Education for sustainable consumption is
an important feature of the 19th Commission on Sustainable Development, being
held at the United Nations in New York, May 2 – 13th, 2011
The challenges for sustainable consumption are:
- To respect the earth and life in all
its diversity, - To care for the community of
life with understanding and compassion, - To adopt patterns of
consumption and production that safe guard human rights and community
well being.
This
requires changes in values, attitudes, and day to day living. This can best
be accomplished in formal and informal educational settings. Educated consumers will be able to make
responsible decisions for how they live and conserve the world around
them. By understanding our daily
consumption is connected to the conditions and opportunities of others around
the world, everyone can contribute to a
healthy environment and a more just
distribution of resources – to sum it up, think globally
and act locally! And as we know, this is what Soroptimists do best.
This
is a rich area of potential
projects for Soroptimist clubs and
members to initiate, and it also ties in with the long term focus on Education and Leadership.
For more information, see www.perlprojects.org and www.unep.fr/scp
Reported by:
Lois Beilin, New York, May 2011