WHEREAS, September 11, 2006 marks the fifth anniversary of events that have caused this date to be associated with fear, terrorism, and war; and

WHEREAS, September 11, 2006 also marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nonviolent movement for justice and peace of Mahatma Gandhi; and

WHEREAS, a world that is free from war and violence will be a world in which the human community may reach its highest potential, and in which future generations may live without the threat or fear of physical, psychological, and spiritual harm; and

WHEREAS, decades after the assassinations of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., we see more polarization within our nation and between nations, we recognize that nonviolent conflict resolution is largely absent from civil society; and

WHEREAS, in the last 100 years we have begun to understand the linkages and interconnections among justice, peace, and environmental integrity, and that all aspirations for human betterment, including justice and peace, are utterly dependent upon the health of the ecosystems that support and maintain life in all its forms; and

WHEREAS, it is clear that cultural transformation of vast societies always begins with an awareness at the local level of the need for change, and we recognize that local issues affecting the City of Asheville, Buncombe County, and the region of Western North Carolina are inextricably linked to the wider communities of human life and planetary life; and

WHEREAS, we understand that how we solve our local problems of poverty; a living wage; affordable housing; urban sprawl; transportation; a sustainable economy; of safe and accessible drinking water; preservation of farmland, parks, and forests; clean streams, rivers and wetlands; and an energy economy that is non-
polluting, safe, secure, and does not contribute to global warming, will determine whether we and our descendants live in a just, loving, healthy, and peaceful world;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, TERRY BELLAMY, Mayor of the City of Asheville, do hereby proclaim, September 11, 2006, as

PEACE ON EARTH, PEACE WITH EARTH DAY in the City of Asheville, North Carolina, and encourage the citizens of Asheville and Western North Carolina to reflect on the meaning of justice, peace, and nonviolent conflict resolution, and become living representatives of the power of love in their duties as householders and responsible citizens of our great Democracy, by acting in a compassionate, non-harming manner within human society, towards other than human life, and to the earth itself.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the City of Asheville, North Carolina, to be affixed, this 11th day of September 2006.