Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.
- The Earth Charter

BACKGROUND

Planit is a non-government, not-for-profit grassroots group in Western Australia committed to a world that is ecologically healthy. It recognises that the beginning years of this century require a massive transformation in the way we live to create the sustainable future we yearn for.

Planit believes the situation now requires exceptionally urgent action. It also sees that the crisis we face provides an unprecedented opportunity and need for us to realise, with love, our fundamental interconnectedness.

OBJECTIVES

The world that we have made as a result of the level of thinking we have done thus far creates problems that we cannot solve at the same level we created them at.
- Albert Einstein
  1. A shift in world views and values to those that are based on the recognition of our interconnectedness with each other and the wider global environment. Gaia theory, deep ecology and the Earth Charter are useful tools for learning this new way of thinking.

  2. A change in lifestyles and habits to those in which consumption, pollution and waste are vastly reduced and Western Australia's ecological footprint becomes much smaller. Our global ecological footprint is currently the equivalent of three planet Earths. That means the amount we consume and the amount of waste we produce would need land at least three times the size of Earth to be sustainable. Australians have the second highest ecological footprint per person in the world, with only Americans making more of an impact. An average Australian's ecological footprint is 9 hectares, whereas our global "fair Earth share" is just 1.5 hectares per person. As the Earth Charter states, "We must realise that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more."

  3. A transformation of the systems of industrial society. Industrial growth society appears to be the main cause of the global environmental problems we are now witnessing, just 200 years after the birth of industrialism. Many indicators of environmental degradation, especially those relating to the use of fossil fuels and population increase, show a massive change since the late 1700's. We need to find our way through to a new economic system that looks after and respects all people and the Earth.

PRINCIPLES
Planit endorses and works within the principles of the Earth Charter, under the four broad banners of:

I.   Respect and care for the community of life
II.   Ecological integrity
III.   Social and economic justice
IV.   Democracy, non-violence and peace

In addition to these, Planit adheres to the following complementary principles:
  • Interconnectedness
  • Global responsibility
  • Vision
  • Commitment
  • Action
  • Leadership
  • Partnership
  • Mobilisation
 
Copyright (c) 2002 Planit Earth Project.