Welcome to the Gardens of Global Unity!
Hello, it’s me, Gramma Sue Blythe, and I have a story to tell my grandchildren and all grandchildren. As I tell my story, I will introduce you to some of my fictional characters and real-life friends. I invite you into our imaginary world to find your role in the collaborative storytelling adventure, “On the Road to 2030, 2050, and Beyond.” Our goal is to empower young people — and those who care about their future — to make the change they want to see in the world.
Back in 2016, I read a chapter of my story to my grandchildren as the final part of the real-life birthday party for my two five-year-old granddaughters. We called it the “Twin Cousins Global Warming Express Birthday Party.” We were at the Sustainable Living Center of the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice. After acting out the story with the cardboard cutout train powered by bubbles and butterflies, after their parents had played the part of world leaders at the Paris Climate Conference, after the kids had explored the tables with Earth flags, Earth balls, environmental books, toys, games, activity pages and drawing paper, and after the dinner lovingly prepared and served by my three daughters, I pulled out my laptop and invited my six grandchildren, ages 3 to 9, to gather round. It felt wonderful to have them huddled close, with their full attention through the whole reading.
In my fictional story, I took my grandchildren with me into an imaginary future, to the year 2050. The Sage in me was age 103. Each of them had grown up, and some had children of their own. My great-grandchildren wanted to know about the early days of the Earth Charter Century. I told them that when the Earth Charter was new, back in the year 2000, I was fascinated by these closing words:
Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life,
the firm resolve to achieve sustainability,
the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.
I figured that in order to let ours be a time remembered, we would have to go into the future so we could look back and see the many ways that people of our time were doing the work to make that vision a reality.
It was as though my generation had busily planted seeds that grew over the years into the sustainable, just, and peaceful future that we believed was possible. When our storybook characters celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Earth Charter in 2050, we could look back on the first half of the Earth Charter Century as a time of spiritual awakening and global transformation for the human family and the community of life on Earth, our home.
Well, over the next nine years, my imagination grew that 2050 story into a full-blown county-wide, intergenerational, arts-based climate conversation in action, right here in Alachua County, Florida.
Last year, in 2024, my fictional characters invited real people to help tell “Alachua County’s Bicentennial Climate Story (1824-2024).” Our story is on the Matheson History Museum website!
(See link below)
This year, in 2025-26, the story is coming to life right here in Alachua County. Our fictional Clean-Energy Climate Caravan visits cities and towns, finding people who bring light and life to the ethical values and principles of the Earth Charter. We’ll showcase their individual and collective stories throughout the year in virtual and real-world events.
- In September, we’ll visit the virtual Gardens of Global Unity, where all things are possible, to reflect on quotations from the Earth Charter. Everyone has an Earth Charter story to tell!
- In November, we’ll stop in at the real-life County Climate Festival, where we’ll learn about Alachua County’s real-world Climate Action Plan.
- In January 2026, we’ll showcase our progress on building community in the Martin Luther King World House, right here in Alachua County.
- In April, we’ll showcase what we’ve found in the virtual Global Goals Treasure Hunt to help win the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
- In June, we’re Illuminating the Earth Charter.
- And in July 2026, we’ll join the national celebration of America’s 250th Birthday. Our real-world happenings in homes, schools, and communities throughout Alachua County will serve as a model to inspire action in other counties, states, and countries. We’re dreaming as big as we possibly can!
The Climate Collaboratory is a project of We, the World and a growing network of partners.
Join us in our quest for peace on and with the Earth, “On the Road to 2030, 2050, and Beyond.”
Contact Sue Blythe <sueblythe@we.net>
Learn More
Alachua County’s Bicentennial Climate Story (1824-2024)
- Article in The Invading Sea newsletter
- Full exhibit on the Matheson History Museum website
Alachua County’s DRAFT Climate Action Plan