Newsletter Volume 2                                                             Issue 01, June 2000
 

1.    President's Message.
2.    Tribute to Virginie Dufour, the Secretary General of The Global Community organization,
       who passed away April 28.
3.    The Global Community organization.
4.    Call for proposals for the new Board of Directors and election of the Board.
5.    Discussion Roundtables: procedure for participants and leaders.
6.    Survey: Scale of Values and Benchmark for the 21st Century.
7.    Report on the measurement of sustainable development for Canada and globally.
8.    Share your Vision of Earth in Year 2024.
9.    Search for a Host to hold the Proceedings of the World Congress.
10.  If you do need to conduct a survey it is time now to do it.
11.  The World Congress will be held all over the planet not just on the Internet.
12.   Article
        What are universal values within The Global Community?

1.    President's Message
 

Year 1999, the passing to the new millennium, will be remembered as a year of uncertainties about what the world might become in the future. The World Congress on Managing and Measuring Sustainable Development brings sound solutions and a direction to take for a better world. It brings hope.

The world will become what we want it to become. A world in peace, responsible and accountable to itself and to others for its actions.

The greatest hope is that we all wakeup some morning with the vision of a world where everyone has a clear understanding of what it takes to sustain Earth and actually manage it wisely. We will do what it takes to help the well-being of life within The Global Community.

The Global Community organization can exist forever and anywhere on the planet. You may read again about The Global Community concepts at:
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/global2000/Index1.html
 The following definition of The Global Community was given as:

  "The Global Community is defined as being all that exist or occurs at any location at any time between the Ozone layer above and the core of the planet below."

In fact The Global Community is everywhere. Every human being becomes a member from birth. We are all a part of The Global community.

Now what would be the best organizational structure for The Global Community?

A)    An organization with a Headquaters in Canada; a section of the organization may be created in every other country; this allows a greater control on activities by the Board of Directors.

B)    No Headquaters; the organization moves to a new country every five years; the Board of Directors is a group of at least four people in the same country.

We need your input. There is a Discussion Roundtable on this issue please do participate.

Cordially,

Germain

Germain Dufour
Chairman
The Global Community organization
World Congress on Managing and Measuring Sustainable Development
, Canada

http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/global2000
phone:
gdufour@globalcommunitywebnet.com
 

2.     Tribute to Virginie Dufour, the Secretary General of The Global Community organization, who passed away April 28.

Virginie was a distinguished Canadian artist who painted under the artist name Airaca B. Dalen. A prolific painter who exhibited frequently, her work is noted for its vigorous rhythms and joyous colours. Her large watercolour studies of flowers are bold and free, exploiting the wet-on-wet technique with considerable skill. Pastel compositions of groups of children were favourite subjects, as were landscapes in various media, especially of the Rockies, whose untamed savagery she strove to capture. Her large abstract pieces, usually in oils, show originality and a strong sense of design.

She was born Aubrey Virginia Schneider (later shortened to Snider) at the home of her grandfather, John L. Schneider near Moorefield, in Wellington County, Ontario. She removed at a young age to Fergus, Ontario, receiving her basic education in the excellent schools of that place. Here, her artistic precocity became apparent.

She worked at first in Hamilton and Windsor, Ontario in advertising copywriting and layout design; painting at the Doon School of Fine Arts was a favourite holiday pursuit, with exhibitions at the ABS House of Art and Crafts in Amherstburg. It was Leonard Johnson, Art Director of the Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Michigan, U.S.A., who first recognised her unusual talent and urged her to take up the study of painting seriously. Virginia Conn, as she was known (having married Edward Conn, a printer of Windsor, Ontario) practical as always, first obtained professional teaching qualifications at the Windsor Teachers College, B.Sc. Ed., winning the Hon. John Prince IODE prize for her classroom skills. Only then did she realise a long-held dream, obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. A career in art teaching now followed, first in Windsor, and later as an Art Specialist in Mississauga, Ontario. After some years, she determined to paint full time; in 1978 she purchased a Camper and travelled the continent from coast to coast, painting as she went, first in the Maritines and New England, then across the prairies, finding at last her spiritual home amongst the trees and mountains of Alberta and British Columbia. She settled finally in Calgary, Alberta.

