Earth Charter Odyssey 2050 Video Competition

The Earth Charter Initiative based at the University For Peace in Costa Rica is a diverse global network of people and organisations that participates in promoting and implementing the values and principles of the Earth Charter.

The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It seeks to inspire in all people a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the whole human family, the greater community of life, and future generations. It is a product of a decade-long, worldwide, cross cultural dialogue on common goals and shared values.

Over the past 6 months Odyssey 2050 and the Earth Charter conducted a worldwide video competition in schools inviting them to send short videos with the theme ” How Can We Build a Better Future Together.”  We received excellent videos from all over the world, thanks and congratulations to everyone who took the time to produce and send us their material. Portions of all of the videos will be included in a special Odyssey 2050 documentary we are producing.  The overall winner of the competition was ” It Starts With One” created by grade 5 students in Arlington Virginia USA:

We received two particularly creative submissions from Belarus, the first was “I want My Life Back” by Oleg Shchutsky and the second one was  “We Are For Spring Without Shots” by Svetlana Yakubovskaya.  You can see all of the Earth Charter Odyssey 2050 videos here.

Odyssey 2050 has been busy these days producing the English audio version of the film and we are very pleased to have actor Douglas Williamson, who is also head of communications at the Earth Charter, assisting us with his fine voice work. Other great news on the English version of the film is that talented British actor Gabriel Facchini has signed on to the project as narrator. I was lucky to have met Gabriel last December at an FCO Emergency Training course I took in Mexico and we are very pleased to have him on the Odyssey 2050 team.  Many thanks to Alchemea Sound College in the UK for providing the studio time for Gabriel’s voice work.    . 

On the topic of short videos here is the link to a short video about our experience at COP 17. 2012 will be a busy year for Odyssey 2050 in the lead up to COP 18 in Qatar.

The original blog and further blogs can be read on the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office website Odyssey 2050 and Bruce Callow, Climate Blogger.