The Hudson River Compact: Our Shared Nature

[OneBlueSky]

from the Garrison Institute . . .
http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/home.php

Our Shared Nature: A Transformational Ecology Compact for the Hudson - Earth Day, 2007

We, the people of the Hudson River Valley, believe that we are called to a mutually enhancing relationship with Earth and all communities of life. We know that we must change our actions as human beings and communities to protect the fragile environment we love and share. This is the only way to preserve and restore the bioregion we call home for future generations and all life.

This is an urgent call for visionary sustainability from the precipice of potential extinction. While we continue to grieve the loss of our fragile environment to human acts of devastation, over-consumption, pollution, global warming and climate change, we choose to have a new vision of hope. We believe that destructive human behaviors can be transformed.

As members of diverse religious and environmental communities of the Hudson River Valley, over 300 miles from headwaters to ocean, we are united in our awe of life. Our survival as a species depends on a renewed understanding of Earth based on interdependence.

Therefore, we declare that the land and waters of the Hudson River Valley bioregion are unique, precious and irreplaceable. We actively commit to preserving, protecting and restoring this region. Individually and collectively, we agree to act according to the following principles:

1. The Earth is a sacred trust.

2. We rely on the resources of Earth for our lives.

3. Earth does not belong to humans alone. We are but temporary stewards of the communities of life.

4. We will change our dominating relationship to Earth to one of respect and interdependence.

5. We will review and evaluate our actions to see how our lifestyles impact our home and our world.

6. We commit to an ethical and equitable rule of life to guide us to share resources more sustainably and seek justice.

7. We will shift our daily actions and financial practices to be environmentally responsible, acknowledging that they may require more effort in our day-to-day lives.

8. We agree to build a society that will sustain the whole earth community in health, abundance and safety, without further sacrificing the natural world.

9. We will join local citizen networks and dedicate ourselves and our communities to consistent, positive social, spiritual and environmental change.

10. We seek to be part of a movement of humans uniting on behalf of Earth community to build a local and global vision of sustainability.

11. We agree to seek what has been lost, restore our natural resources and maintain our communities, wasting nothing.

12. We will celebrate all efforts already underway and support the continuing creation of new networks and collaborations.

http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/programs/HR_Compact.pdf

List of Signatories
http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/programs/TGI_compact_signers_4_20_07.pdf

Garrison Institute

Garrison Institute was founded in 2002 to apply the transformative wisdom of the world’s contemplative traditions to systemic challenges facing the human and natural environment. Situated in the historic Hudson Highlands overlooking the Hudson River, the Institute occupies a large, newly-renovated monastery surrounded by tranquil forests and fields. It offers a year-round calendar of residential initiatives and retreats that bring together spiritual leaders and practitioners, activists and social service providers, policy makers, scientists and scholars to explore the intersection of contemplative and spiritual experience with engaged action in the world.

Working in collaboration with individuals, other institutions, and communities of interest, Garrison Institute aspires to bring about significant changes in global society. We are committed to intellectual rigor, experiential depth, and outcomes that are documented and disseminated. Program areas include Education, Environment, Peace and Reconciliation, and Service in Society. We also host contemplative residential retreats offered by visiting teachers and groups of many different traditions.

http://www.garrisoninstitute.org/home.php