Sunday, November 29, 2009

The Earth Charter and Vaccinations

The Earth Charter is a document promoting equality, the global community, freedom, and respect for our Earth. Vaccinations and getting vaccinated are a large part of the Earth Charter. In the Principles of the Earth Charter there are many mentions of health and environmental safety that could be partly accomplished by getting everyone vaccinated.
In I.1.A the charter states, "Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of it's worth to human beings." This relates to vaccinations because since we are interdependent if one of us does not get vaccinated we could potential infect others and possibly kill off a large part of our population.
In I.2.A the charter states, "Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people." This relates to getting vaccinated because if a large number of people die due to an infection that could have been prevented then we could potentially cause environmental harm with all our decaying bodies. Not only would we hurt the environment but we would also hurt ourselves and innocent lives that could be infected by different diseases from the decaying bodies.
In II.6.C the charter states, "Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities." A person must consider all others when they decide to get or not get vaccinated. If a person does not get vaccinated their consequences could be dire for the rest of the world.
To comply with the Earth Charter and make our world a better place we need to get vaccinated and to eradicate disease from this world. In doing so we will be able to sustain lives, help eradicate poverty, and make the world a better place in general. To not get vaccinated has dire consequences of which all cannot be foreseen.

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