Earth Charter Earth Day Webinar  Turning Conscience into Action for a Thriving Earth: Insights from Fritjof Capra and Marina Silva

Earth Day offers a special occasion for us to come together, reflect and learn about the interrelated challenges we have and the possibilities that are emerging to address them with a systemic approach. 

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), held in December 2023 in Dubai, the Brazilian government presented The Ecological Transformation Plan, which is a major effort aiming to stop years of extraction and environmental destruction. The plan involves, among other things, a regulated carbon market, the creation of technological innovation centers at universities, the expansion of forest concession areas, electronic bus fleets, incentives for recycling, and efforts to reduce the risk of natural disasters. It is based on six pillars: sustainable funding, technological development, bioeconomy, energy transition, circular economy, and infrastructure and adaptation to climate change.  

For Earth Day 2024, the Earth Day Network is highlighting the importance of ending plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, demanding a 60% reduction in the production of ALL plastics by 2040. They are making a calling for Planet vs Plastic, which involves various stakeholders, including business, scientists, governments, educators and others to come together and work towards a solution. For that to happen, significant efforts to raise awareness of all actors and a new kind of education is of utmost importance. 

Systems, environmental, and ethical literacy is crucial to make this happen. This webinar has the purpose to generate a learning opportunity by tackling the following questions: 

• What are the current efforts of the Brazilian government in addressing the climate and ecological crisis and moving towards a thriving Earth? 
• What are the linkages of the plastic pollution problem with our production and consumption patterns and how can we address it with a systemic approach?  
• How can systems, ecological, climate and ethical literacy help us move forward in addressing the current challenges and what role can the Earth Charter play in this? 

Speakers: 

Marina Silva, Brazilian Minister of the Environment and Climate Change (Brazil) 

Fritjof Capra, physicist, systems theorist, and member of the Earth Charter International Council. Author of The Tao of Physics and co-author of The Systems View of Life: a Unifying Vision (Austria/USA) 

Moderator: Mirian Vilela, ECI Executive Director