Sisters of Notre Dame in Rio

One of the learnings from the recent Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro last month is that the responsibility for the health of earth and its peoples has shifted from governments to civil society and businesses. The Rio+20 negotiated document had the full participation and robust engagement of civil society, and although not what everyone had hoped for, it is filled with signposts for the road ahead, placeholders and spaces that can be filled out later as we continue to work together for the future we want. Creating a new model for measuring a country’s standard of living that includes social and environmental factors in addition to financial is one idea whose time has come.

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40 Maravilhas do America d_Env.VirginiaOut2011

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Thank you for your interest in our blog so far.  Rio + 20 is not over; in fact the work is just beginning.  It is true that civil society was disappointed with the lack of commitment to concrete actions in the outcome document. There need to be timelines and specific goals addressing issues harming our earth.  However the vibrancy of the good practices and planning by NGOs and UN agencies with most member states gives us a lot of areas to work on.

There is a growing concern that the economic model currently not working for the well being of all persons needs to be altered.  There needs to be attention to the growing gap between the very wealthy and those living in extreme poverty.  At times this fact of the gap is masked by the way in which we measure economic progress.  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures only one aspect of economic growth. (more…)

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By Eileen Reilly, SSND

During the Rio + 20 event, the Feminist Task Force and the Global Call to Action against Poverty sponsored an event to answer this question.

For the past two years they have been organizing a series of fifteen “Gender and Climate Justice Tribunals” around the globe to highlight the disproportionate impact that climate change is having on the women of the world.  Grassroots women who have experienced climate change related problems in their lives and communities came together to testify before a panel of expert judges. (more…)

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