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The Moral Roots of Climate Crisis

5/16/2013

 
"We live on a planet that is alive and whose soul is composed of the tremendously vital sequences of climate patterns that unite all lands and all humans in one organism. From this cosmological perspective it may be possible to imagine morally responsible scientific approaches to problem solving where human needs and the needs of the Earth as a living being interact. From this cosmologically significant point of view we may hopefully be able to say in the future that climate is the soul of the Earth."
See full article here: The Moral Roots of the Climate Crisis (Interview with Dennis Klocek on Climate Study for Das Goetheanum, 2004)

Fostering Ecological Hope

5/16/2013

 
"We are all responsible for this, all of us who have participated in the growth economy of the capitalist world, who bought SUVs and who fly off all over the world and eat packaged foods and industrially produced meat and drink liquids from plastic bottles and who insist on buying broccoli in February and living out in the suburbs so we can drive long distances to work every day and then oppose taxes for mass transit."
For full article: Fostering Ecological Hope (2009)

Inter-Faith Manifesto on Climate Crisis

5/16/2013

 
"For the Earth, salvation is about more than new technology and green economy. Salvation is about the inner space of human beings. Life without hope is detrimental to human existence. The peoples on this beautiful precious planet need to dialogue about what it means to live together, with global empathy in a global village. Religions can contribute to this in a decisive way."
 Full article here: Interfaith Manifesto on Climate Crisis By Rabbi Arthur Waskow (2008)

'Green Muslim', Eco-Islam and Evolving Climate Change Consciousness

5/16/2013

 
"In talking about climate change in the Muslim world, I have sometimes been confronted by people who say, “You know this climate change is God’s way of sending a message.” I’ve also been confronted by people who say climate change is an opportunity to think about human responsibility and how God intended us to be custodians of the climate. I don’t think there is a religiously right or wrong answer here. What’s important is how people build and contextualize the phenomenon of climate change in and around their belief set."
For full article see here:  ‘Green Muslims,’ Eco-Islam and Evolving Climate Change Consciousness By John Wihbey (2012)

A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change

5/16/2013

 
"It has recently become quite obvious that significant changes are also needed in the way our economic system is structured. Global warming is intimately related to the gargantuan quantities of energy that our industries devour to provide the levels of consumption that many of us have learned to expect. From a Buddhist perspective, a sane and sustainable economy would be governed by the principle of sufficiency: the key to happiness is contentment rather than an ever-increasing abundance of goods. The compulsion to consume more and more is an expression of craving, the very thing the Buddha pinpointed as the root cause of suffering."
See full declaration text here: The Time to Act is Now: A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change

Climate Change is a Spiritual Issue

5/16/2013

 
"There is no magic bullet to solve climate change , no one field that has the answer.  However, it is an issue that must involve the religions, ethics, and spirituality, since at this point we have more than enough  information and committees. What we need is  a change of heart and mind. The  Greeks said “to know the good is to do the good,” but St. Paul said, “I know the good but I don’t do it”. I think most of us agree with St. Paul.  The central issue now regarding the twin crises of poverty and climate change is about the movement from belief to action.  We all know what we should do, but we aren’t doing it." 
Full Interview with Theologian Sallie McFague here: 
Climate Change is a Spiritual Issue
11 April  2012

Religious Views on Climate Change Mitigation

5/16/2013

 
"A December 2011 public opinion study by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland 
and its affiliate, the Program on International Policy Attitudes, found that the religious and moral beliefs of 
a majority of Americans can lead them to directly or indirectly prefer policies that would address threats to 
the environment and mitigate the effects of global climate change. Yet, the study also confirmed how few 
believers initially think of climate change and other threats to the environment in religious or moral terms. 
The wide-ranging ways in which questions about environmental issues can be framed could help to explain 
how believers who don’t readily identify addressing environmental threats as spiritual obligations are able 
to engage these beliefs. Other possible explanations include (1) that Americans think about their religious 
and moral beliefs more as they apply to people’s personal lives than to big-picture, long-term issues such as 
climate change and/or (2) that spirituality and public policy engage different cognitive modes and that 
individuals are willing to act out of a moral construct without scientific reason. Based on these survey 
findings, this paper suggests that finding ways to overcome these obstacles and engage individuals on the 
basis of their religious and moral beliefs could be an effective way to increase public support for action and 
policies aimed at mitigating environmental threats, including global climate change." 
For Full Article: 
Religious Views on Climate Change Mitigation  by Jonas Siegel, Research Associate (jsiegel@umd.edu) 
Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (USA)

Spiritual Implications of Climate Change

5/16/2013

 
"The peril of our spiritual crisis, is that we have unleashed an irresistible force ˆ that of the human imagination and technological creativity, within what is an immovable object, the finite nature of the life of the planet itself, with a sense of complete irresponsibility for the outcome. Something of these three has got to, and will, give way."
See full article here >  Spiritual Implications of Climate Change by John Croft

    SES Narratives: Climate Crisis


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This site promotes the orientation, activities, resources and projects of the Centre for the Study of Sustainable Futures and Spirituality (GCSSFS). The Centre is supported in the area of content generation, project execution, design and general administration by Public Media Agency (PMA),  Petaling Jaya, Malaysia under the direct care of one of their creative consultants, Dr. M. Nadarajah (Nat). Nat works as consultant on different projects.  He supports PMA on its various projects supporting social causes. Nat is presently engaged with Xavier University@Bhubaneshwar, India, with it School of Sustainability. He works with Loyola College@Chennai, India on issues related sustainability and spirituality. He is associated with the Centre for Diaspora Studies@MSU, Tirunelveli, India. He continues to support Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP), which is based in Penang, Malaysia, as consultant on a project to set up a 'blended' institution, International People's Agroecology Multiversity (IPAM), to promote agroecology across Asia and the Pacific. He is also a member of the Asian Public Intellectual (API)  community.

GCSSFS, 2016