faithful call to #actonclimate
TRANSCRIPT
Faithful Call to #ActOnClimate Change
Stephen A. Fuquawww.greenbahai.com
June 2015
Faiths for Earth Campaign
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_3EuybS9Mk
Overview
• Highlight key themes in religious responses to climate change:– Love of Creation– Urgency– Love and Compassion– Justice– Oneness and Interdependence
• Call to Action – statements and declarations• Prevention• International Action• Awareness and Advocacy• Taking Action
Love of Creation
This sister [Mother Earth] now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.
¶2, Laudato Si, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
Pope Francis
Mountaintop Removal
© Kate Wellington, 2010, some rights reserved (CC-BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/sharedferret/
Patriarch Bartholomew
For human beings… to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life – these are sins.
Quoted in http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
Urgency
Bahá’u’lláh
Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your
deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.
Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p213
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Drought… and war
The “Fertile Crescent” during the 2007-2008 drought. The deepest brown represents 100% loss of vegetation
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=8797&src=ve
… and war
“A severe drought, worsened by a warming climate, drove Syrian farmers to abandon their crops and flock to cities, helping trigger a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, according to a new study published Monday.”
National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-syria-war-climate-change-drought/
A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change
Today we live in a time of great crisis, confronted by the gravest challenge that humanity has ever faced: the ecological consequences of our own collective karma. The scientific consensus is overwhelming: human activity is triggering environmental breakdown on a planetary scale.
http://www.ecobuddhism.org/bcp/all_content/buddhist_declaration/
Love & Compassion
Jesus Christ
Book of Mark 12, 12:29-31. New International Version.
The most important [law] ... Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.
Typhoon Haiyan
© Mans Unides, 2013, some rights reserved (BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/mansunides/.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, https://twitter.com/lamazopa/status/504457434224926720
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Live with compassion, die with compassion, when problems come,experience them with
compassion.
Compassion
© Allan Hopkins, 2014, some rights reserved (BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoppy1951.
Justice
Prophet Muhammad
Surah an-Nisa` 4:19, The Message of the Qur’an, trans: Muhammad Assad
O YOU who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in upholding
equity, bearing witness to the truth for the sake of God, even though it be against your own selves or your
parents and kinsfolk. … Do not, then, follow your own desires, lest you swerve from justice…
Justice
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/06/climate-change-female-farmers-botswana-150611091026193.html
Pope Francis
Its worst impact will probably be felt by developing countries in coming decades. Many of the poor live in areas particularly affected by phenomena related to warming, and their means of subsistence are largely dependent on natural reserves and ecosystemic services such as agriculture, fishing and forestry. They have no other financial activities or resources which can enable them to adapt to climate change or to face natural disasters, and their access to social services and protection is very limited.
¶25, Laudato Si, http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
Stewardship
Stewardship
Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana, 2.2.41
Ether, air, fire, water, earth, planets, all creatures,
directions, trees and plants, rivers and seas – they all are
organs of God's body. Remembering this, a devotee
respects all species.
Stewardship
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_planting_trees,_Umaria_district,_MP,_India.jpg
A Rabbinic Letter
The texts of Torah that perhaps most directly address our present crisis are Leviticus 25-26 and Deuteronomy 15. They call for one year of every seven to be Shabbat Shabbaton - a Sabbatical Year - and Shmittah - a Year of restful Release for the Earth and its workers from being made to work, and of Release for debtors from their debts.In Leviticus 26, the Torah warns us that if we refuse to let the Earth rest, it will "rest" anyway, despite us and upon us - through drought and famine and exile that turn an entire people into refugees.
Oneness & Interdependence
Bahá’í International Community
http://www.bahai.org/documents/bic/seizing-opportunity
… we assert that the principle of the oneness of humankind must become the ruling principle of international life. This principle does not seek to undermine national autonomy or suppress cultural or intellectual diversity. Rather, it makes it possible to view the climate change challenge through a new lens – one that perceives humanity as a unified whole, not unlike the cells of the human body, infinitely differentiated in form and function yet united in a common purpose which exceeds that of its component parts.
People’s Climate March
© South Bend Voice, 2014, Some rights reserved (BY-SA). https://www.flickr.com/photos/126015850@N02/
Dalai Lama
Call to Action
… we call upon our leaders, those of our faiths, and all people of Earth to accept the reality of the common danger we face, the imperative and responsibility for immediate and decisive action, and the opportunity to change.
Links to Faith Statements
• Bahá'í International Community - Seizing the Opportunity
• Roman Catholic Church – Laudato Si• A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change• Hindu Declaration on Climate Change• A Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis• A Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environme
nt and Climate Change
• More
Prevention
Places of Worship
The Cool Congregations Challenge is an annual national contest to recognize “Cool Congregations” that are becoming energy efficient and sustainable role models within their communities.
