On this week’s show, Steven Rockefeller, professor emeritus at Middlebury College, presented a lecture on “Ecological and Social Responsibility: The Making of the Earth Charter” as part of Boston University Institute for Philosophy and Religion’s thirty-fifth lecture series.

The chairman of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Steven Rockefeller led an international consortium that in 2002 created the Earth Charter, which is described on its website as “a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society.”

In his lecture, Rockefeller described his experiences as chairman of the Earth Charter drafting committee from 1997 to 2000 that created a list of 16 principles necessary for developing a global society “founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.”