Already €1.700 raised in the crowdfunding for SfA! (blog 24/06/19)

So far, Green Cross Netherlands has raised almost €1.700 in the crowdfunding initiative on GlobalGiving for her Speakers for Awareness project. A big heartfelt THANK YOU to all donors! The realization of our project has come into view because of this. But we are not there yet – we still need your help too!

Like Little Grandmother Kiesha writes about this initiative on Facebook:

?? Green Cross Nederland is a great initiative creating crowdfunding for a TedX like platform of speakers to raise awareness for Mother Earth. Against plastic pollution, forest destruction and abuse on flora and fauna. Please take a look and help if you can. It’s time to bring a broader awareness to the masses of the plight of our Beloved Mother Earth and our own futures.??
Thank you, Little Grandmother Kiesha

Do you support this initiative of Green Cross too, but you haven’t donated yet? You still can! The crowdfunding action is ongoing until we meet our goal, so go to the project page to contribute. Small or large donations are both appreciated!

Thank you so much for your support!

Mick Janssen, in name of Green Cross Netherlands

By Ruud Lubbers

To the occasion of 20 years Green Cross International there was a meeting in Genève beginning of September. During the meeting, the seventh “Earth Dialogues” took place, where the “Geneva Declaration on Action for a Peaceful and Sustainable World” was published. This declaration can be read here. In the declaration is written: “to continue on the present business-as-usual path of consumer-driven, resource- and energy-intensive growth will very likely lead to disaster. The present unsustainable patterns of consumption and production must change. We must develop and implement more responsible strategies for growth and development”.

In my speech, I dwelled on the urgency which was at the heart of the foundation of Green Cross back then, and how there is still cause for unified efforts for a sustainable world. I especially complimented founder Mikhail Gorbachev for his tireless effort to bring about a sustainable world.

At the end of the ’60s, at the time Green Cross arose, ‘Green’ was already an important part of my life. As a civilian in the port city of Rotterdam and father to three children, it was a challenge for me how to combine economic growth with quality of living. This connection starts at the effort to contribute to “not another escalation in the Cold War because of intermediate nuclear forces”.

Even though according to historians this period is mainly about Reykjavik, Reagan, and Gorbachev; for me, it was a focal point in the twelve years I was Prime Minister of The Netherlands (1982-1994). This connected me with a new world, including former president Gorbachev, who at the end of the Cold War and the USSR became chairman of Green Cross and pleaded for the development of an Earth Charter. As Prime Minister, I supported the initiative of Maurice Strong who, as chairman of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, committed himself to draft an ‘Earth Charter’. I invited former president Gorbachev to come to The Hague, together with his wife, with the purpose to agree and join forces and start a joint social initiative for the Earth Charter, under co-chairmanship of Maurice Strong and Mikhail Gorbachev. This was the beginning of a long process in which I engaged in a dialogue, together with the co-chairmen and the other Earth Charter Commissioners, with actors from worldwide society.

Steven Rockefeller – indeed born from a famous capitalistic family but himself a professor in Ethics – played a key role in further developing the Earth Charter-document.

In 2000 we launched the Earth Charter-document in the Peace Palace in The Hague. This was also the start of the global Earth Charter Initiative (ECI) with a beautiful and sustainable center in Costa Rica on the grounds of the UN University of Peace in San José.

Meanwhile, Green Cross, led by Alexander Likhotal for several years now, was undertaking much more than just the creation of the Earth Charter.

Green Cross contributed to the modernization of society, focused on several subjects, namely water, energy, ethics, and safety. On the path of ‘Our Common Future’ (by Gro Harlem Brundtland) to the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ it is notable that civil society – including Green Cross – contributes to the modernization of companies so they can turn themselves socially responsible, from Global Compact (2000) to the Charter for Compassion (2009). We have continually seen new initiatives come into being, but always there was the dynamic Green Cross. Congratulations! Even though many wrongdoings and challenges remain, I wish you a ‘joyful celebration of life’.

Ruud Lubbers

26 August 2013

This is a contribution of Awraham Soetendorp, Chairman of the Board of Green Cross Netherlands.

Awraham Soetendorp was involved with the foundation of the global Earth Charter Initiative. He is a member of the historic Earth Charter Commission.

Some fragments from the contribution of Awraham to the book for the commemoration of Ruud Lubbers:

“The necessity of a Charter in which the inclusive, holistic responsibility of humanity for the Earth and all life forms, is expressed in a sustainable vision for action, is being felt for decades. The way was paved by the Brundtland report “Our Common Future”, in 1987. An impressive world-conference followed five years later in Rio de Janeiro. A design-resolution for an Earth Charter fell in action during the meeting of government leaders, for lack of consensus. Among the NGOs, present in large numbers, who were being kept at a distance from the meeting room like usual, the feeling dominated that we should take matters in our own hands. Maurice Strong, the Secretary-General of this conference, took the initiative to the formation of the Earth Council. Mikhail Gorbachev, who shortly before had to give up his presidency, accepted the invitation to hold the position of chairman of Green Cross. This request was directed at him by the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival.

During an international conference of this organization about the environment, held in Moscow in 1990, Gorbachev as the president called for the formation of a Green Cross organization during his final speech in the Kremlin.

Like the Red Cross mobilizes itself for the health and safety of people, Green Cross should mobilize itself for the health and the safety or the Earth.

Back in The Netherlands, Ruud Lubbers received Erica Terpstra and me – we were both involved in the creation of Green Cross. Ruud spoke with his typical humor about this meeting at my farewell as officiating Rabbi of The Hague. How could he refuse his cooperation, when a Rabbi who has been fighting for the rights of Jews in the Soviet Union and the liberal Erica disclosed themselves as supporters of Mikhail Gorbachev?

Ruud, who was standing so close to the ambition of Brundtland, saw the possibility – in what he considered the final period in his premiership – to form the connection between idea and deed. And this handwork was entrusted with him. At first, the speed was enormous. He pledged support for Green Cross and steered the process towards collaboration with the Earth Council. Several months later, Gorbachev was received in The Netherlands for the first time as the brand new president of Green Cross, founded in Kyoto. The research instigated by him quickly demonstrated that the joining of forces of both organizations would be made possible.

This intense process took up to five years and was full of suspense until the last moment. In the early morning after the finalization of the last meeting before the press conference in the UNESCO building in Paris, June 2000, Steven Rockefeller – the gifted chairman of the Earth Charter Commission – dared to change the first sentence of the preamble: “We stand at a critical moment in human history”, into “We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history”. A striking illustration of the openness which was aimed for in regards to the progressive insight. In June 2000 we were allowed to offer the Earth Charter to Queen Beatrix in the Peace Palace.

The Earth Charter is not set in stone. It is a living organism. The thrilling feeling of unity in diversity. The last words of the Earth Charter, ‘the joyful celebration of life’, express the essence of the primal desire of the soul, which was embodied in the Earth Charter. Especially in the gorgeous diversity of cultures and life forms becomes visible that we are one human family and one Earth community, with a shared purpose. And this brings irrepressible joy.”

Source

In cooperation with Green Cross Switzerland, Green Cross Netherlands organizes study trips for about 30 to 40 Europeans to the struck Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan. This group consists mainly of journalists, scientists, politicians, and CEOs of companies. Over the last seven years, hundreds of people have been introduced to the nuclear drama in Fukushima.

‘Het Klokhuis’ was also present in the Dutch delegation of the study trip in April 2018. They made a special episode about this trip, which has been viewed by about 400.000 youngsters and parents. Talking about impact! Missed the show? You can still view it here.