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increasingly without environmental borders, each individual and every 

 nation has a fundamental ethical responsibility to respect nature and to 

 care for the Earth, protecting its life-support systems, biodiversity, and 

 beauty. In this extraordinarily interdependent world, each person 

 should feel an ethical responsibility not only to a local or national com- 

 nuuiity but to the larger global community and to future generations. 



It is only within such a framework that the values to sustain and 

 guide us will be found as wc move toward the goal of sustainable devel- 

 opment. Schools, religiotis institutions, and the news media as well as 

 businesses, governments, and (perhaps above all) families must share in 

 the tasks of achieving this aim. 



We have a vision for the future: a vision of an America and a 

 world in which humanity lives and prospers in harmonious, sustainable 

 balance with the natural systems of the Earth. America has an opportu- 

 nity to rise to the challenge of environmental leadership as it has to the 

 causes of human liberty, equality, and free and open markets. The chal- 

 lenge starts at home. 



♦ ♦♦ 



This introductory statement summarizes the main focuses of the 

 Commission's thinking as well as its principal recommendations. 

 Detailed discussion and additional recommendations are found in the 

 full report. 



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