This Appeal is issued in the belief that humankind must pay serious attention to the rapidly deepening global socio-ecological crisis, urgently establish alternatives to the currently prevailing unsustainable lifestyle, and transmit these alternatives to our children and grandchildren to promote harmony with nature and enhance our own peace, justice and well-being.

The Organization for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement International (OISCA International; 1961-), upholds the following beliefs and commitment:

1. We believe that technological, spiritual and cultural foundations decisively shape the orientation of our lifestyle.

2. We see that all beings are inter-connected with each other on the earth and in the universe, that interdependence exists across time and space between humankind and nature, and that humans need the blessings of nature and each other to survive. Likewise, nature is inter-connected: oceans can only exist with rivers, rivers with mountains, mountains with rain, rain with heat, heat with the sun, the sun with the universe. In fact, humankind is part of nature.

3. We recognize that humans can improve their lives only through a balanced approach, working with their heads, hands and hearts, as well as with nature. The survival and progress of humans, whose numbers have grown at unprecedented rates, can only be attained with the sustainable use of nature, with constant advancement in wisdom and technology, and with mutual respect and care for each other. The so-called ‘advanced' affluent lifestyle cannot be sustained if nature is depleted and if human dignity, integrity and love should give way to selfishness, dishonesty and hatred.

4. We recognize the inter-connectedness among all beings and within humankind. A person is part of a local/national community, community is part of humankind, humankind is part of the earth functioning as an ecological system, and the earth is part of the universe. At each level, the part reflects the whole and the whole exists in each part, just as each cell carries the genetic constitution of the person's body as a whole.

5. We believe that recognition of the above helps a person to develop a sense of gratitude to fellow members of humankind, the earth and the universe that literally support his/her life and raison d'etre. We believe that such a perception of one's self in a broader framework and a sense of gratitude help elevate a person's life, deepen his/her understanding of community, humankind, the earth and the universe, and strengthen his/her commitment to fulfill the responsibility to sustain and improve the life-support system beyond him/herself. In this way, a person's attitude towards him/herself becomes grounded and channeled to include the interests of all his/her surroundings, including the earth and the universe, transcending his/her own narrow and short-term interests.

We observe that humankind is facing an ever deepening socio-ecological crisis, which is both quantitatively and qualitatively unprecedented, and characterized by the following features:

1. Human contradictions have deepened, including intra-personal, inter-personal, personal-communal and inter-communal types, as persons and communities have sought their own narrow, shallow and short-term interests in disregard of?and often at the expense of?the interests of others, as well as their own broader, deeper and long-term interests.

2. Human vs. nature contradictions have deepened, as humankind's arrogance in regarding itself as top and center of the larger world has escalated, along with the short-term technological advances, resulting in unprecedented consequences for the degradation of nature. Indications include: the year 2005 set records for the number of tropical storms and the financial losses related to weather-based natural disasters, both attributable to global warming; annually over 160 thousand people die due to climate change alone while over 13 million die due to preventable environmental degradation generally; numbers of environmental refugees are expected to rise explosively from 30 million in 2004 to 150 million by 2050; and finally, the earth has entered the traumatic phase of the 6th great extinction, the very first one caused by humankind, and the first in 65 million years.

3. Intra-human contradictions and human vs. nature contradictions aggravate each other, constituting a deadly vicious cycle. The combination of a) glaring hyper-consumerism especially visible in the North and the West, b) the decline of resources-saving traditional life style worldwide and c) chauvinistic and violent communalisms triggering armed conflicts and destruction of human and nature, is accelerating the pace of the deterioration of earth's ecosystems and depletion of its nonrenewable resources, while keeping the poor impoverished. This massive degradation of nature, in turn, is intensifying desperate struggles to secure natural resources at the expense of the ecosystem at local, national and international levels. We believe that technological, spiritual and cultural foundations decisively shape the orientation of our lifestyle.

To move out of this self-destructive vicious cycle, there is only one solution before us: Intentionally evolve to embrace a ‘consciousness of inter-connection' that transcends our narrow, shallow and short-term concerns and gains, and that leads towards a culture of peace and sustainability for all.

But how can we develop and promote a ‘consciousness of inter-connection'? From decades of experience, OISCA is fully aware that it is easier said than done. After all, we are all constrained by social and institutional structures inherited from the 20th century, which has proven to be the most unsustainable era in human history. Noting, however, that the current unsustainable systems themselves have evolved from the previous ones, we should not remain passive observers of the deepening crisis, but must become active contributors to designing and implementing this transformation.

OISCA believes that Educators hold a particularly crucial role in disseminating a consciousness of inter-connection and building a culture of peace and sustainability for all because education, if effective, can lead learners of all ages to make better choices about their own lives, and influence their social and natural environments as producers, consumers, voters, volunteers, and so on.

OISCA particularly recommends the following points to Educators:
1. Broaden school curricula and add inter-disciplinary courses and programs?perhaps under the general title of ‘Sustainability'?at all levels, to allow learners to see the ‘big picture' or horizon. Incorporate this kind of learning program in all non-formal educational curricula.

2. In order to broaden learners' perspectives and stimulate their imaginations towards making positive changes, provide in ‘Sustainability' class the opportunity to learn an extended history of humankind: a) that for virtually all of entirety, humans were hunter-gatherers who lived materially modest and socially communal lives; b) that the most dramatic transformations throughout the history of humankind (e.g. walking upright, making stone tools, commencing agriculture) emerged as responses to major environmental changes like the one facing us today; etc.

3. In ‘Sustainability' class, help learners to realize the implications of public policies and private practices: a) due to the inter-connectedness of all things on the earth, everything we do or do not do has an impact upon everything in the global systems of which we are a part; b) such consequences are often unfairly distributed among persons and local/national communities, as observed in the case of climate change, in which those mainly responsible for causing it and those that suffer most from it are typically different; c) four to eight earths would be needed in the future if all of the people were to live like its wealthiest 20% today; etc.

4. In ‘Sustainability' class, raise such religious, philosophical and psychological questions to stimulate learners' thinking about: a) What makes a person happy? What is a healthy community? How can we promote harmonious relations among diverse communities?; b) While practically all traditional worldviews uphold that nature is either divine in itself (as in indigenous and many Asian traditions), or sacred as all things are made by the creator (as in Abrahamic religions), how can we reconcile these views with the moral standard of those who, claiming to adhere to these traditions, do not pay serious attention to their own daily conduct that spoils nature?; etc.

5. Transcend conventional reliance upon text books and lectures that limit education to the enhancement of the head, and adopt a participatory and experiential learning approach, which involves thought-provoking discussions, community services, etc., imparts greater pragmatic values to the learner's life, and more effectively elevates the heart and hands, while connecting them simultaneously to the head. Use this approach in ‘Sustainability' and other classes.

6. Allow learners to leave the confines of the classroom and interact with nature in outdoor environments regularly. Provide learners with the opportunity to work in gardens and forests at school, so that they can be exposed to nature's blessings (foods, medicines, fresh water, insects, shade, etc.) and develop appreciation and gratitude for them. (For our renowned Children's Forest Program, see OISCA's website.)