She now adopted the professional name of "Airaca B. Dalen" and continued to paint, exhibiting regularly in Calgary and beyond; an appraisal of her work appeared in Artwest in June, 1983. She was widowed in the following year. Multi-exposure photography as a form of artistic expression occupied her later years. In April, 1998, we married. She took my name Aubrey Virginia Dufour. Several more oil paintings were completed afterwards.

Virginie was a great being and my spiritual support all along without whom the World Congress and The Global Community organization could not have been created. She was an enlightened one, an inspiration, a gentle person, a wonderful creative mind and the supporting loving heart that made things happened. We shared a profound affinity with the natural world. Her insights will last the millennium and beyond.

Virginie has been a faithful and loving partner. The love that sustained us both will go on undiminished and is imperishable. We are soulmates.

Virginie and I shared a common higher purpose in life that of helping humanity and this purpose has not changed, will not change.

Virginie's contribution to the welfare of humanity and to the children to be born is infinite and as such will always be with those who have really known her. The work to make a better world endures. Her part is spun into a great fabric and will be a factor in the continued efforts of humanity to better itself. I promise her to continue our work and do my part here to keep up our mission and higher purpose in life.

Virginie made thousands of friends around the world. They have heard of her passing away and felt a terrible loss. Their feelings for her are too overwhelming. They are all aware of what she did for humanity. In her creative work on the Internet for the world to see, and the countless letters she wrote, members have felt her warmth and friendship. They have appreciated her sense of professionalism, her determination and perseverance in achieving her ideals for the good of all humanity. Despite her health problems she was still struggling for her ideals and able to work and show us all the direction to take this millennium. She gave us a sense of direction for the better.

Suddenly stricken in her full vitality, this accomplished artist and wonderful mind and heart died on 28th April 2000. She died of a brain tumor (glioma astrocytomas) that could not be cured. She struggled against the cancer over the past eight months before her death. Her ashes have been interred in Ontario, in the Bethesda Cemetery on the 10th line of Maryboro; her Great-Grandfather, William Mitchell, deceased in 1906, in 1849 one of the first settlers in the Queen's Bush, gave land to the Methodist Mission to erect a church. Through her maternal Grandmother, Virginie was directly descended from Mayflower Pilgrim, Edward Doty, from Jacob Janse Schermerhorn, one of the earliest  Dutch settlers in the New Amsterdam (later New York) and from the United Empire Loyalist Samuel Welch of Connecticut and Napanee. Her sisters Eileen Roberts, Redbourn, England, Jolly, Edmonton, Alberta, and a brother Gland Schneider near Moorefield, in Wellington County, Ontario, and her daughters, Lucy Jane Wilson of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Atherton Drenth of Guelph, Ontario and Althea Tymec of Leamington, Ontario, all grew up in Windsor and, survive her.

Virginie's passing away is an irreparable loss to the Sustainable Development Community, and to  The Global Community organization she and I have created. Members are experiencing a deep sense of mourning. The Global Community thanks you Virginie with all their hearts. Our members will keep your Vision alive and continue to work to create a better world. We will miss your guidance and enlightenment in each step that we’ll take for the World Congress in August.

Our remembrance of you will be eternal. You are now with the Lord and we will be able someday to meet you again in glory. You have been  an inspiration for the world and will be sorely missed by the thousands of lives you touched. Your work will remain a guiding hand for The Global Community.

May God rest your Soul in peace. You will be missed dearly. Let us join together and pray God to rest her Soul in eternal peace.

You may still see her photo at
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/global2000/Index1.html
Click "About us".

We developed together The Global Community concepts, the Vision of Earth in Year 2024, and the Scale of Values. Our input is shown at
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/global2000
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/vdufour2000/Vision2024.html
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/gdufour99/ScaleofValues.html

She would have wanted us to continue on the work. Please send your input.
 
