Special Issue on The Earth Charter
Dale T. Snauwaert

The current issue of In Factis Pax focuses on the philosophy of The Earth Charter as an ethical, ecological, and pedagogical framework for the transformation of society. The articles in this issue reflect on, analyze, illustrate, and educate about the philosophical foundations of the Earth Charter and its pedagogical and curricular implications. The authors call for and begin to articulate a new social and educational vision, a vision for a more just, peaceful, and ecologically sustainable world. The Earth Charter is “a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st Century.” What is of particular significance is The Earth Charter is the product of a global civil society. It offers a cosmopolitan, planetary ethic that can serve as a moral, political, and educational paradigm for the transformation of both our local and global communities in the direction of an integrated peace.

In addition the current issue offers insightful reflections on Naomi Klein’s provocative book The Shock Doctrine and its implications for an education for peace by Betty Reardon and Mark Porter Webb. They both call for a critical examination of our current social and political paradigm and concomitant modes of thinking. This examination points in the direction of envisioning social and pedagogical alternatives.

We invite you to contemplate the rich reflections on the possibilities of a new social and educational paradigm of integrated peace offered by Abelardo Brenes, Karen Huggins and Kevin Kester, Dale Snauwaert, Sean Blenkinsop, Chris Beeman, Betty Reardon, and Mark Porter Webb and to engage with us in further dialogue.