Earth Charter Conference in Guanajuato, Mexico

At the invitation of Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Center Director Peter Blaze Corcoran traveled to Guanajuato, Mexico, for an International Earth Day celebration on April 22, 2010. President Calderon delivered a national Earth Day address, in which he said, “the Earth Charter is… calling humanity to join forces and act collectively to protect our planet, which is definitely in danger. The Earth Charter is a global movement… we should make it grow to guarantee that the world will continue to be a hospitable home, a safe place for all people and all forms of life with which share [Earth].” The primary focus of the event was the tenth anniversary celebration of the Earth Charter, an international declaration of shared ethical principles for creating a just, sustainable, and peaceful future.

Corcoran spoke at an Earth Charter conference at the University of Guanajuato. You can download the text of his talk at this link. Steven C. Rockefeller, who served as Chair of the Earth Charter drafting committee, delivered a talk on “Harmony between Human Rights and the Earth Charter.” In his speech, Rockefeller explored the relationship between the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) and the Earth Charter. Rockefeller was one of several scholars who visited Sanibel Island in 2009. His talk in Mexico echoed his Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture at Saint Michael and All Angels Church. The mayor of Guanajuato presented Rockefeller with the keys to the city at a ceremony earlier in the day. In the picture to the left, Corcoran (left) and Rockefeller (right) explore Guanajuato after their talks.

Sustainability at the Popular Culture and American Culture Associations National Conference

On April 1, FGCU graduate students in FGCU's English M.A. program participated in a panel on “Rhetoric, Composition, and Popular Culture: Innovations in First Year Composition” at the Popular Culture and American Culture Associations National Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. FGCU graduate student and Center Editorial Associate Joseph Weakland contributed a paper titled “Composition as Ecological Study: Writing and Sustainability at FGCU,” graduate student Rob Hiatt’s paper was titled “Uncritical Unconsciousness: The Paternalistic Oppression of the Five-Paragraph Essay," and Chris Forsee gave his talk the name “Another Satisfied Customer: Getting Students to Think Creatively by Injecting Advertising Strategies into the Composition Classroom.” Dr. Karen Tolchin coordinated the panel and delivered a paper called “The (Role) Play’s the Thing: Preparing for the Composition Classroom with Worst Case Scenario-esque Improvisation.”

Weakland’s paper explored the practice of teaching sustainability in composition from his perspective as a graduate student and teaching assistant at FGCU. The paper provides a brief history of sustainability in the University’s institutional and curricular practice, explains key concepts and terms, describes recent efforts to integrate sustainability into the Composition One classroom, and reflects on the challenges and potential of such an effort for the study of writing. Pictured below, left to right, are Hiatt, Forsee, Tolchin, and Weakland.