Note that Virginie's family history was written by her sister Eileen Roberts, 112 High St., Redbourn, St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, AL3 7BD, who is an Art Historian, a Ph.D. Scholar in History of European Arts from the University of London, England. Eileen has published several important research work. For examples: 1) The Hill of the Martyr (an architectural history of St. Albans Abbey), published by Book Castle Dunstable, 1993; 2) Images of Albans: St. Alban in art from the earliest times to the present, published by The Fraternity of the Friends of St. Albans Abbey, ISBN 9502514-4-5 h12-95, 1999; 3) The Wall Paintings of St. Albans Abbey, published by The Fraternity of the Friends of St. Albans Abbey, 1993.

Germain

Germain Dufour
Chairman
The Global Community organization
World Congress on Managing and Measuring Sustainable Development
 
 

3.    The Global Community organization.

The Global Community organization was envisioned in 1990 as an entity having a new home every five years. Its present home has been Canada since then. Its new home and headquaters will be established in August during the World Congress. It will be given a new organizational structure as per input sent during the Discussion Roundtable in August.

Headquarters may be in Canada with branches everywhere else in the World. Or there may be a Board of Directors selected in a country and the Board would change every five years and should move periodically anywhere on Earth to keep the organization free from connection to any specific country and cultural environment. Each new place would bring in fresh, stimulating input to the organization, giving it new life.

More information on the organization can be found on our website (see Main Index).

4.    Call for proposals for the new Board of Directors and election of the Board.

A)    Assuming The Global Community organization is structured as a moving entity every five years.

We are now accepting proposals for a new Board of Directors and a new host country for The Global Community organization. We accept proposals by groups of four officers as described below.

Only participants (who become automatically lifetime members of the organization) can apply to become an officer. You may still apply to become a participant.

Officers of the new Board of Directors will be selected and they will be required to work as a team. Those interested please submit applications now. A new Board of Directors is made up of at least four officers: a President, a Vice-president, a Treasurer, and a Secretary-general. The past President is an automatic officer as a Vice-president. Those groups of four officers (or more) interested in taking over the task of taking The Global Community organization  through the next five years please submit your proposal now.

Any group will have to satisfy basic criteria as shown here.

In deciding where Headquarters of The Global Community organization will move after the election,  several criteria will be taken into account: qualifications of the candidates for leadership (submit your CV if not already sent), the communications infra-structure of the host country, support systems, and financial support by the Board of Directors or sponsors as The Global Community organization has no outside funds at all.

Ten percent of any money made by the organization should be put into a special fund and let accumulated. The fund could only be used by the organization in case of an emergency and for its own survival.

Candidates work strictly on a volunteer basis and find what support they need for the organization. As President of the organization, I will see that the transfer of The Global Community organization to its new home proceeds smoothly.

The new team must be capable of the successful continuation of global projects and also the initiation of new projects in the host country and other parts of the world.

Five years late the team will pass on the organization to a new group in another country with a different  cultural environment using a similar process. No debt should be passed on to the new group. A credit should have been let accumulated over five years and pass on the new group.

The deadline for submission of your proposal is August 1st. You must send the CVs of the officers, a short essay of why you think you can manage the organization through the next five years, and show how you will satisfy the above criteria.

All participants of the World Congress will be asked to vote for the new Board of Directors as a group. They will select the group. A vote will be a vote for the group. The voting procedure will be described at a later date.

The first task of the Board will be to approve the Earth Charter discussed during the World Congress. This task may be accomplished during the World Congress.

B)    Assuming The Global Community organization has a Headquarters in Canada and branches are created everywhere else in the world.

In this case the new Board of Directors would be a group of at least four people chosen amongst members (participants to the World Congress). They may be from any country.
 
 

5.    Discussion Roundtables:  procedure for participants and Leaders.
 

A)    Procedure for participants

We are now preparing the Final Program for the World Congress on Managing and Measuring Sustainable Development. We have classified the 73 discussion roundtables  into the four interacting blocks: Social (37) , Environment (16), Economic (8), Resources (12). The list can be read at:

http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/vdufour2000/DRhttp://globalcommunitywebnet.com/GIMProceedings/index.html

Starting 1st of August, every participant is required to communicate with their leaders of interest. You are required to discuss via email and send comments and recommendations to anyone of the 73 leaders of the discussion roundtables. Leaders will relate to me your comments and recommendations and I will upload them on the website. It is important to have it this way so everyone can discuss results with only a day lap.

