Project for Global Democracy and Human Rights

Human Rights and the Environment

All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts…The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. —Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Environmental ethics

Towards a set of international principles:

Global Atlas: How nations stand on the environment

Global warming:

Pollution control is good for the economy:

Sustainable development:

Land as property vs. land as trust:

Sanibel FL ©Andrew Reding

Model community: Sanibel Island, Florida

  • human community as sanctuary:
    “The City of Sanibel affirms a land ethic that recognizes landholding—both public and private—as a form of stewardship, involving responsibilities to the human and natural communities of the island and its surroundings, and to future generations.”
    —Sanibel Vision Statement (1997)
  • land use based on ecological zones:
    The Sanibel Report (1976)

Links

Organizations:

To find out how members of the U.S. House and Senate are voting on environmental isues:

Think globally, act locally—model local initiatives:

Directories and search engines:

© 1996, 1999 Andrew Reding, Project Director and Senior Fellow, World Policy Institute

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