Declaration of Interdependence

Our Declaration of Interdependence was forged over the last few months by a long list of diverse individuals involved in creating a new culture of aging.

The Declaration of Interdependence (opens as a .PDF) will be read aloud and discussed during the first plenary and in our highly interactive community-building "Interdependence in Action" breakout sessions following that plenary Thursday morning. But the spirit of creating the document -- the spirit of this whole movement -- has always been one of openness. So in that spirit, we are sharing the Declaration of Interdependence in advance of the conference with the hope that individuals will take a moment during the next week to share it with the elders in their community and their colleagues who may or may not be able to attend. We invite folks to hold a community meeting or a learning circle in your setting and to ask elders and others to share their thoughts about what it means to live and work interdependently.

The Declaration of Interdependence is only a starting point. For it to have any real meaning we must find creative ways to communicate and work together to put it into action.

Here is a timeline of other efforts to declare interdependence in various forms:

1936: Henry Wallace made reference to a "Declaration of Interdependence" among nations and cultures.

July 1936: Walter P. Taylor wrote "What is Ecology and What Good is it?" in perhaps the earliest ecological usage of the phrase, “Declaration of Interdependence.”

1944: Will Durant refered to a “Declaration of Interdependence”in a social and cultural context, speaking about racial and religious tolerance within a community.

1968: Roderick Nash, titled a television talk about ecology “A Declaration of Interdependence.”

1976: Bob Hunter and Patrick Moore wrote the Greenpeace “Declaration of Interdependence”

1990: A Declaration of Interdependence, in reference to both peace and ecology was composed at Naropa Institute in Colorado by writers and poets.

1992: David Suzuki and others wrote a "Declaration of Interdependence" for the Earth Summit in Rio.

2003: CivWorld involved a group of leaders gathering in Philadelphia to designate the date September 12th as "Interdependence Day."