GreenFaith Certification Program
A 2 year environmental leadership program for houses of worship. GreenFaith provides you with extensive resources, one-on-one coaching, support and networking opportunities to help you do holistic & successful environmental programming.
This workbook is intended to serve as a resource and planning guide for clergy, staff, and laypersons of houses of worship who want to increase the energy efficiency of their facilities by implementing realistic and cost-effective energy improvement projects.
Divestment
“Energy represents a foundation for civilization; there is no arguing this. But fossil fuels and the fossil fuel industry’s obstruction of a response to the climate crisis represent a grave danger to life.
What must faith communities do?
They must divest and reinvest now.”A Statement from Theologians, Ethicists and Religious Leaders in support of fossil fuel divestment and clean energy reinvestment by faith communities
Education
The course is based on the scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)... The course includes the teachings and wisdom of many religions. While the course is intended for an interfaith group, scriptures were selected for their relevance in the context of climate change.
A religious education resource looking at stewardship and care of the Earth, development issues and Trócaire's work. Several activities and case studies to foster understanding of the impact of climate change. This resource is suitable for students aged 12 years and over.
Change in Culture“The deepening environmental crisis, driven by a system that condones the pillage of natural resources to satisfy an insatiable thirst for more, suggests how entirely inadequate is the present conception of humanity’s relationship with nature.”
The Universal House of Justice, 2013InterdependenceEquality Simple LivingHarmony of Science and Religion
International Action
COP 21
“In 2015 COP21, also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, will, for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, aim to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.”
http://www.cop21paris.org/about/cop21
Green Climate Fund
“The GCF was conceived to help poor and vulnerable countries adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change like changing weather patterns, sea level rise, and extreme weather events and build more resilient societies.”Susan Stephenson, Interfaith Power & Light
The United States intends to contribute $3 billion to this initial fund raising effort, not to exceed 30 percent of total confirmed pledges.
http://news.gcfund.org
Beyond Paris
• No concrete scientific basis for 2°.• IPCC data – near the cutoff point for action.• Already problems at 1°.• Significant island flooding projected at 2°.
Action cannot stop with Paris
Awareness and Advocacy
Est 10,000 from faith community
“The People's Pilgrimage is an open source response from the human heart to the climate crisis. It's a way for everyone – of all faiths and none – to share our hopes and fears, and call for action on climate this year. It's not owned by any one organisation it's been inspired and started by people around the world, of diverse faiths, doing everything they can to lift up the local and human stories of climate change.”
Social Media
Taking Action
Reach Out to Government
Congress: Support Green Climate Fund!
From the low-lying Maldives to famine-stricken East Africa, the world’s poor are bearing the brunt of climate impacts. As Americans, and as people of faith, we are obliged to advocate for those whose lives and livelihoods are threatened, and who cannot advocate for themselves.
http://goo.gl/tbvA5x (IPL)
A Faithful Call to Address Climate Change
Around the world, faith communities and people of faith are coming together to call on political leaders to address climate change issues. Join their voice as we call on our political leaders in the United States to take a lead role in helping to craft a moral global framework for the UN climate negotiations that will culminate in Paris 2015.
http://www.faithclimatepetition.org/
Thank Pope Francis
Sign a Letter in Support of Pope Francis and the Encyclical on Ecology!Our friends at the Catholic Climate Covenant are headed to Rome and will deliver letters of support to Pope Francis for his recent encyclical on ecology. The Texas Interfaith Center and the National Religious Partnership for the Environment invite you to voice your support for the Pope by signing this letter. The deadline for signatures is June 30, 2015.http://texasinterfaithcenter.org/content/sign-letter-support-pope-francis-and-encyclical-ecology
What is the Paris Pledge?The Pledge is a bold 2-step commitment toward sustainability and carbon reduction:
1. By 2030, [you or your congregation] commits to reduce its carbon pollution by 50%.
2. [Your or your congregation] will set a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050.
http://www.parispledge.org
Closing
A Poem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJuRjy9k7GA
This poem, which was read at the Opening Ceremony of the recent UN Climate Summit, has nothing to do with religion. Its grand expression of overcoming fear and despair with hope and a righteous resolve should inspire all those who call themselves “world citizens”. The poet is Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, who hails from the Marshall Islands.
This photo taken at the “Bahá’í Gardens” on the slopes of Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Israel, shows a marvelous diversity of water and temperature
appropriate plants. S. Fuqua / T. Homayoun, November 2010.