The first e-GLO 2 session, Earth Charter, Sustainable Development and Youth Leadership, was held on Saturday Sep 19th, 2009.
The minutes of the session can be reviewed here, collected by e-GLO 2 participant Muhammad Salman from Pakistan. See Muhammad’s bio below.
Read e-GLO participant Jessica White’s report on the first session.
“Today over thirty participants representing 26 countries came together through the Earth Charter Global Learning Opportunity, shortened as e-GLO 2. This semester-long online course certainly lights up our lives, by creating an interactive seminar that gives us the opportunity to share our skills and knowledge on a global level that we have learnt at a local level.
Personally, I was so excited to start, I joined early, forgetting completely that my world clock didn`t change daylight saving time. My eagerness was not disappointed, just seeing the participants faces from places across the globe including Rio, Canada, Nigeria, Singapore made me realise how people around the world are looking for the same thing: the opportunity to connect with others who are striving to make a difference in their communities and need the support of skills and knowledge from people across the globe who striving to change the world for the better in their own mirco ways. Just connecting made me feel more like what I am doing on a local level has a wider impact and gave me a sudden boost and inspiration to go on. On a practical level we can access a vast pool of resources so that we don`t have to reinvent the wheel. We can draw experiences from each other so that youth leaders can really be guided towards sustainability action.
We were guided through the first session by Mike Sheean who was beaming from Canada and Jaana Laitinen who came live to us from Costa Rica, herself from Finland. Both presenters were refreshing in their approach as they took us through the Earth Charter Initiative with truly innovative technology from Heart in Action. We were able to simultaneously follow their presentations whilst listening to each other give comments in the text chat below. In this way we were able to really have a dialogue, rather than passively consuming.
In the final hour we were asked to write and document through photography our community as our first skill sharing task. I am looking forward to experiencing the challenges and how each of us overcome these limiting situations through our active and creative work! Thank you E-Glo, what a great opportunity to link to the rest of the world and stay active in my current locale!”
Jessica White 
Jessica`s primary practice is Intercultural Art Education that enables appreciation of diversity within different communities, so that tolerance can be maintained, understanding can be reached and information flow between communities can increase. This strengthens cultural identity and achievement for local, national and international mobility. She is also a writer and curator of exhibitions who deals with cultural politics, art, creativity and history. Through her active projects, Jessica has been developing an alternative education that challenges the mainstream practices to be more inclusive, creative, historical and contemporary, diverse and innovative, whilst challenging herself to do the same 🙂
Muhammad Salman
Muhammad, 23, from Pakistan is currently doing his Bachelors in Economics and Finance. He is an active member
of different organizations such as IEARN, Rotaract club of Karsaz etc. Salman has participated and made valuable contribution in different iEARN collaborative projects that are engaging in dialogue with peers and experts globally. As a young Pakistani global community activist he has made a difference by facilitating international cultural exchange projects. Salman has given presentations and conducted workshops on both national and international conferences. Currently he is working on an online plus community service based project called “MDGs Only with Your Voice”, which has gain huge attention and has also recognized as one of the Best Practices by Taking IT Global and UN-Gaid. He continues to mobilize youth towards making a meaningful difference in their community, society and the globe at large.
Learn more:
Session 1: Earth Charter, Sustainable Development and Youth Leadership