LEAVES 24 (9) - September 2024

        Newsletter of the
         INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT FORUM
         Volume 26, Number 9 --- 15 September 2024    

Website: iefworld.org 
Article submission: newsletter@iefworld.org Deadline next issue 10 October 2024
Secretariat Email: ief@iefworld.org Christine Muller General Secretary 
Postal address: 12B Chemin de Maisonneuve, CH-1219 Chatelaine, Geneva, Switzerland
Download the easier to read pdf version

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.

IEF General Assembly 5 October and IEF Board Election

IEF members and associates are warmly invited to attend the 28th IEF General Assembly which will be held on Saturday, 5 October. The General Assembly will be held twice so that members from all time zones can attend. 

Members are also strongly encouraged to participate in the election of the IEF Governing Board. Please, look for the invitation to the General Assembly in your Inbox. It contains the times and Zoom links, and the letter to members also contains detailed voting instructions. 

We hope that many of you will be able to attend the General Assembly! 

In addition to administrative agenda items such as approval of the Annual Report and the results of the Governing Board election by IEF members, you are invited to contribute to the consultation about the following topics: 

• Reflect on this year’s IEF conference held 14 – 28 September. What can we learn from its content? How can we translate key outcomes into action? 
• Do you have suggestions for the topic and place for next year’s conference, and what we can improve? 
• On what topics and activities should the IEF focus – and how can you contribute to them? 
• How can we encourage the participation of younger people? 
• What can we do to ensure that the IEF will thrive in the future? 
• IEF members are also encouraged to propose other agenda items and to volunteer for IEF.

The 28th Annual IEF Conference is currently going on! You can still register for three events:

Tuesday, 17 September, 11:30am EDT / 5:30pm CEST
Developing a vision for global collaboration
Register here: https://tinyurl.com/IEF-GlobalCollaboration
The speakers will delve into the fifth topic of the Pact for the Future, which revolves around transforming global governance, offering insights from a Baha'i perspective. Their discussion will emphasize the significance of global cooperation in ensuring environmental sustainability, a crucial element for human welfare and even survival.

Panelists:
Payam Akhavan: International Human Rights Lawyer
Sovaida Maani Ewing: Director of the Center for Peace and Global Governance
Joshua Lincoln: Senior Fellow Center for International Law and Governance (CILG) at the Fletcher School of global affairs, Tufts University

Moderator: Wendi Momen, MBE, FRSA

Sunday, 22 September, 1pm EDT / 7pm CEST
Building Futures in Communities
Register here: https://tinyurl.com/IEF-BuildingFutures
Panelists will reflect on Baha'i-inspired approaches to community building based on experiences with a reforestation project in Iceland, community gardening in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, coral reef rescue in Samoa, agricultural and environmental education in Colombia, and relief work following recent flooding in Brazil.

Panelists:
LEONG Lau Kheng Janice, senior member of the Baha'i community in Singapore, social activist
Halldór Thorgeirsson, Chair Icelandic Climate Council, Iceland
Ayman Reyhan, Cluster Coordinator for the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program in Ajman, UAE
Amelia Hedley, undergraduate student of English, did an internship with FUNDAEC in Colombia
Tavita Faletoese, Project Manager for Reefs of Hope, Samoa
Lucas Umpierre Conter, biomedical scientist with PhD in Molecular and cellular biology, Brazil
Louisa Yazdani, Psychologist, therapist for individuals and families, Brazil 
André Akhavan, physician specialized in anesthesiology and pain medicine, Brazil 

Moderator: Peter Adriance, former Representative for Sustainable Development, U.S. Baha'i Office of Public Affairs, retired

Saturday, 28 September, 1pm EDT / 7pm CEST
Where Do We Go from Here? - Deeds not Words
Register here: https://tinyurl.com/IEF-DeedsNotWords
In this closing session of the IEF conference, the panelists will report about and reflect on the Summit of the Future and its main outcome document, the Pact for the Future. They will explore how IEF and all of us can apply Baha’i principles to the Summit outcomes and support any projects or initiatives launched.

Panelists:
Arthur Lyon Dahl, Environmental scientist, President of the International Environment Forum
Liliane Nkunzimana, Representative of the Baha'i International Community’s UN Office in New York 
Monica Maghami, International regulatory lawyer, focused on sustainability and technology

Moderator: Victoria Thoresen, emerita and former UNESCO Chair for Education about Sustainable Lifestyles

For more information about the IEF Conference, go here: https://iefworld.org/conf2

A World-Embracing Vision for a Sustainable Future

This is the theme of the currently ongoing IEF conference.

