Newsletter of the
INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FORUM
Volume 17, Number 9 --- 15 September 2015
Website: iefworld.org
Article submission: newsletter@iefworld.org
Deadline next issue 13 October 2015
Secretariat Email: ief@iefworld.org General Secretary Emily Firth
Postal address: 12B Chemin de Maisonneuve, CH-1219 Chatelaine, Geneva, Switzerland
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From the Editor, Request for information for upcoming newsletters
This newsletter is an opportunity for IEF members to share their experiences, activities, and initiatives that are taking place at the community level on environment, climate change and sustainability. All members are welcome to contribute information about related activities, upcoming conferences, news from like-minded organizations, recommended websites, book reviews, etc. Please send information to newsletter@iefworld.org.
Please share the Leaves newsletter and IEF membership information with family, friends and associates, and encourage interested persons to consider becoming a member of the IEF.
Families as Agents of Change to Build a Just and Sustainable Society
29 August 2015
A new set of study materials on Families as Agents of Change: Collectively Advancing Efforts to Build a Just and Sustainable Society, prepared by Peter Adriance of the U.S. Baha'i Office of Public Affairs (and IEF board member), is now available on the IEF web site.
Seventy-two quotations from the Baha'i writings and statements are organized for five days of study on:
• the natural world and our relationship with it;
• climate change;
• food, diet and agriculture;
• consumption and materialism; and
• agents of change - taking it home.
These materials would be useful for summer and winter schools, retreats, and community study.
Wilmette Institute Web Talk on Sustainability
As part of the celebration of its 20th year, the Wilmette Institute is organizing a year-long series of live web talks featuring some of its faculty. On 6 September 2015, IEF President Arthur Dahl spoke on "Navigating the Storm: The Transition to Sustainability". The pdf version (1.1mb) is now available on the IEF web site, and a video recording can be viewed on the Wilmette Institute youtube page: https://youtu.be/kxULSlF5gSQ. The talk outlines the challenges the world faces from its present environmental, economic and social unsustainability, and then lays out the approaches based on spiritual principles which will be needed to make the transition to a more sustainable world, drawing on the Baha'i teachings, the Pope's recent encyclical, the new Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, and the UN's 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.
The IEF has long collaborated with the Wilmette Institute, established by the Baha'is of the United States to offer on-line courses over the Internet. Its course on "Sustainable Development and the Prosperity of Humankind" will be offered again starting on 15 September, for seven weeks. Click here to sign up. All the faculty for the course are IEF members. IEF also initiated the Wilmette Institute course on Scientific and Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change, based on the recently updated IEF interfaith course of the same name prepared by Christine Muller, which is now also available in a French version.
Why Should I Care about Sustainable Development?
By Christine Muller 31 August 2015 from Wilmette Institute eNewsletter
http://wilmetteinstitute.org/why-should-i-care-about-sustainable-develoâŠ
The editors of the Wilmette Institute eNewsletter asked Christine Muller, lead faculty for our popular course Climate Change, to tackle the important question of why should we care about sustainable development. She digs into the BahĂĄâĂ writings to find reasons why everyone should be concerned about this important question that informs discussions of broad social concern. We cannot always control political discussion or actions, but we can start at home, making changes in our own lives and becoming informed about the topic so that we can talk about it with friends, neighbors, and more.
BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, the Prophet-Founder of the BahĂĄâĂ Faith, said âBe anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.â 1 In our age, among the most urgent needs is sustainable development.
We have come to a critical point in human history: Today humans are using the Earthâs resources much faster than they can be replenished and are polluting water, soil, and air at a much faster rate than the pollution can be absorbed or cleaned by natural systems. In fact, it takes the Earth a year and a half (eighteen months) to regenerate what we use in a year.2 Some of the pollution will have extremely harmful effects for hundreds and thousands of years, especially the unprecedented increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations that are changing the climate and acidifying the oceans. Continuing with the âregularâ life we know will result in a collapse of human civilization and in a mass extinction of plants and animals.
At the same time, the disparity between rich and poor has widened to unthinkable proportions, and large numbers of people are being exploited to serve an unjust economic system. This situation is clearly unsustainable. It does not take much imagination anymore to appreciate the words of BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh: Consider the peoples of the West. Witness how, in their pursuit of that which is vain and trivial, they have sacrificed, and are still sacrificing, countless lives for the sake of its establishment and promotion.3
There are many reasons why we should care deeply about the plight of humanity and promote sustainable development. Among them are four fundamental spiritual and practical reasons.
LOVE FOR GODâS CREATION
Today creation is being destroyed by increasing numbers of people with growing demands on the Earthâs resources. All religious teachings call for stewardship of creation. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh explained that God âcreated the reality of all things,â4 that âNature is Godâs Will,â5 and that the reason for creation is Godâs love: âI loved thy creation, hence I created thee.â6
LOVE FOR JUSTICE
The poor, who contribute the least to the environmental crisis, are the first to suffer from the destruction of the environment. Here are a few examples: Poor people are more likely to live in contaminated areas. Many farmers, especially in Africa, already suffer from changing precipitation patterns and drought. And the poor everywhere are impacted the worst by rising food prices.