B)    Procedure for Leaders

Leaders were chosen to lead each one of the discussion roundtables.

The work to be done by the leaders are strictly on a volunteer basis. No money is available. All expenses incurred are yours. You do your work within your own budget.

You will contact the other paper submitters in your Discussion Roundtable and ask for help if needed and start the discussion process on the Internet using email. All papers will be shown on the website August 1st and you may begin your session. You will start and close a session with opening and closing statements to be uploaded on the website first day of August and published in the Proceedings. All 446 participants from the 82 different countries listed at
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/vdufour2000/Participants.html

are allowed to discuss via email and send comments and recommendations to anyone of the 73 leaders of the discussion roundtables. Leaders relate to me all results and they will be included on the website every day during August. Results will be shown daily at

http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/vdufour2000/DRhttp://globalcommunitywebnet.com/GIMProceedings/index.html

It is important to have it this way so everyone can discuss results with only a day lap. The period August 17-22 will be a time to finalize all results. All final results will be published in the Proceedings afterwards.

You may organize your session on the Discussion Roundtable in your own town, university, home place, or wherever is most appropriate for you. You may invite the public to participate in your discussion. In this way the World Congress is being held all over the planet and not just on the Internet.

Starting first of August your session starts (so does the World Congress). You will gather the information sent to you, summarize it, and sent it to me for uploading on the Internet. The uploading will be carried on every day in August so everyone can comment on the preceeding day(s) input.

In August, all email messages should be kept under a size of 60 KB. Only email addresses shown on the website at
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/vdufour2000/Participants.html
will be read and answered. For security reason all other email messages will be deleted. Use the phone line if you have a concern or need information. Leaders should follow the same safety procedure and let us know your phone number.
 
 

6.    Survey: Scale of Values and Benchmark for the 21st Century.
 

The Scale of Values is about establishing what is very important to ensure a sound future for Earth, what is important, what is not so important, and what should be let go. From this scale, to be agreed upon by all members of The Global Community, the assessment of sustainable development can be conducted. The Benchmark for the 21st Century is the scale we are developing now together. It is also the first measurement of sustainable development ever obtained locally, regionally, nationally and globally. This first evaluation is conducted with respect to the four interacting systems: social, economic, environmental and in the wise husbanding of natural resources.

The urgency index, U, described in the mathematical model, is one of the four indices of the equation for the evaluation of impacts. It is the index or variable that reflects the level of responsibility we are willing to take to solve the problem, impact or concern. It reflects the importance of the need to find a solution to the stress within a reasonable period of time or else the impact will cause significant damages and will be felt by the next generations to come.

The scale is as follows. The minimum value is 1 and is equivalent to saying that the impact is not important and may be resolved within a century. The maximum value is 10 and is equivalent to saying that the impact is very important, no waiting allowed, so as to ensure a sound future for Earth.

The values between 1 and 10 have been defined in the Mathematical Model.
This survey was designed for those who understand and are aware of impacts and their cumulative effects over time. People in the community will want to get together, discuss and find the best solution. Every responsible individual has a right to be part of the discussion and the solution.

We want to find the impact of people activity on the environment, the availability of resources, economic development and onto themselves. The survey questions are listed in
http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/gdufour99/ScaleofValues.html
please do answer questions and send them back to us.

Results of this survey will help us to evaluate all the impacts, interactions and interrelationships between the components of the four major quality systems. At this point in time there is no need to know about every single impact and its importance in the systems. We want to evaluate the most important or urgent ones for now and be able to extrapolate in between to evaluate all the other impacts and their urgency or importance.

 

7.    Report on the measurement of sustainable development for Canada and globally.
 

The assessment of sustainable development for a home and the community it belongs to can be conducted using a very basic and efficient method which was extended to evaluate other indicators and indices, and all components of the four major quality systems: environment, social, availability of resources and economic development. This method was also combined with other techniques to conduct an efficient assessment and obtain reliable and comprehensive results.

