Carta a la tierra, Gorbachov

1. MANIFESTO FOR
THE EARTH
Mijaíl Gorbachov
Laura Ferrer Montañés
Marta Navarro Uriel
Sostenibilidad Energética, Enero 2012
Máster en EERR y Eficiencia Energética
Universidad de Zaragoza

2. INDEX
• Preamble.
• Chapters:
• Are we really waiting for a new prestige to get
into action?
• Three challenges for the new century.
• How I became a green?
• The global crisis.
• What should we do?
• My Green “Cross”
• ”Homo Sapiens” or “Robot Sapiens”?
• The Earth Charter.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

3. PREAMBLE
MIJAÍL GORBACHOV
• In Stávropol, URSS, March 2nd 1931.
• General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
(CPSU), and posterior executive President of the Soviet Union.
• Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, headed the NGO's Green
Cross and became leader of the Social Democratic Union to the
present day.
EARTH’S LETTER
• Written in the late summer of 2002.
• Recounts in first person the three challenges humanity must face.
• The Earth Charter devised in Rio de Janerio in 1992. 3
Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

4. Are we really waiting for a new
“Prestige” to get into action?
• Prestige accident, November 2002.
• Accidents in which oil is spoilt:
• Damages: FAUNA AND ENVIRONMENT
• Ecological groups  new regulations.
• Global Marine Comission.
• Fiscal privileges of some countries  Liberia.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

5. • World Summit on Sustainable Development held in
Johannesburgh, August - September 2002:
SUCCESS FAILURE
• Politics and sustainable • Fight against poverty.
development • Environmental degradation.
• Potable water. • Climate change
• Combat desertification • Biggest disappoinment:
and fish stock. negotiations on energy.
“It achieved more than what many of us expected,
but considerably less than what we hoped” 5
Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

6. Three challenges for the new century
AT THE TURN OF THE 21th CENTURY:
• Perestroika
• End to the division of the world into two enemy camps.
• End to the arms race.
• Chernobyl
• The terrible warning of dangers inherent in a technological
civilization.
• September 11th 2001
• Consequences of poverty and the loss of human values.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

7. Three challenges for the new century
I – WORLD PEACE
• Chemical weapons and nuclear armaments.
II – WORLD POVERTY
• Ecological measures are meaningless if poverty is not tackled.
III – ECOLOGICAL
• Climate changes are taking place on the earth  the number of
natural disasters is increasing.
• Many plant and animal species are dying out.
• The polar ice caps are melting.
• The oceans are becoming increasingly poluted, while the forests are
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being ever more rapidly destroyed.
Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

8. How I became green?
1931 1941 1970 1985 1991
Born Attack by Delegate to Chairman
the Supreme
1993
Peasant Hitler’s of the Dimissal
family Germany Soviet of the Communist GREEN
USSR Party CROSS
Bound up HUNGER & Member of Acceleration
with POVERTY the Comitee Glasnost
NATURE for the Perestroika
Conservation
of the
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Environment.
Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

9. The global crisis
THE END OF THE COLD WAR
• Fall of the Berlin Wall.
• Cause for hopes supported by meetings: Rio Earth Summit in 1992.
EUROPE
• Play an important role towards a new world order.
• The fall of the Iron Curtain  Realize the idea of a GREATER
EUROPE.
The end of the cold war 11th September 2001
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

10. The global crisis
THE POLITICAL CRISIS
Despite the Russo-American agreement on the mutual reduction of
nuclear arms…
… the end of the cold war in no way heralds the beginning of peaceful
times.
THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
The avalanche of growth in information technology and
telecommunications have given globalization a trmendous boost…
…growing the inequality between South and North, between poverty
and wealth.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

11. The global crisis
THE SOCIAL CRISIS
The hope that at least a part of the huge sums spent on the arms race by
the developed countries…
…the aid goals are far from being achieved.
THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS
The growing ecological crisis shows that a liberal economy functioning
mainly according to the criteria of profitability and a return capital is
not capable of coping with the ecological challenge…
…that produces drought, famine and natural disasters should be
considered as a serious threat to peace and stability on the planet.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

12. What should we do?
• We should do everything in our power to prevent global catastrophe.
• The majority of ecologists and politicians act under many different
forms regarding the need for a sustainable development.
1972 UN Conference on THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT in Stockholm
• The idea of sustainable development was first formulated.
1992 Rio Environment Summit
• That idea was promoted to pogramme status by the Rio Declaration
on the Environment and Development.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

13. What should we do?
Human rights
Effective co-operation
Information technology
Globalization is ritghtly criticized…
• The process has proved to be asymmetrical:
• The economically and politically dominant countries have protected
their interests.
• The countries “at the periphery” have been deceived.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

14. What should we do?
More effective use of
existing authorities A world goverment
International
Ecological Court ONU reformation
Regional organizations
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

15. What should we do?
CONSUMPTION: engine of economic development.
We have to admit that consumer attitudes and excesive demands on
nature are coming up agsinst ecological, social and moral limitations.
• Reorientation of consumption.
• Change people’s mind.
1988 Aarhus Convention
• Access to information on environmental matters.
• Learn how to take care on the environment.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

16. My green “cross”
Main thrusts of their work and how they reflect their philosophy:
• The ecological consequences of war and other conflicts:
• Wars against the environment and life.
• “Heritage”.
• Water as a source of conflict, water for peace:
• Prevent conflicts about water.
• Access to water as a general human right.
• A charter for the Earth.
• What has happened to ethical ideas? 16
Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

17. “Homo Sapiens” or “Robot Sapiens”?
• Human beings have now taken over the whole planet:
• Towns, soil, forests, rivers, animal and plant species, change the
climate…
• Robots: the next step in evolution
• American experts on artificial intelligence and robotic technology.
• Humanity needs a new philosophy of life.
• “Global ethic”.
• Ensure the survival humanity.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

18. The Earth Charter
12th March 2002
I. RESPECT AND CARE FOR THE COMMUNITY OF LIFE.
1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.
2. Care for the community of life with
understanding, compassion, and love.
3. Build democratic societies that are
just, participatory, sustainable, and peaful.
4. Secure Earth’s bounty and beauty for present and future
generations.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

19. The Earth Charter
II. ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY.
5. Protect and restore the integrity of Earth’s ecological
systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the
natural processes that sustain life.
6. Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection
and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary
approach.
7. Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction
that safeguard Earth’s regenerative capacities, human
rights, and community well being.
8. Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the
open exchange and wide application of the knowledge adquired.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

20. The Earth Charter
III. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
9. Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental
imperative.
10. Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels
promote human development in an equitable and sustainable
manner.
11. Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to
sustainable development and ensure universal access to
education, health care, and economic opportunity.
12. Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural
and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily
health, and spiritual well being, with special attention to the
rights of indigenous peoples and minorities. 20
Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

21. The Earth Charter
IV. DEMOCRACY, NONVIOLENCE, AND PEACE.
13. Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide
transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive
participation in decision making, and access to justice.
14. Integrate into formal education and life – long learning the
knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.
15. Treat all living beings with respect and consideration.
16. Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel CARTA A LA TIERRA

22. PERSONAL
REVIEW
Historical contents.
Gorbachov: point of view.
Disorganization.
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel - CARTA A LA TIERRA 07/05/2012

23. THANKS FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
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Laura Ferrer Montañés, Marta Navarro Uriel - CARTA A LA TIERRA 07/05/2012