As the world continues to shrink and threats to human life transcend regional commons, there is a greater need for more people to take greater responsibility than simple national citizenship. People are being called to stand for solutions that transcend national boundaries and include the entire planet Earth.
Until now there has been no venue for these people to gather since they are from disparate locations all over the world. What better gathering place than cyberspace.
At a time when a myriad of crises surround us - financial meltdowns, climate change, rainforest depletion, genocide and starvation - how can ordinary citizens rally to do anything meaningful?
Enter the social network created by a successful Internet entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist, The Neo Declaration of Earth Citizenship. Created for global citizens, the Declaration is a place where people can not only sign and agree to it’s tenets but they can add their own individual commitments or declarations for action as well. Then signers can support one another’s commitments, so there’s great potential collaboration potential. These personal declarations are expressions of people’s passions and serve to augment the master document’s scope of principles.
Still in its early stages, the Neo Declaration has already attracted leaders from civil society, the sustainability movement, human rights activists and authors whose focus is improving the state of the world. Early signers include social entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, executives, writers, academics, health workers and many other professions. Signers already represent all parts of the world from South America to Asia, Europe to Africa and Australia to the North America.
Leading edge international organizations such as The Hunger Project, Collective Wisdom Initiative, World Business Academy, United Religions Initiative, New Dimension Radio, represent early signers. And it is gaining attention of forward thinking academics as well. These include Dr. Srikumar Rao, London Business School, Dr. Ian Mitroff, Professor Emeritus Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, U.S. futurist Peter Bishop, Professor Prasad Kaipa, Indian School of Business and Bruce Lloyd, Professor of Strategic Management, London South Bank University.
Among authors who have signed are Fast Company magazine founder, Alan Webber, James Autry, author of Love and Profit and other books, David Schwerin, the author of Conscious Capitalism, Robert White, author of Living an Extraordinary Life, Sanjoy Mukherjeem, editor of Journal of Human Values, Dr. John Adams, author of Thinking Today as if Tomorrow Mattered, Debbe Kennedy, author of Putting Our Differences to Work, and a diverse roster of others from around the world. The creator and host of the U.S. television series “Thinking Allowed,” Jeffery Mishlove, is another early signer.
The Declaration’s theme of global citizenship is reminiscent of Thomas Paine’s words written over 250 years ago in Common Sense, a bestselling pamphlet that became a blueprint of modern democracy. Paine wrote, "My country is the world. My countrymen are mankind."
In the last month or so the number of signers has tripled as word is getting around the world. Check it out: go to www.neo.org. I signed it. Maybe you will too!
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[In keeping with the new year, my newsletter for this month features an editorial - "Champagne: Metaphor for Social Transformation." Check it out, and best wishes for 2009!]
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