The 12^th session of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development was held in New York City, April 19-30, 2004. The purpose of the meeting was "to evaluate progress in the implementation of the goals of Agenda 21... and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, and identify obstacles and constraints to implementation, within the thematic cluster of water, sanitation, and human settlements."

It all sounded very laudable and innocuous, but I was convinced that another effort would be made to introduce the Earth Charter into a U.N. document.  Boarding the plane, I reached for a Globe and Mail.  Rex Murphy's article "Praise the green god from whom all blessings flow" leaped out, and I was awed. This man had captured the essence of the environmental movement and the Earth Charter.

Arriving at the hotel, I drafted a flyer; and on Monday, at the U.N., I distributed it very circumspectly to people who might understand and be able to help.  By Tuesday and Wednesday, after attending the various sessions of the Commission, I was beginning to think, "Have I over-reacted?" The first part of the Chairman's Text, all 38 pages of it, released Tuesday, detailed only what had already been discussed, and by whom. There was no mention of the Earth Charter. The rest of the week, there were only high-level, closed meetings: no NGO's welcome.

On Thursday a side-event was advertised that held promise; sponsored by an International Health Group, a session on HIV/AIDS would be held in the afternoon.  The luncheon speaker (by invitation only) was the dean of a School of Public Health, Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, I think.

During the morning session, which was dedicated to "Stress and the Environment," the delegate from Croatia gave a sterling address. Later, one question (in writing) was addressed to him: "Do you subscribe to the principles of the Earth Charter?" The delegate replied: "But of course!"

Bingo! Obviously, the principles of the Earth Charter were being promoted behind the scenes, to those who could adopt them.

As we were filing out, he was standing near the door. "Sir," I asked, "is Croatia a Christian country?" "Of course," he replied, "Croatia is a Catholic country."

"Then, you may be interested in reading this," I said, handing him a flyer. Later, at lunch, he was sitting at an adjacent table. When I caught his eye, he looked very thoughtful.

Having learned that the Earth Charter was very much on somebody's mind, I spent Friday morning distributing and explaining the flyer. Some of the Muslim countries were very concerned. For those who do not understand the implications of the Earth Charter, a copy of the flyer is herewith submitted.

"Praise the green god from whom all blessings flow.." This is a secular age; but the religious impulse is powerful and tenacious. If it is diverted from its traditional channels, or deliberately denied, it will find new ways of expression and new modes of doctrine.

Environmentalism (Let me quote from Rex Murphy: The Earth is our Mother.. The Earth is alive.. [The Earth Charter-Benchmark draft]) answers many needs. Literally, any movement whose goal is to save the earth is evangelical to its green roots.

The great dualisms of good and evil have modern twins: sustainability and pollution. Also present are the great instincts to proselytize and convert-the watermark of all great faiths.

It also has apostates and heretics-for example, Patrick Moore, the founder of Greenpeace, who became disillusioned and set out to moderate the great frenzies of environmentalism.  He has been declared anathema with all force. Also Bjorn Lomborg, whose scientific critique of global warming was attacked with prodigious fury. TIME Magazine called him the potential Martin Luther of the Environmental movement. 

Environmentalism is a re-invigorated version of the primitive paganism that found its deities and idols in sticks and stones, wrapped up in the mantras of Save the Planet and Be Environmentally Conscious. There is a lot of mushy New Ageism. the twitter about Gaia and Mother Earth.

Of course, like all serious religions, environmentalism takes much of its energy and appeal from the prospect of an apocalypse. Nuclear winter, the freezing or the flooding of the planet..  There is no religion without its doomsday.

On balance, the Environmental movement of modern times is much more a faith than a science, much more a reaching for salvation through good works-the blue box to separate plastic from paper, the garden compost heap/altar-than a disinterested study into the ways and workings of physical nature. Environmentalism is more need than inquiry.

Environmentalism is a complex mixture of belief, enthusiasm, politics, and science. Its religious character is too little explored, with the result that it is propagated in our schools as a science of necessity, and a practice of care, which conceals its true character. And, on days like Earth Day, to explore its complex nature would be like denying the Trinity in the very precincts of the Vatican.

[Rex Murphy in the (Toronto) Globe and Mail, Saturday, April 24, 2004.]

Was Mikhael Gorbachev on target when he said, at three separate press conferences at the RIO+5 Conference in Rio de Janeiro, in 1997: "The Ten Commandments are out of date. They will be replaced by the [then] 15 Principles of the Earth Charter."

A search of the Earth Charter website reveals its current status. It now has 16 Principles. The first has some potential: a) Recognize that all beings are interdependent, and every form of life has some value regardless of its worth to human beings. (I wonder if this includes the human fetus.)

Number 12 states: Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, as based on race, colour, sex, sexual orientation..

And here is a new rub. At all major U.N. conferences there have been rabid proponents of inserting into UN documents the right to sexual orientation; governments have rejected this. If the United Nations finally accepts the Earth Charter, it will mean that "sexual orientation" is in through the back door. They will have approved a concept rejected until that point.

Also, it now appears that the Earth Charter is already being promoted among students in some schools around the world. Are the Ten Commandments getting similar or equal attention?

Dr. Jeanne Ferrari writes from Ottawa. Her last article on the Earth Charter, "Ark of hope. The UN's quest for world religion," appeared in November 2002, pp. 16-17.