But we are also facing an intergenerational justice issue. Present generations are robbing future generations of the beauty of biodiversity, a diversity that is important for providing the life-support system for humans. In addition, this diversity has spiritual significance as in it âthere are signs for men of discernment.â 7 BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh said:
Whoso cleaveth to justice, can, under no circumstances, transgress the limits of moderation. . . . The civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men. . . . If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation.8
LOVE FOR HUMANKIND
Globally, there are almost a billion people who go hungry every day, 783 million people do not have access to clean water,9 and over 1.3 billion people are without access to electricity.10 If we believe that humankind is one family, these facts concern us. Poor countries must have the opportunity to develop. However, if they repeat the developed countriesâ mistakes, building their economies on fossil fuels, there will be no future for anyone on this planet. These countries must be helped with technology and funding for sustainable development. At the same time, the rich countries of the world also need to developâbut toward a civilization that lives in harmony with nature and that is just toward all the people in the world. They must build a renewable-energy economy, quickly phase out the use of fossil fuel, and cut down on waste and luxuries.
SPIRITUAL INTEGRITY
All efforts moving humankind toward sustainable development must happen on a global, national, and local level. Individuals have the responsibility to support such efforts and, at the same time, to change their own lifestyles. There is much we can do to use less of the Earthâs resources and to produce less waste. Many of these measures are easy to do and also make a lot of economic sense.
Such actions are imperative, if we want to live according to the ethical teachings of the BahĂĄâĂ Faith. They are also a prerequisite for our personal spiritual growth and hence for the fulfillment of our potential as human beings. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh says that a true spiritual seeker âshould be content with little, and be freed from all inordinate desire.â11 He also says:
Take from this world only to the measure of your needs, and forgo that which exceedeth them. Observe equity in all your judgements, and transgress not the bounds of justice, nor be of them that stray from its path.12
He warns us: âFear ye God, and take heed not to outstrip the bounds of moderation, and be numbered among the extravagant.â 13 âAbduâl-BahĂĄ reminds us: âContent thyself with but little of this worldâs goods!â 14 In essence, we should care about sustainable development so that we can all help âcarry forward an ever-advancing civilization.â 15 We can accomplish this by applying the teachings of BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh in our personal and community lives and by infusing them into the life of society with public discourse.
To learn more about sustainable development and to prepare yourself for discussing this topic of broad social concern, you will find much information in the Wilmette Instituteâs course Sustainable Development and the Prosperity of Humankind. The course begins on September 15. Click here to sign up.
1. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Gleanings from the Writings of BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh CVI: 213.
2. See Global Footprint Network http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/.
3. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Gleanings XCVI: 196.
4. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Gleanings XXVII: 64â65.
5. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Lawáž„-i-កikmat (Tablet of Wisdom), Tablets of BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, 9: 142.
6. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, The Hidden Words of BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Arabic #4.
7. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Lawáž„-i-កikmat, Tablets of BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh 9: 142.
8. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Gleanings CLXIV: 342â43.
9. See http://www.unwater.org/water-cooperation-2013/water-cooperation/facts-aâŠ.
10. See http://www.iea.org/topics/energypoverty/.
11. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, The KitĂĄb-i-ĂqĂĄn ¶214: 178â79.
12. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Suriy-i-Muluk, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts 193.
13. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Suriy-i-Muluk, Summons 188.
14. âAbduâl-BahĂĄ, in BahĂĄâĂ World Faith 374.
15. BahĂĄâuâllĂĄh, Gleanings CIX: 215.
Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals
Video of a GEPP Policy Dialogue in Geneva
https://vimeo.com/138195156
The University of Geneva Global Environmental Policy Programme (GEPP) held a two-week Executive Summer School 31 August-11 September, for which Arthur Dahl was one of the faculty, with participants from as far away as China, Nepal, South Africa and Ecuador. A public GEPP Policy Dialogue was held on 2 September at International Environment House in Geneva, Switzerland, on the topic "Implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Challenges and Responses", featuring the Swiss ambassador who negotiated the Sustainable Development Goals for the governmental perspective, an expert from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development for the business perspective, and Arthur Dahl, President of IEF, for the civil society perspective featuring IEF experience, chaired by the Director of UNEP's Regional Office for Europe. The University has posted a full video recording of the panel discussion at https://vimeo.com/138195156. [0:55:15] Arthur Dahl, President, International Environment Forum
Promoting a new international semester:
Education for Diversity and Sustainable Living
Hedmark University College offers a new international program "Education for Diversity and Sustainable Living - Nordic perspectives in a global context" (30 ECTS) to international students in line with our effort to promote education for sustainable and responsible living.
This study is especially suited for students with an interest in education for sustainable living. It is aimed at students who want to learn more about subjects related to nature, human and environmental diversity and sustainable development.
The program is offered in spring semester (from early February to the end of June). Teaching is in English and is organized as lectures, workshops, web discussions, excursions, practical laboratory work, seminars and student presentations. Excursions with Nordic features and a 5-day internship will be organized throughout the course. Click here for further information about the program.
We would greatly appreciate it if you could pass this along to faculty members and students who might be interested in program. If you need further information regarding the program, please contact the international coordinator: Cherry Chiuyi Lam (chiu.lam@hihm.no )
Interfaith Now
Parliament of the World's Religions
People of faith working together
Every tradition views earth through a sacred lens and teaches adherents to protect the environment and the existence of life.
Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change: A Review
Arthur Lyon Dahl
International Environment Forum