Taraxacum  Club

Taraxacum Club (TC) was founded in 1974 as an international association of environmental experts committed to work for a world in which man can lead a sustainable existence in harmony with nature. The founding members - Fred van der Vegte (Netherlands), Gerhard Franz Walter (Austria), David Withrington (UK) - were active in the International Youth Federation for Environmental Studies and Conservation - IYF whose emblem, the seed of the dandelion plant (Taraxacum officinale), symbolises the message of conservation being spread on the wind across our planet. Taraxacum Club was named as a tribute to IYF. A Statement of Commitment was adopted at the inaugural TC meeting in Ligist, Austria, attended by environmentalists from Austria, Belgium, Germany, India, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In the following ten years, meetings were held at the end of December in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and the UK. By 1994, TC had added to its membership environmentalists from Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Kenya, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and Venezuela. After this, Taraxacum Club did not organise activities, becoming only a point of contact for correspondence between members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planning meeting 2009

Luneburg Heath

Germany

 

In September 2009, several members met at the Alfred Toepfer Academy for Nature Conservation (NNA) on the Lüneburger Heath in northern Germany. With encouragement from some of the founding members of IYF, we decided to compile a book on the International Youth Federation for Environmental Studies and Conservation (1950-2010). This was published in 2012, and can be obtained from the www.nna-en.niedersachsen.de  (price per copy - €8.50 plus postage).

 

Commitment

Our ambitious commitment is to work for a world in which man can lead a sustainable existence in harmony with nature, of which he forms an integral part. Man is dependent for survival on a limited supply of natural resources and on the ecological principles which govern all life on Earth. We are concerned that man is becoming increasingly alienated from his natural environ­ment by his pursuit of ever greater material standards of living, his use of a wasteful technology and his exploitation of fellow citizens and of natural resources usually for the motive of financial gain. This race for material goods is fuelled by an inequitable distribution of wealth both between industrialised and less-industrialised nations and between rich and poor in each nation. It is clear that resources cannot provide for everyone the material standards enjoyed by a privileged minority and that, while such people continue to take more than their fair share, others will go without their basic requirements of food and shelter.

 

The security of our life on Earth is further threatened by warfare, pollution in all its forms, overpopulation and poor agricultural husbandry - especially in respect of soil fertility. We are pledged to work to eradicate these problems and to bring man into balance with nature. We are seeking to replace many of man's material aspirations, which are eventually self-destructive, with a more rewarding and stimulating aesthetic quality of life, where man can realize his own talents both as an individual and within his community.

 

We respect the right of an individual to his own religious and political beliefs, but reserve the right to criticise such practices which may have a deleterious impact on the environment. We condemn the practice of cultural imperialism and the imposition of alien life styles through colonialism, industrial and financial exploitation.

 

We demand that industrialised and industrialising nations reject technologies that are wasteful in energy and which by their capital-intensive nature produce unemployment and alienation. We cannot tolerate advertising of products to induce overconsumption of resources, and the equally wasteful excesses of packaging, non-returnable containers and inbuilt obsolescence of goods. Similarly, the land must be used in the best interests of all the people and not be subject to speculation or private profit. Pollution of the land, sea and air by industry and agriculture will only lead to the eventual harm of mankind and is to be halted In principle, all resources should be recycled.

 

We call upon elected politicians and all decision-makers to act in an unselfish way in the best interests of mankind. We believe that people have a democratic right to be educated about ecological principles and environmental issues; we are pledged to work for this aim. The environment is for all of us to share, and each person must recognise his responsibility for maintaining the quality of the environment as a heritage of all living beings.

 

Statement adopted by unanimous vote of participants at the inaugural meeting of Taraxacum Club held at Ligist, Austria on 31.12.1974. The text can be amended by a ⅔ majority of TC members.