Haumea Ecoversity

UPDATE: Prof Peter Blaze Corcoran will be joining our gathering via Zoom at 7pm

When: Wednesday, June 18 · 5:30 – 8:30pm GMT+1

Where: An Gaírdín Beo, Dublin Road Carlow

Please Note: This is a Free talk but places are limited—register here:

I’m delighted US Prof Peter Blaze Corcoran, a friend and mentor, will be giving an in-person free talk 18 June 2025 about the Peoples’ Earth Charter in Carlow Town, ahead of the global 25-year celebrations of the visionary Earth Charter in The Peace Palace, in The Hague, Netherlands, in early July.

Meet Our Guest Speaker

We are honoured to welcome Prof. Emeritus Peter Blaze Corcoran, a distinguished environmental educator and Research Fellow of Earth Charter International. After more than four decades teaching sustainability in the US—then Australia, the Netherlands to Fiji, Malaysia, and Kenya—Peter now serves as a Research Fellow at the Earth Charter Centre for Education for Sustainable Development at the UN University for Peace in Costa Rica.

In 2024, he was awarded the Thomas Berry Award for holistic ecological education. Thomas Berry’s ideas flow through the Earth Charter and are inspirational to Carlow town’s An Gairdin Beo community garden and its new Cosmic Garden Walk.

At this talk, I will introduce Peter’s remarkable career in international sustainability education. I will highlight his longstanding contributions and advocacy for embedding ethical ideas with Earth Charter for diverse community programmes, education and business, and for policy for local and national government.

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Why Attend?

• Discover the “people’s Earth Charter”: The Earth Charter was presented at the first UN Earth Summit in Rio 1992 as a visionary documment and a holistic set of principles for a more sustainable, just and peaceful world. From then, the Earth Charter evolved as a global civil society process and was presented to the world for all Earth’s peoples at The Peace Palace at The Hague in 2000. Hear why the Earth Charter gaining traction at its 25th anniversary in 2025, how it is endorsed through UNESCO and the IUCN, its new translation into Irish, and why its been affirmed as the foundational guiding compass for sustainability goals (SDGs), social justice, peace, for individuals, community projects, education and government. It is also been signalled as an important document for the UN COP30 meeting in Belem, Brazil, in December 2025, for the proposed Global Ethic Stocktake for greater efforts for climate action.
• Be Inspired: Hear firsthand how the Earth Charter activates our hearts, conscience and minds, whatever our interests are, to respect and care for the community of life on Earth, for ecological integrity, social, econmic justice and peace—ensuring a healthier planet for the community of life and future generations.
• Connect Locally: Mingle with like-minded individuals, share stories, and build new friendships—all while savouring wood-fired pizzas topped with County Carlow’s finest produce.

Whether you’re already involved in environmental or community work or simply curious about how integrated ethical principles can drive positive change, this event promises to leave you feeling motivated, informed, and connected.

Reserve Your Spot Today and come celebrate sustainability, community, and the transformative power of shared values. We look forward to seeing you there!

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Further information on international Earth Charter news:

Read more about Earth Charters’ 25th anniversary celebrations happening soon in The Netherlands 1-3 July, 2025 here (places till available)

Calls developing for a Global Ethical Stocktake ahead of COP30 in Brazil, are already referring to the peoples Earth Charter (2000):

Some of you may have heard developing news ahead of the UN #COP30 taking place in Belem, Brazil, that there will be a #GlobalEthicalStocktake of which the Earth Charter is expected to have a prominent role.

Why? This is because the Earth Charter has been in use for several decades and recognised twice by UNESCO, and also by the IUCN, as the integrated eco-social ethical framework for the UN SDGs, ESD and climate action

If you are interested in hearing more about calls for improving multilaterialism and the global ethical stocktake for COP30, I would highly recommend this podcast above, by Dr Alicia Bárcena, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico and former UN representative. She served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico from June 2023 to September 2024. Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management to then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Dr. Bárcena is a Mexican diplomat, biologist, and academic who also worked at the Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), where she was responsible for the oceans chapter of Agenda 21, among others.

I’ve also read mention of the late Pope Francis’ Ladauto Si, the eco-social doctrine that is now an enduring and visionary ecological commitment of the Catholic Church mentioned in the call for a Global Ethical Stocktake, which is encouraging as the late Pope also advocated for Earth Charter. Both documents complement each other.

Acknowledgements
Grateful thanks to Sr Mary Carmody and the Board of An Gairdin Beo, The Living Garden, Carlow. Some of you may not know that the Earth Charter has long inspired Carlow’s beloved An Gaírdín Beo see here.

Also, grateful thanks to all at the wonderful County Carlow Environmental Network committee for pulling out all the stops to help organise this event as a feature of their Summer Get Together, and in spreading the word and to the Carlow Drummin bog committee, and also to the County Carlow Arts Office, ArtLinks and the Arts Council of Ireland for supporting my work over recent years, on exploring the necessity of integrated eco-social values-based learning for my ecoliteracy courses at Haumea Ecoversity.