12.   Article

        What are universal values within The Global Community?

During the World Congress, to achieve our common goal to sustain Earth we will discuss about what are universal values within The Global Community.  These values will be included into the Earth Charter to be adopted by the organization. The charter is a declaration by every human being to
 the commitment of responsibility to themselves and to one another, and to sustaining Earth. The human spirit has  made the evolutionary leap. We all have a sense of universal responsibility, the local has linked with the global, and human compassion and solidarity and kinship with all life were strengthened.

During the World Congress in August,  The Global Community will have finished developing the Earth Charter. It will shortly after be adopted by the newly elected Board of Directors of The Global Community organization (all participants will be asked to vote in August and elect it). The charter is a declaration by every human being to the commitment of responsibility to themselves and to one another, and to sustaining Earth. The key is personal responsibility and accountability. Therefore the individual is the important element, one who takes responsibility for his/her community. As previously defined (see Vision in http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/vdufour2000/Vision2024.html), an 'individual' here may either be a person, a corporation, a NGO, a local community, a group of people, organizations, businesses, a nation, or a government.  We are all working together to keep our planet healthy, productive and hospitable for all people and living things. This requires quality relationships and responsibility to one-self and others, and dealing wisely with consumption, work, finances, health, resources, community living, family, life purpose, wildlife and the Earth. We are also all accountable to others about our actions and the things we do throughout our lives. The Earth Charter is an acceptance and commitment  about peace, freedom, social and economic well-being, ecological protection, global ethics and spiritual values; it also recognizes the interactions between aspects included in the major quality systems such as: economic, environmental, social, and the availability of  resources.

Responsibility and accountability are universal values. Finding universal values are what this World Congress is about. These values are meant to bring together the billions of people around the world for the good of all humanity. These values are the common grounds to start a new global dialogue. East and West talking; capitalism and communism, all different political and social philosophies and structures reaching to one another, compromising, changing, letting go old ways that dont work, creating new ways that do, and finding what is very important to ensure a sound future for Earth. All peoples on Earth will now join forces to bring forth a sustainable global society embracing universal values related to human rights, economic and social justice, respect of nature, peace, responsibility to one another, and the protection and management of the Earth. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of life within The Global Community. This World Congress is about developing universal Global Community concepts we all approve and respect.

A survey on the Scale of Values and how you can participate in developing it has been described in

http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/gdufour99/ScaleofValues.html
click       7. Survey

Please do fill up the survey exercise and send also all impacts calculations related to your own field. A report on the measurement of the Gross Environmental Sustainable Development Index (GESDI) was uploaded and is shown at:

http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/gdufour99/http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/GIMProceedings/index.html

Calculations of sustainable development were done for Canada and are shown at http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/gdufour99/Scoring.html
We are now conducting the calculations globally in all other countries. Please send your input.

All  work you do is strictly on a volunteering basis. No money is available at this end.

Several new Discussion Roundtables have been added to our list. You may access the Discussion Roundtables now organized into the four interacting blocks: Social (37) , Environment (16), Economic (8), Resources (12). The list can be read at:

http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/vdufour2000/DRhttp://globalcommunitywebnet.com/GIMProceedings/index.html

Leaders were chosen to lead each one of the discussion roundtable. All 446 participants from the 82 different countries are allowed to discuss via email and send comments and recommendations to anyone of the 73 leaders of the discussion roundtables. All results will be uploaded on the website every day during August. The Final Program will be email to you in July.

There are many more universal values we can find and recommende to be included into the Earth Charter.

