Formica and Esperide participated in the "Earth Charter" meeting in Amsterdam on December 2-3. The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st century. Created by global civil society, endorsed by thousands of organizations and institutions, the Charter is not only a call to action, but a motivating force inspiring change the world over. The Earth Charter Commission is working with the United Nations in order to give the charter the status of a 'soft law', just as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has. Two of the promoters of the Earth Charter, namely Ruud Lubbers (former prime minister of the Netherlands and member of the Club of Rome) and Ashok Khosla (Chair of Development Alternatives in India and President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and of the Club of Rome) visited Damanhur last Spring. They were very impressed with our practice, and declared that we represent the Earth Charter principles well.