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- an educational initiative to promote a responsible way of treating the Earth
Rationale/idea - book series - Educational offer - Target groups - More information
Rationale / idea
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In March 2005, the foundation “Forum für Verantwortung” organized a colloquium on “The Future of the Earth – The Carrying Capacity of our Planet”. In the course of the lectures and discussions it became obvious to the participants that many problems on earth will inexorably catch up with us, if we do not consciously and without hesitation opt for the concept of sustainable development. Sustainability expresses the idea that a society that is fulfilling its desires should ask if they are acting in such a way that coming generations will be able to do the same.
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Since the 1970s, scientists worldwide have pointed out our in many cases excessive resource and energy consumption, documented the climatic changes caused by humans, and warned about a world population explosion.
Despite many activities, in particular under the direction of the UN, to counter these trends, too little has changed. We are even further than ever away from sustainable development, which we owe to our children and grandchildren. Since without broad support from society the transformation to sustainable development will be neither possible nor enforceable, we need to launch a public discourse about sustainability.
The foundation Stiftung für Verantwortung wants to make civil society understand the scientific background and correlations with a view to worthwhile sustainable development. In 2006, Klaus Wiegandt and his foundation therefore launched the educational initiative "Encouraging Sustainability". The concept consists of three parts:
- Book series about 12 essential topics of the future
- Development of comprehensive educational material based on the contents of the 12 books
- Comprehensive seminar and educational offer on the issue of "Sustainable Development" at the European Academy Otzenhausen (Saarland)
Book series "12 Books about the Future of the Earth"
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In the context of the initiative, renowned scientists present the current state of research in a way that can be understood by anyone, and they suggest options for taking action in twelve essential fields of sustainability.
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Many questions asked are, for example: Do we make good use of the Earth? Is nature, the basis of our lives, in danger? What has to happen to secure our future on this planet? Twelve books describe the interconnectedness of a functioning earth and human activities and examine different facets of the already existing interactions between them. Though each book is dedicated to one central topic, they are all systematically interconnected.
Learn more about the Book series.
Educational Offer
With these twelve volumes a first step was taken to inform civil society. It is now necessary:
- to initiate and promote a broad public discourse
- to prepare further information in a way anyone can understand, for presentation in the media
- to show ways of understanding this information and acting on it
- to motivate civil society and individual participants towards proactive actions.
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The foundation Forum für Verantwortung, the ASKO EUROPA-STIFTUNG, and their closely linked partner European Academy Otzenhausen have therefore made it their goal to promote the project “Mut zur Nachhaltigkeit” on a broad platform in the coming years.
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For this cause the Wuppertal Institute of Climate, Environment and Energy was entrusted with enhancing didactically the content of the book series in order to elaborate qualified teaching material for the planned educational activities. Six learning modules specifically developed for this purpose serve as a basis for the educational activities on "Sustainable Development", which are carried out in institutions such as schools, universities, and companies.
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In line with these six modules and their manifold methodology, we also offer a comprehensive educational and seminar program at the European Academy Otzenhausen. This program provides an attractive combination of theory and practice and aims to impart knowledge of the close interrelation of all topics and to suggest possible options for taking action.
The initiative "Encouraging Sustainability" was awarded the distinction of "Official Project of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in 2007/08 and 2009/10".
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Our target groups
We appeal to civil society, because politicians can take action only if supported by the citizens. Furthermore, each individual can contribute to the concept of sustainability through his or her consumer behavior.
In order to reach the maximum number of people, we are turning in particular to information disseminators from all fields of society, such as science and research, education, culture, the economy, the media, and the Church.
More information
Click here for comprehensive information on the initiative "Encouraging Sustainability", the educational programs and current activities and events: www.encouraging-sustainability.com
Download or order information material
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