Earth Pledge, by an Unknown Author (ca. 1980)

Source Link: https://opensiddur.org/?p=55559

Date: 2024-04-22

Last Updated: 2024-06-01

Categories: Earth Day (22 April), Earth, our Collective Home & Life-Support System

Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., earth pledges, eco-conscious, eco-feminism, universalist

Excerpt: The earliest "Earth Pledge" circulated between Earth Day 1970 and 1983. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	I pledge allegiance to the earth and all its sacred parts, its water, land, and living things, and all its human hearts.
	I pledge allegiance to all life and promise I shall care to live and cherish all its gifts with people everywhere.

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This is the original “Earth Pledge” circulated in the 1970s and early 1980s within ephemeral works and curricular resources published by Global Education Associates, and others. In print, the earliest we have yet found it published is in the textbook, Peace through Justice (1983) by Louise Marie Prochaska, however, Sister Prochaska does not recall composing it. The pledge also appeared embedded in an illustration for the Spring 1984 issue of Global Education Associates’ Breakthrough Newsletter. Neither Pat Mische (co-founder of Global Education Associates) nor Sister Miriam MacGillis (inventor of the Cosmic Walk, founder of Genesis Farm, and illustrator of the pledge) recall with certainty composing the pledge, although both think that it is quite possible. I am currently researching back issues of periodicals published by Global Education Associates in the 1970s and early 1980s to determine once and for all, when it was originally published and hopefully, by whom, the pledge was written. –Aharon Varady

Source(s)

Earth Pledge (Global Education Associates, Breakthrough Newsletter, Spring 1984)

Peace through Justice – Earth Pledge (Louise Marie Prochaska 1983), p. 277

 

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Co-authors:

• 
  Name: Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)
  Bio: Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)
  Website: https://aharon.varady.net
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady
• 
  Name: Unknown Author(s)
  Bio: Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.
  Website:
  Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/unknown

Featured Image:

Title: Earth Pledge (Global Education Associates, Breakthrough Newsletter, Spring 1984)
Caption: Earth Pledge (Global Education Associates, Breakthrough Newsletter, Spring 1984)