Four youth were selected to stay for the subsequent Brazilian Strategy Workshop, which demonstrated that the Earth Charter movement in Brazil is alive and well! Over 125 educators, NGO activists, government officials, and business leaders participated in the Strategy Workshops, including Leonardo Boff, Moacir Gadotti, Mirian Vilela, Erna Wioelar, and Steven Rockefeller. CEOs from banks, a grocery store chain, a cosmetics company, and a state television company came to learn about the Earth Charter and contribute to its vision of a just, sustainable, and peaceful world.

The key emphasis of the meeting was on empowering the Earth Charter Initiative through supportive, decentralized structures and strategies designed to reach millions, if not billions, of people. Our Brazilian hosts spoke fervently of the Earth Charter “movement,” invoking a widespread and biological grassroots approach. They were not keen on additional Earth Charter International structures being built, but rather saw existing structures facilitating communications within the movement and Earth Charter education through the movement.

There was also much to be celebrated at this Earth Charter gathering. The Mexican Ministries of Environment and Education, accompanied by a major national speech by the President of Mexico, signed formal agreements with Earth Charter International on Earth Day. Immediately following our meeting, Brazil's internationally renowned Minister of Environment, Marina Silva, signed a formal agreement with Earth Charter International and the Council for the Defense of Human Rights (the NGO of Earth Charter Commissioner Leonardo Boff) to support the continued spread, adoption and use of the Earth Charter in Brazil. Finally, the entire school system in Delhi, India, comprising 1,600 schools, will now integrate the Earth Charter into its curricula.

During the two-day International Council Meeting, the Council earnestly embraced both the spirit and many of the strategy recommendations from the preceding days. The staff from the Earth Charter International centers in Costa Rica and Sweden listened intently and contributed to the dialogue. We received the necessary guidance and support from the Council to embark on this new chapter in Earth Charter’s young history.

As I returned home to Sweden, I felt more excited than overwhelmed by our new sense of purpose. I felt both humbled and reassured to know that I was one member, one catalyzer, within a larger movement bent on bringing about a just, sustainable, and peaceful world.