How Do I Act Sustainably? - Example:

Find out, get involved, support initiatives

There are a variety of organisations and initiatives worldwide working in aid of sustainable development. We cannot present all of them to you here, but draw your attention to two of them as examples: Greenpeace and the World Social Forum. Whereas environmental matters stand in the foreground at Greenpeace, the World Social Forum mainly deals with matters concerning the social sphere. The links at the bottom of this page take you to the websites from numerous other organisations.

2005-03-22(c)Greenpeace/Cobbing

In 1970 in Vancouver in Canada, several anti-war activists and environmentalists joined to form the "Don't Make a Wave Committee". The aim of the group was to prevent planned atom tests by the USA on the island of Amchitka off the coast Alaska.

Greenpeace was formed out of this group. In the meantime it spans the whole world as an organisation and has been carrying out actions and campaigns for 30 years making environmental problems a public matter.

More information on the organisation and its history can be found on Greenpeace's extensive website under http://www.greenpeace.org/international/aboutus/. The Greenpeace website also informs you about current campaigns:

"The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where groups and movements from civil society opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism, but engaged in building a planetary society centred around the person, come together to pursue their thoughts, debate ideas democratically, formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and network for effective action (see the Charter of Principles).

The WSF proposed to debate alternative means to building a form of globalisation in solidarity, which respects universal human rights and those of all men and women of all nations and the environment, and is grounded in democratic international systems and institutions at the service of social justice, equality and the sovereignty of peoples."

[Source: http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/]

"The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world. The Forum provides a collaborative framework for the world's leaders to address global issues, engaging particularly its corporate members in global citizenship."

"We are striving towards a world-class corporate governance system where values are as important a basis as rules. Our motto is 'entrepreneurship in global public interest'. We believe that economic progress without social development is not sustainable, while social development without economic progress is not feasible."

[Source: http://www.weforum.org/]