Let your vision be world embracing rather than confined to your own self. 

Humanity’s crying need ... calls ... for a fundamental change of consciousness ... that the time has come when each human being on earth must learn to accept responsibility for the welfare of the entire human family. 

True peace and tranquillity will only be realized when every soul will have become the well-wisher of all mankind. 

O ye the elected representatives of the people in every land! Take ye counsel together, and let your concern be only for that which profiteth mankind and bettereth the condition thereof. 

Profound solidarity towards all of humankind is required as the foundation for a global governance system that enables genuine worldwide cooperation for human well-being and environmental sustainability. Such solidarity is also needed to guide local action for community building and environmental sustainability. Read more about this topic in the article A World-Embracing Vision for a Sustainable Future. 

Side Events at the UN Summit of the Future

September 19: Launch of "A Second Charter - Modernizing the UN for a New Generation" 
09.00 - 14.30, 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 120 (Baha'i International Community Offices). 

• Event details and registration 
• Introduction to A Second Charter - Modernizing the UN for a New Generation 
Contact: Ana Novoa Jerez ajerez@globalgovernanceforum.org 

September 21: What’s next for Global Governance? ImPACT Coalitions’ Recommendations for the Summit of the Future 09:45-11:00. UN Conference Room 6.
Moderator: Heba Aly Heba@HebaAly.org 
Speakers: 
• Mark Malloch Brown, advisor, Bretton Woods at 80 initiative, former UN Deputy Secretary-General; former UK State Minister 
• Aishwarya Machani, Iswe Foundation; Global Citizens’ Assembly and a UN Parliamentary Assembly: 
• Rebecca Shoot, Citizens for Global Solutions. Promoting international courts and tribunals for accountability under international law; 
• Maja Groff, Climate Governance Commission. UN declaration of planetary emergency, Planetary Emergency Platform and the Creation of a Global Environment Agency, 
• Natalia Nahra, UN Charter Reform Coalition. UN Charter review conference: 
Details: https://www.democracywithoutborders.org/events/33090/ 

September 21: The Road through the Summit of the Future: Generating ImPact from the Pact for the Future Time: 11:15 - 12:30. Room: UN Conference Room 1 
Co-Moderators: Dan Perell and Nudhara Yusuf 
Speakers: 
• Michèle Griffin: Director, Summit of the Future/Common Agenda Team, Executive Office of the Secretary-General, United Nations. 
• Maria Fernanda Espinosa: Executive Director, Global Women Leaders Voices. 
• Maiara Folly: Co-Founder & Programme Director, Plataforma CIPÓ. 
• H.E Stefan Löfven: Co-Chair of the High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism (HLAB) & former Prime Minister of Sweden. 
• Marianne Beisheim: Senior Researcher, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) – the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. 
• Eliane El Haber: C4UN ICH Research Associate & UNESCO IESALC Associate Project Officer. 
Contact: Daniel Perell dperell@bic.org 

September 21: Room for Optimism. 13:00 - 14:15 in UN Room CR6, organized by Bahá’í International Community 
A roundtable dialogue addressing three questions: 
1. What is it about the Summit of the Future that inspires hope in you - with a specific eye towards the negotiated outcomes? 
2. When you are speaking to others about why you do this work, what justification do you give - especially given the challenges we see in the world today? 
3. In early October, after High Level Week when the dust has settled a bit, what is ‘step one’ in ensuring that the Summit was a success? 

Moderator: Dan Perell 
Speakers: 
• Maria Fernanda Espinosa, GWL Voices 
• Leticia Leobet Geledés - Instituto da Mulher Negra ( Brazil ) 
• Maria Joao Rodrigues, Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) 
• Tshilidzi Marwala, UNU Rector & Under-Secretary-General 
• Nycolas Candido, Plataforma CIPÓ 
• Maja Groff, Climate Governance Commission and International Anti-Corruption Court 
• Augusto López-Claros, Global Governance Forum 
• Rebecca Shoot, Citizens for Global Solutions (time permitting) 
• John Vlasto, World Federalist Movement 
• Anna Maddrick, Permanent Mission of Vanuatu to the UN (tbc) 
Contact: Daniel Perell dperell@bic.org

For a more complete list of side events during the Summit, please click here. 

Embracing Interdependence Key to Peace and Prosperity

The Baha’i International Community (BIC) has launched its statement titled Embracing Interdependence: Foundations for a World in Transition as a contribution to the United Nations’ upcoming Summit of the Future taking place at UN headquarters in New York on 20-23 September 2024.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres will convene the Summit to encourage greater cooperation among world leaders and UN Member States to address present and future global challenges.

