Earth Charter Summit addresses environmental issues

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By Doug Schorpp | Saturday, October 11, 2008 4:27 PM CDT | () comments

Shellie Darr of Moline is passionate about environmental issues even though not everyone in her family is.

“It’s been about the last 10 years,” she said, referring to her involvement. “My family is not into it. But I am and I wish they were.”

She was among those attending Saturday’s daylong Quad-City Earth Charter Summit: “Global Climate Change: Generating Hope and Energy” at Davenport’s RiverCenter.

The forum featured a variety of speakers, including Dr. Jerry Schnoor, a University of Iowa environmental researcher and chairman of the Iowa Climate Change Advisory Council; Cathy Bolkcom, a Quad-City activist and community organizer who talked about about environmentalism and social justice; and the Rev. Bud Grant, professor of environmental ethics at St. Ambrose University in Davenport.

Darr’s biggest concern is the rivers. She applauded Chad Pregracke, founder of the East Moline-based Living Lands & Waters, an organization that cleans up rivers. It’s something that has inspired her.

“Whenever I go to the river, I always clean up and make it better than when I found it,” she said. “If everybody helps a little bit, it will be a better place.”

Schnoor addressed several subjects, including the fact that there are 240 million cars in America, but only 210 million licensed drivers — meaning there are more cars than people who can drive them.

He said 3 to 4 gallons of fuel are consumed every day “for every man, woman and child” in this country. He talked about alternative sources of energy: “Who owns the wind and the sun? Nobody owns it. You own it,” he said. Schnoor said those are “dependable and stable” ways to manufacture power.

The main speaker was writer Colin Beavan of New York City, also known as the No Impact Man. In 2006, he decided to try living for a year in such a way that he and his family would make no net impact on the Earth’s resources. They ate locally grown food, declined to buy anything with packaging, turned off their electricity, did without toilet paper and used only their feet for transportation. He since has appeared on national television and is writing a book that will be published next year.

Among other topics, Beavan addressed the political climate surrounding environmental concerns.

“It’s too bad Republicans haven’t taken (environmental issues) up, and it’s too bad Democrats have used it as a battle point,” Beavan said.

Personally, Beavan said he would vote for Barack Obama. “But whether Republican or Democrat, we need to feel we are in charge of our parties,” he said. In most countries, issues like global warming are not political at all.

Bolkcom said being passionate about issues like the environment often can evoke emotions such as conflict and anger. She challenged people to get involved in a peaceful way.

She quoted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. when he said “today there is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence.” She said people need to find what their calling is in this area but encouraged them to do so by replacing violence and anger with nonviolence and love.

Glenn Leach of Davenport enjoys learning about the environment. That is why he came Saturday.

“I am very fascinated by the concept of environmental concerns, particularly with the Earth Charter itself,” he said. “This is the second one I have attended. I am very impressed with the speeches they gave and the information they were presenting.”

The Earth Charter is a guiding document created by the Earth Charter Commission, convened as a followup to the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil. The charter declares respect and caring for life, ecological integrity, social and economic justice, and democracy, nonviolence and peace.

Doug Schorpp can be contacted at (563) 383-2292 or dschorpp@qctimes.com.

Earth scouts

Alissa McCutcheon of Bettendorf — who attended Saturday’s daylong Quad-City Earth Charter Summit — hopes to start an Earth Scouts troop. According to its Web site, earthscouts.org, the coed organization is for children 3 to 13 years old. Its mission is to empower youth to learn about the Earth Charter, spread its message and participate in fun activities that will benefit themselves and theEarth community.

Alissa said one of the booths at the event included an organization that gives away oak tree saplings to plant. “I think that would be a perfect thing for Earth Scouts to do,” she said. “It would teach kids to live responsibly.”