. By now, the basic facts of global warming are incontestable. But, up close, its effects are doubly unnerving. Last week, I visited Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in South America. It is near the centre of the famous “ozone hole” in the Earth’s atmosphere. This time of year, children have to wear protective clothing against ultraviolet radiation at all times. There are days when parents don’t let them play outside, or even go to school.

On 1st of November, Earth Charter Commissioner Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp was awarded with the prestigious Interfaith Gold Medallion “Peace Trough Dialogue”. The award was presented to him by the Dutch Minister of Justice, Dr. Ernst Hirsch Ballin, in the name of the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ). Around 50 national and international guests attended the ceremony in the historic synagogue of Soetendorp’s liberal Jewish congregation in The Hague.

With the award, the ICCJ honours Soetendorp’s long standing commitment to promoting a culture of peace and tolerance among people of different faiths. The jury’s official award announcement explicitly recognizes his work for the Earth Charter: “This award is also given in recognition of his early promotion of understanding, through the Earth Charter, that our traditions enjoin us to give credence to our obligation to care for the health of our world so that people of all faiths and cultures can live in peace and prosperity.”