For centuries we have found it necessary to control water so as to have it where we wanted it.
 Despite our efforts, some areas still suffer from drought, and some from flood, due partly to the nature variability of climate to change fast than it used to, and this is now impacting on the availability and distribution of water. Our fresh water sources are already being used and yet, the world population is increasing rapidly. This increase in population and the increase of pollutants in our drinking water sources have created conflicts which will only become more and more serious in the near future. The policy of privatization and full-cost pricing of water in a city such as in Canada or the U.S.A. sound appropriate as there is plenty of help to the poor who has a need to drink water. Is this policy appropriate in other countries where drinking water sources are rare, sometimes non-existant, and sometimes were polluted by transnational corporations from our industrialized world and which companies became rich by mining or manufacturing products in those countries. Should anyone be allowed to control our freshwater resources? Is freshwater a 'human right' or is it a 'human need'? Should water resources be privatized and commodified for profit? Should privatization be under the condition that there is plenty of help to the poor in a community? Or should water be declared a 'human right' in the Earth Charter of The Global Community organization? Is it no true that water is just as important to an individual as the air we breathe?

This World Congress is about finding universal values that are very important to the survival of life on Earth. Should people in a Third World Country have different Human Rights than others? One of the very important Global Community concepts of this World Congress is about asking everyone to be a responsible human being. If we are all responsible in the management of Earth than everyone should have the right to breathe clean air and drink fresh water. Noone individual (an 'individual' was defined in the Vision of earth in Year  2024 as being either a person, a corporation, a NGO, a local community, businesses, a nation or a government) should be allowed to control and profit from a basic Human Right such as drinking water. Noone individual should be allowed to pollute Earth. Even tough this may look like an impossible task we still have to find in our heart and mind what is right and show the direction to take and propose the concepts to The Global Community.

 Water in the home comes from either spring water, a deep well, a river or a city reservoir, and is never 'pure'. If water was untreated, it would contain man-made contaminants, minerals, gases, salts, and microorganisms, which would cause unacceptable taste or health risks. Hazardous compounds present in water are mercury, lead, agricultural chemicals, arsenic, organochlorine compounds formed by the chlorine added to municipal water to destroy microorganisms, industrial pollutants, solvents, pesticide, fertilizer, and other contaminants. Our body absorbs equally these contaminants through drinking water or while bathing. City water is regulated for health hazards and does not contain dangerous bacterial contamination. It may contain chemical contaminants from industrial discharge or hazardous waste disposal, vinyl chloride from P.V.C. plastic pipe.

 Most people take for granted the water we use to wash the car, to water the lawn, cook and flush our wastes away, to shower, do half-loads of laundry, run the water while brushing our teeth, and ignore a dripping tap, and dump down the drain motor oil, solvents, paints, cleaners. We treat oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams more like parts of our sewer system them our life-support system. We are being made use to this behavior from childhood while watching television. We often see commercials on TV showing a person washing an automobile or spraying a lawn wastefully and without care. There is also too much violence shown on television and in cinemas. We think it is right, our right to be as we are. The entire television networks and film makers and producers over the world should be re-educated in what is right and what is not. They should be responsible and be made accountable for the counter-educating commercials and products they are advertising on their networks. What the school system is doing in educating children is being negated by the television networks. It is counter-productive and, at the end, the costs hit the taxpayers at home, one way or the other. The Polluter-pays Principle should apply to television networks and film making industry. They may use Human Rights for their defence but they should pay all the costs of the impacts of their advertisings and mindless production. They create behavioral patterns in the general population from childhood and they should be billed big time.

 As individuals, we can make changes in our ways of using water and dispose of wastes, both inside our homes and outdoors, and find ways to conserve and protect our water supplies. Water conservation is a means to ensure that there will be enough water for future generations.

 Good quality of water supplies to satisfy our lifestyle carries a price tag defined here:

 P(water)    =   P(storing)    +   P(distributing)    +   P(treatment)    +

P(maintaining and operating)    +    P(e,h)

 where P(e,h) is the term representing the associated environmental and health price tags i.e. the impacts on the environment and our health.

 The costs of obtaining, storing, heating, distributing water are steadily increasing, and so are the environmental and health impacts associated with those costs. The costs for treating wastewater to make it suitable to return to river systems are equally increasing and many communities now charge residents an extra fee for treating wastewater. Consumption rates vary largely from one community to another, and between urban and rural areas. Some communities have been forced to restrict water consumption for short periods of time.
 

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