UN NGO Conference on Climate Change
Over 2500 of us representing more than 500 Non-Governmental Organizations from more than 80 countries are meeting in New York at the 60th Annual UN Department of Public Information Conference for NGOs this week. The conference theme, a magnet for this huge crowd which fills the General Assembly for welcome speeches and plenary sessions, is Climate Change.
Ban Ki-Moon, the new Secretary General of the United Nations, sends a message to the gathering in which he says: "Climate change, and how we address it, will define us, our era and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations. It is time for new thinking and new inclusiveness. Leaders need to accept their responsibilities, but look less at their responsibility to their ancestors, and more to their responsibility to their grandchildren. The United Nations is a big part of the solution, and I will do all I can to ensure we play our role to the full."
I am moving toward an articulation of the right to a habitable earth, for the current occupants and all generations yet unborn, as the basic human right upon which all others rest. Certainly the injustices, the inequities, of race, gender, geographic location, access to information and participation in decision-making, are all in important ways, environmental issues. The aggregation and abuse of power and natural resources by militarism and materialism are ever more clearly at the root of the crises we face today in global warming and climate change.
An afternoon workshop on "The Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change", moves quickly through and beyond the scientific, economic and political dimensions of the issue to the ethical and spiritual dimensions. Because the steps we have to take, the changes in habits we need to make, will have no observable benefits for decades, it will only be through acts of will and principle that we finally resolve this challenge for our descendants. This is where a movement grounded in civil society, driven by the agency of heart and spirit and mind, is needed, and where the UN might finally serve the vision for which it was created most effectively. To begin to dig deeper, go to http://rockethics.psu.edu/ and http://www.wedo.org/. I'll come back to these later in the week.
Over 2500 of us representing more than 500 Non-Governmental Organizations from more than 80 countries are meeting in New York at the 60th Annual UN Department of Public Information Conference for NGOs this week. The conference theme, a magnet for this huge crowd which fills the General Assembly for welcome speeches and plenary sessions, is Climate Change.
Ban Ki-Moon, the new Secretary General of the United Nations, sends a message to the gathering in which he says: "Climate change, and how we address it, will define us, our era and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations. It is time for new thinking and new inclusiveness. Leaders need to accept their responsibilities, but look less at their responsibility to their ancestors, and more to their responsibility to their grandchildren. The United Nations is a big part of the solution, and I will do all I can to ensure we play our role to the full."
I am moving toward an articulation of the right to a habitable earth, for the current occupants and all generations yet unborn, as the basic human right upon which all others rest. Certainly the injustices, the inequities, of race, gender, geographic location, access to information and participation in decision-making, are all in important ways, environmental issues. The aggregation and abuse of power and natural resources by militarism and materialism are ever more clearly at the root of the crises we face today in global warming and climate change.
An afternoon workshop on "The Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change", moves quickly through and beyond the scientific, economic and political dimensions of the issue to the ethical and spiritual dimensions. Because the steps we have to take, the changes in habits we need to make, will have no observable benefits for decades, it will only be through acts of will and principle that we finally resolve this challenge for our descendants. This is where a movement grounded in civil society, driven by the agency of heart and spirit and mind, is needed, and where the UN might finally serve the vision for which it was created most effectively. To begin to dig deeper, go to http://rockethics.psu.edu/ and http://www.wedo.org/. I'll come back to these later in the week.
posted by Mark at 8:43 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home