The problem is that the sense of meaningful ethnic identity is evaporating, along with the passion that used to fuel Irish-American pilgrimages to the homeland, and so North American visits to Ireland are falling, falling.
These four principles illustrate that the concept of sustainable development in the Earth Charter embraces the view that the problems of poverty, environmental degradation, ethnic and religious conflict, and social injustice are all interdependent, and that policies that address one problem can impact and improve other issues.