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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
- 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.
- 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."
- 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
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