3rd Annual Earth Charter Community Summits October 11 in 33 Cities to Be Linked by Webcast

Volunteers will present their visions of a peaceful and sustainable society at grassroots events in 33 U.S. and international cities participating in the 3rd annual Earth Charter Community Summits Saturday, October 11, 2003. A webcast will link the cities.

TAMPA, FL (PRWEB) October 1, 2003 ---- It began on September 29, 2001, with volunteers from 12 U.S. cities. Shaken by the 9/11 disasters a few days earlier, they were now even more determined to give voice to their dreams for a better world.

Simultaneously, each city held a day-long Community Summit, inspired by a document called the Earth Charter and led by a group in Tampa, FL. The Summits offered speeches, discussions, workshops, planning sessions, and more, open free to the public and based on the Earth Charters 16 principles of respect and care for the community of life; ecological integrity; social and economic justice; and democracy, nonviolence, and peace.

It was a new idea -- a way to bring the Earth Charter, then better known abroad than in the United States, to the American people. Through a matching grant from the Allegany Franciscan Foundation, closed circuit TV linked the 12 cities, and the high-tech sharing was a highlight of what was to become an annual event.

On Saturday, October 11, 2003, nine of the original 12 cities will be joined by 20 more cities in the U.S. and four cities abroad (from India, Belgium, Scotland, and Senegal) in the third annual Earth Charter Community Summit. The 33 cities will be linked at noon (Eastern time) by a round-robin webcast. Live coverage of proceedings will be available throughout the day at www.earthchartersummits.org,

As the Summits mature, childrens activities are being added, according to Jan Roberts, president of the Tampa-based Institute for Ethics & Meaning, which serves as the national organizing body for grassroots Earth Charter activities in the United States. Among the cities offering childrens programs this year are Chicago, Twin Cities, Philadelphia, and Tampa Bay. In Tampa, an Earth Scouts Festival for Children and Families, running concurrently with the day-long Summit, will introduce the growing Earth Scouts program, founded in Tampa Bay last year (www.earthscouts.org).

The 2003 Summits will feature the premiere of a new Earth Charter song, Where We All Belong: A Song for the Earth Charter," composed by Raffi, the Canadian singer-songwriter whose many recordings of music for children are known worldwide.

Introduced at The Hague Peace Palace in 2000, the Earth Charter is a non-political, non-sectarian document, sometimes described as a declaration of interdependence." It was developed by over 100,000 citizens from 78 countries and has been endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Florida League of Cities, and over 2,000 organizations. Its international headquarters are in Costa Rica (www.earthcharter.org).

Participating cities are Ann Arbor, MI; Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Boulder, CO; Buffalo, NY; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Ft. Myers, FL: Hartford, CT; Honolulu, HI; Indianapolis, IN; La Puente, CA; Madison,WI; Marin County, CA; New Orleans, LA; Oakland/Berkeley, CA; Oshkosh, WI; Palo Alto, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; Santa Rosa, CA; Seattle, WA; Tacoma, WA; Tampa Bay, FL; Twin Cities, MN; Ventura, CA; Washington, DC; Andhra Pradesh, India; Brussels, Belgium; Glasgow, Scotland; and Senegal, West Africa.

For contact info on city organizers and more info on programs in various cities, see www.earthchartersummits.org/PressDownloads.htm.
###