“On the occasion of the Summit of the Future,” the BIC statement says, “the international community faces both a profound opportunity and a vital imperative: the tremendous task of centering humanity’s interdependence at the heart of the global governance system.”

“This is a significant moment in humanity’s collective history, a moment when we are called to recognize that our present trajectory is no longer a viable path to the future,” said BIC Representative Daniel Perell. Mr. Perell has worked closely with various Member States, UN agencies, and civil society actors, ahead of this month’s Summit.

“We see it in the way we deliberate on international matters; the way we treat the earth; the way we define progress; the way we relate to one another — in nearly every facet of existence, we need new approaches and even a new understanding of how we conceive of progress,” Mr. Perell added.

The statement invites the arbiters of international affairs “to consider the implications of an alternative central organizing principle — the oneness of humankind.”

BIC Representative Liliane Nkunzimana, who has hosted a series of off-the-record conversations between civil society actors and Member State diplomats on peacebuilding, added that “there’s no shortage of proposals or recommendations for institutional reform. Each has potential benefits, but this moment calls for something more — a new set of underlying assumptions if we are to achieve lasting peace and harmony. Embracing Interdependence invites all of us on the international stage to consider new approaches that meet the true needs of our time.”

A shared conception of identity, a reconceptualization of the principle of justice, and new models of leadership are key elements of a framework explored by Embracing Interdependence that addresses the root causes of current challenges.

“Principles such as unity, justice, and integrity in leadership are often dismissed as unrealistic, even if they are cherished in rhetoric,” Ms. Nkunzimana said.

“But, as the statement highlights, there are communities around the world that are committed to these ideals, and they are generating significant experience about how these principles can be applied in their everyday lives, community settings, and institutional arrangements. I believe there is something we can learn on the international stage from these experiences.”

Mr. Perell added that “the Summit of the Future should not be treated as an isolated event — another conference resulting in another set of promises. Instead, it should be seen as an invitation to ongoing conversation and exploration. Ultimately, it could be a catalyst to set in motion something profound and enduring, something around which all of humanity can rally.”

In closing, the statement reads, “... the Baha’i International Community invites participants at the Summit of the Future, and the processes that follow, to join together in a profound, collective act of learning.”

“Rather than continue to hold on to outworn concepts and unworkable assumptions, leaders, together with the peoples of the world, must arise, and with resolute will, consult together in search of appropriate solutions.”

SOURCE: based on https://www.bic.org/news/embracing-interdependence-key-peace-and-prospe…

The statement is available on the IEF website at https://iefworld.org/bic_interdependence2024
The booklet can be downloaded at https://iefworld.org/fl/bic_interdependence2024.pdf

Leave No One Behind:
The Well-Being of the Planet and Its People

Leave No One Behind: The Well-Being of the Planet and Its People was the theme of the G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20) and PaRD (International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development) Annual Forum on Religion and Sustainable Development, held in Brasilia on 19-22 August 2024. Participating for the International Environment Forum were IEF President Arthur Dahl, who chairs the IF20 Working Group on Religion and Environment, and Monica Maghami, a new member of the working group.

The Forum Programme

The opening Plenary Towards an Equitable World of Promise and Opportunity featured Mary Robinson, Chair of the Elders and former President of Ireland, as keynote speaker. Another plenary on Holistic well-being in a World in Turmoil: Moving from a linear to cyclic worldview and developing alternative paradigms to measure development and prosperity featured indigenous and spiritual holistic world views. There was a plenary on Challenges of Sustainability and Peace: For People and Planet. A plenary on Leaving no one Behind: Care for the most vulnerable was moderated by Bani Dugal of the Bahá’í International Community (BIC).

Much of the forum was in concurrent sessions, on subjects such as religious freedom, food security, sacred sites, religious literacy, child dignity, poverty and inequality, displaced populations, climate finance, religious action on corruption, confronting racism, hate crimes and radicalization, Indigenous and community peacebuilding, environmental defense, the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative, human trafficking, protection of refugees, the future of work, global taxation reform, and AI in a faith context.

A session on disinformation and incitement to violence featured Nazila Ghanea, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Bani Dugal, Principal Representative to the United Nations, Baha’í International Community, spoke in a session on Women building peace and resilient communities. IEF member Monica Maghami, launched the discussion in a session on Women and the Environment.

