STATE OF THE REGION: 2002

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STATE OF THE REGION 2002

• Seeing Todays Delaware Valley Through
• the Eyes of The Earth Charter

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Or You and Me and the Red Knot
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Presented By The Earth Center in the Delaware
Watershed, Inc.Lawrenceville, NJ

• For The Earth Charter Summit,
• Philadelphia, September 28, 2002
• Ralph Copleman, Director
• J. Andy Smith, Ph.D., Program Director

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MULTIPLE LENSES

• Biological profile
• Geological character
• Human population and behavior
• An interpretation of our moment in time
• An Earth Charter Perspective
• Respect care for the community of life
• Ecological integrity
• Social economic justice
• Democracy, nonviolence, and peace

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WHERE DO YOU LIVE?

• Ask yourself, What is this place?
• And, What do I want it to be?
• Consider all the messages you get about where
  and who we are
• See how this alters reality in our minds

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Are You Native to the Region?

• A native is a person willing to take
  responsibility for where s/he lives (regardless
  of time in the area).

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The Delaware Valley

• 2.5 million acres
• 1.5 million of which are still OPEN SPACE
• Less than 1/3 of this protected
• Farms make up 12 of protected area
• Delaware River
• 1 of fresh water in US
• source of H20 for 7 of US population

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Population/Demographics

• 5.4 million people in 9 counties
• 1.36 million under the age of 18 (25)
• Median age 36.6
• 12 speak other than English at home
• 6.1 of families below poverty line (18.4 in
  City of Philadelphia)
• Median family income 54,000 (31,000 in the
  city)

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BIOLOGICAL PROFILE

• Deciduous Forest
• River system w/dramatic seasonal changes
• Recent (350 years) human influences
• Agriculture
• Development
• Second Growth

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KEYSTONE SPECIES

• Sturgeon - staple of Lenape diet
• Robin - most prominent disseminator of plant
  seeds
• Beaver - habitat manager

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Are We at Peace?

• Peace begins with me
• Constitutional freedoms
• Differentiated spiritual communities
• Alternative Dispute Resolution strategies

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WOW, HAVE WE EVER GOT PEACE ACTIVISM!

• American Friends Service Committee
• Nonviolent Peace Force
• Physicians for Social Responsibility
• Soka Gakkai
• Womens Intl League of Peace and Freedom
• (We have so many our Top Ten Lists got eleven
  members!)

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The Importance of Delaware Bay to Migratory Birds
Larry Niles Ph.D NJ Division of Fish and
Wildlife
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Ecotourism on the Delaware Bay

• Shorebird/Horseshoe crab tourist spend 34
  million in NJ each year
• Nationally Birding is the second largest and
  fastest growing outdoor activity
• On Delaware Bay tourists said they would not
  return if numbers fell more than 50

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PROBLEMS

• Global Climate Change
• Oil Spills
• Destruction of Shoreline Habitats
• Overharvest of Key Resources-Horseshoe Crabs
• Inadequate Understanding and Resources

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IMPACT OF ONE EXAMPLE

• Economy/commerce
• Quality of Life
• Ecology
• Culture and conflict
• Changing system dynamics
• Local, planetary

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ECDWs Opinion

• The region is in the grip of the humans almost
  unconditional belief in care-free, straight-line
  consumption of resources (local and otherwise).
• The human operates with a pre-dominant mind-set
  that technology and current governmental forms
  will solve all problems.
• The physical well-being of the region continues
  to deteriorate, abated occasionally in piece-meal
  fashion.
• The human, heavily influential in every aspect of
  the regions life, has little understanding of
  its place, its role in the fate of all life, or
  how much time is left.
• The resources in our place are a one-time
  endowment (NOT an opinion).

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Its About PERCEPTION

• We spend our energy fighting over what we value.
• More important question may be What is
  reality?
• This may be key to the danger vs. opportunity
  challenge.

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FACING TODAYS CHOICE FOR TOMORROW

• View the Earth Charter through the four prisms of
  its major parts
• Let us ask ourselves what we want for the future
  of the Delaware Valley
• Let us be ambitious
• Let us get to work today

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Re Community of Life

• PRESENT
• Human-centered
• Short-term view of history
• Save the shad on Sundays!

• POSSIBLE FUTURE
• Living, symbiotic connections with all life
• Long-term sense of who we are and upon what
  history we have placed our civilization
• Shad are us!

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Re Ecological Integrity

• PRESENT
• Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware
• Relegation of problems exclusively to experts
• Solve one problem at a time, in isolation

• POSSIBLE FUTURE
• Delaware Watershed, Delaware Valley (or
  suitable alternatives)
• Im a citizen. Its my responsibility.
• Transition to celebrating the unfolding of 4.5
  billion years of our regional life system

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Re Social Economic Justice

• PRESENT
• Trust global, free-market capitalism to lift all
  boats
• Governmental elites (at all levels)
• Economic class-ism

• POSSIBLE FUTURE
• Local living economies
• Broad participation leaves no one behind
• Equal rights and opportunities, regardless of

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Re Democracy, Nonviolence Peace

• PRESENT
• Special interests collaborate to rationalize
  differences
• Peace absence of armed conflict
• Premium on competition

• POSSIBLE FUTURE
• Common ground celebrating differences
• Peace creative opportunity
• Politics of spirit and celebration
• Premium on community

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Theres Plenty of Good News, Too

• Humans love a challenge
• There are many examples of success (in the region
  and elsewhere) on which to build
• Have you ever seen anything more beautiful than
  The Earth Charter!?
• The community of humans committed to a better
  future gets larger every day.

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THINK SYSTEMS!

• THE UNIVERSE STORY, Berry Swimme
• THE WEB OF LIFE, Capra
• www.dvrpc.org
• CONSILIENCE, Wilson
• BIOMIMICRY, Benyus
• NATURAL CAPITALISM, Hawken, Lovins Lovins
• STATE OF THE WORLD (series from WorldWatch Inst.)
• Eat organic

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WHAT I CAN DO NOW

• Support Adoption of The Earth Charter
• Choice begins with me CHOOSE A CAUCUS TODAY!
• Stem the bleeding
• Bone up on whats happening
• Create alternatives
• Breathe in spirit with others

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• Everything is everything else one long
  muscle. Its no more mysterious than that.
• Mary Oliver
• Together, we are a muscle.
• Thank you.

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Many thanks to Larry Niles of the NJ Division of
Fish and Wildlife for permission to use the
slides about the red knot and horseshoe crab.
The entire slide presentation is available at
http//www.njfishandwildlife.com/ensp/arctic2002/e
nglish/slideshow/sld001.htm