Do religious beliefs impact environmental action to address global climate change
INTRODUCTION:
Religious beliefs have a strong connection with the environment and the way people treat it. These beliefs often play a significant role in the way humans view the world and with what attitude they regard the earth with. Climate change is an issue that has been severely affecting the planet and the people since 1988, and religion plays a big part in either motivating climate change or hindering the progress made. For this report, I have chosen to evaluate 3 religions: Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. I have chosen these three religions mainly because of the large following that they have, Christianity has the largest following in the world with 31.1% of the world being Christian, next is Islam with 24.9%, and lastly Hinduism with 15.16%
Christianity (USA)
For Christianity I will be focusing on the United States of America as it has the largest Christian population in the world (Pew research centre). Since Christianity is the religion with the largest following in the USA as aforementioned, it plays a significant role in how climate change is seen and treated. There are two main ways that Christians view the earth and indirectly global climate change. A few Christians believe that they have supreme authority and can do as they please with the few resources the earth can provide. On the other hand, some Christians worship the earth as a divine creation that needs to be protected. In Christianity there are a few festivals that are practised by Christians that have negative impacts on the environment, Christmas is a celebration that is widely celebrated by communities in the US, but the excessive light display while appealing to the eye often uses a lot of electricity and therefore are not energy efficient as there a lot of greenhouse gas emissions that occur another downfall of celebrating Christmas is tree decorating. While it seems harmless is deadly to the environment as Christmas tree farms often use harmful pesticides that can cause harm to local ecosystems and contribute to water pollution(Obiri, effect…environment). In light of climate change becoming more and more well-known there are many Christian environmental initiatives taking place in the US A few of the programs that have been started is: a new program called the “Catholic Climate Convent” to take action and a stand against climate change and what they can do to provide a solution. There is also another organisation known as the Evangelical Environmental Network that is“advocating for sustainable practices, emphasizing the moral imperative to address climate change”(Evangelical Environmental Network)1
Islam(Indonesia)
Indonesia is known to have the largest Muslim community in the world with 88% of its population being Muslim, and it holds 13% of the world's overall population (pew research centre) The Islam practices in Indonesia emphasize and focus on teaching known as khalifa, which in simple terms explains that humans duty on earth is to act as a steward or custodian of the planet and its eco-systems. The Quaran also outlines and highlights how the devotees of Allah are supposed to treat the environment: The Quaran prohibits and condemns wastefulness in any form, and encourages its followers to avoid overconsumption and extravagance, There is also a section in Quaran that emphasizes the delicate balance between humans and the environment and to maintain that balance they need to learn how to use and manage their resources efficiently Islamic teachings, this teaching heavily discourages and activities that directly and indirectly degrade the environment this specific teaching also encourages sustainable practices to be implemented in daily living (pew research centre). Even though Indonesia has a large Muslim population Indonesia still has an AQI rank of 156 which is one of the worst in the world (“IQAIR”)
National Perspective:
For my national perspective, I have chosen Hinduism and will be focusing on India, as approximately 80% of the population is Hindu. Hindus practice a concept known as ahimsa, which means that they are committed to non-violence, this practice also carries on to the environment. According to, to the (Pew research centre) every 4 in 10 Hindus are vegetarian, this is approximately 44% of the Hindu population. This is because ahimsa also covers land creatures and sea creatures. Another sacred Hindu text is Dharma which views the world as an “interconnected web of life”(Dr Ponnu), Hindus view animals and plants as beings with a soul so they must “protect and conserve the environment”(Dr Ponnu), but despite these beliefs, there are also many festivals and cultural celebrations based on the religion that negatively impact the environment. Some of these beliefs are: During Ganesh Chaturthi, an annual festival usually celebrated by Hindus, one of the main traditions is to immerse the god into the sea, which contributes to water pollution and heavy environmental damage. Many of the prayers conducted by Hindus require masses of firewood which leads to deforestation of the already lacking Indian forest (Singh, Religious…environment). There are also external factors that contribute to the environmental damage in India apart from the religion as many people don't strictly follow ahimsa. Since India is a country that primarily relies on agriculture, pesticides, fertilizers and live-stock rearing impacts the air pollution rate in India. Since India is a country that believes in cow rearing as they see cows as a form of divinity, this increases the methane pollution in the air. We can see here that these external factors still connect back to religion showing that religion is a large implicit base for air pollution and environmental conservation (UN environment programme) Hindus are taking action against climate change by starting several initiatives such as “green karma”, This initiative encourages Hindus to make changes to their daily lifestyle to reduce the carbon footprint (green karma)
National course of action:
At a national level governments should utilize and realize the potential of various religious beliefs that are driving environmental action. This can be done by, Engaging with important religious leaders and environmental organisations in that particular country and faith. Different religious communities can be given presentations and orientations on how the country’s religion views the environment and how we can follow it by making religious institutions energy efficient, having waste management cycles and planting community gardens. This can help communities learn more about their religion, help foster relationships and inspire daily sustainability. Governments can give grants and subsidies to synagogues to implement and start eco-friendly initiatives, that the government can then collaborate with. Lastly, Government should frequently evaluate existing religious environmental networks and track their progress in the mitigation of climate change so that they can identify any blind spots in the education of sustainability and then work on improving them. The key is implementation and then evaluation.
Global course of action
At a global level, different countries that follow different faiths and religions can play a significant role in helping mitigate climate change. One of the ways this can be done is by inter-faith collaborations by religious communities, Recognising the strength of group effort, interfaith cooperation can unite different religious communities to cooperate towards shared environmental objectives. Interfaith initiatives can encourage peace, communication, and understanding in the struggle against global warming, The United Religions Initiative's Environmental Network can influence countries to participate in activities that can improve the influence of religious organisations in the fight against climate change by exchanging best practices, resources, and policy change advocacy. Another way is for religious leaders and organisations to utilise their influence to disseminate sustainable practices and raise public understanding of environmental issues. The moral necessity of environmental preservation can be reinforced in sermons, lessons, and other kinds of public discussion, which can encourage individuals as well as communities to practise environmental stewardship. Religious leaders can participate in public policy deliberations by encouraging national and international groups to promote ecology and incorporate it into their plans and approaches to reduce the impact of climate change.
Conclusion and Personal Perspective
At the beginning of this report, I never had any inclination that religion and the environment had any sort of connection between them, but through my expansive research, I have unearthed various websites and reports that explore the nuanced relationship between faith and ecology. I still believe that there is no explicit connection as there are many other variables and factors that must go into consideration but religion is an influencing one. Some patterns have been developed such as the example of Christianity and the US we can see that the widespread power and influence that the religion has has put the country in one of the top cleanliest spots in the world. There are also some pattern anomalies such as the example of Indonesia, despite the religion time and time again stating the prohibition of uncleanliness, Indonesia to this day continues to be one of the most poorly sanitized countries in the world, To answer the research question, I would say yes there is an impact that can be observed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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