Objectives - Some Principles

Objectives

 To contribute for confrontation of serious planetary social and environmental problems through educational means and the promotion of community participation.

 To enable that the largest possible amounts of young people, teachers and school communities concern themselves at the local level with planetary commitments, by assuming responsibilities for building sustainable societies, for spreading the information and deepen their recognition of the importance of diversity, of the Culture of the Peace and of planetary survival.

 Collaborate with the One Billion Trees Campaign / UNEP.

A few principles

 Environmental education and planetary ethics.
The constitution of an environmental education process based on the principles and values of the Treaty of Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibility, the Earth Charter, the Manifest for Life and the Charter of Human Responsibilities.

 Responsibility.
The recognition of the individual and collective responsibilities is one of the most important axles of the whole process, considering that we have different responsibilities, since each citizen is responsible within his/her own limits, in the proportion of one’s access to information and power.

 Coordinated action with the youth.
The recognition of the role of young people as social citizens that live, act and intervene in the present time, and not in the future.
This action has some fundamental characteristics : youth chooses youth, in the Conference young people are in the center of decision making, selecting their peers ; youth educates youth, the whole mobilization process is build together with the young, respecting and trusting their capacity to assume commitments for actions that can transform ; and one generation learns with the other, the building of partnership between the different generations involved becomes specially important in environmental education.
Children can cope better with innovative concepts and the needed changes of values that their parents or teachers, while adolescents and youth easily embrace transforming trends, adults are more resistant to change.
Nevertheless, it depends on adults to provide the intellectual conditions for such urgent and necessary changes to occur, through helping to deepen knowledge and opening opportunities for real participation to occur.

 Building of learning communities.
The Conference of the Environment in the Schools contribute for the transformation of quality of life through the community intervention in local reality.
This happens by means of devising common purposes and cooperative processes, shared action plans and beneficial results for all.

 Debate and local action on global issues.
A common theme for all the countries will be debated and a responsibility and an action will be created in each school : Climatic changes (each country might include another subject of its interest) and 10 trees will be planted by each school around the world.
We shall think and act simultaneously locally and globally.