Arthur Dahl spoke in a session on Lessons from Religious advocacy on environment: Laudato Si, Al Mizan. In his presentation, he showed that religious advocacy on environment has a long history, including in the Bahá’í community. Already in 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá warned of human activities upsetting the balance of nature in a lecture at Stanford University. In the 1930s-1950s the Bahá’í leadership supported reforestation in Palestine, Africa and elsewhere. Starting with the Bahá’í International Community representation at the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, where Arthur participated, the BIC has presented over 50 statements on environment and sustainability at UN conferences and other events. In 1995, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) hosted a Summit at Windsor Castle with religious leaders including the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Ruhiyyih Khanum the leading Bahá’í dignitary and many others, where all agreed that their teachings on nature and the environment were in harmony. Arthur presented issues to the meeting on behalf of the UN. In 2009, ARC and UNDP invited all the faiths to present action plans on climate change to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and Prince Philip at Windsor Castle. There is a Bahá’í-inspired professional scientific organization, the International Environment Forum, with members in over 90 countries, that maintains a website with relevant resources from many faith traditions, issues a monthly newsletter, and holds annual conferences, the next in association with the UN Summit of the Future in September 2024. The IEF published a summary and commentary on Laudado Si in 2015 https://iefworld.org/node/853 and of Al-Mizan in 2024 https://iefworld.org/Al-Mizan. With the accelerating climate crisis and widespread failures in implementation of global agreements, there is now a need to bring interfaith collaboration into the discussions on the fundamental transformation needed away from the materialistic consumer society and an economy concerned only with profit. The IEF is working with Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance (MEGA), the Climate Governance Commission, the Global Governance Forum, and many other partners, to introduce a spiritual dimension to motivate change. The G20 Interfaith Forum and its Religion and Environment Working Group have supported interfaith collaboration on climate change and the environment in the G20 process and with webinars, including Indigenous spiritualities.

The video recording of this session is now available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a54vheAEjuA&list=PLwjUtDUK8apf_lCY_8S2I…

A supporting IF20 Policy Brief on Faith Action in Response to Climate Change drafted by Arthur Dahl was posted in July on the IF20 website: https://www.g20interfaith.org/app/uploads/2020/09/IF20_climate_change_2…

It discusses the challenges, describes the global response thus far, emphasizes the justice dimension, shows the need for the reform of global governance, outlines religious responses, and makes recommendations:
1) religious institutions should set an example;
(2) there are opportunities for interfaith collaboration in information campaigns on climate awareness, collaborative projects, and the complementarity of science and religion;
(3) faith communities should cooperate with other organizations;
(4) holding governments and decision-makers accountable;
(5) be a powerful voice in supporting the transformation of businesses and the corporate sector towards social, environmental, and financial responsibility;
(6) work for community transformation at the local level to climate-friendly alternatives and more moderate lifestyles;
(7) emphasise the important roles that women play in climate action; and
(8) build awareness of the climate challenge among children and youth, overcoming climate anxiety and undertaking practical actions.

Representatives of the Brazilian Bahá’í office of external affairs were also present at the Forum.

Appeal to G20

A main purpose of the Forum was to launch recommendations for the G20 meeting taking place in Brazil in December. Here is the appeal and its recommendations.

The world’s religious communities, serving a large majority of the world’s population, contribute to the public good every day. They provide essential services in health and education, support the destitute, work to prevent conflicts and build peace, and offer hope and meaning to countless lives. Their insight, experience, and commitment to human rights and dignity can benefit policy processes at every level of governance, including the topics Brazil has identified as G20 priorities. Engaging with religious communities can improve policy development and enhance popular engagement with policy implementation.

• Brazil, long a witness to creative religious collaboration, is well positioned to incorporate this insight — that policy engagement with faith communities should be a priority — into the G20 process.

The central common focus of religious communities worldwide is action and advocacy for and with the most vulnerable, including those forcibly displaced and children. Actions include charitable support, compassionate service, and programs that enhance human and community capabilities — Brazil’s Pastoral da Criança is a prime example. Visions that can help bridge the divides that trouble the world underlie many religious approaches to human welfare and relationships with nature. In 2024, the G20 Interfaith Forum urges priority action on five areas:

• Food crises. Religious actors offer untapped potential to strengthen global, national, and local efforts to fight hunger and malnutrition. Assets include teaching and practical actions that address and link urgent hunger needs and their root causes. Faith actors can, for example, be leaders in reducing food waste, investing in local, smallholder farming practices, and supporting nutritional health.

• Environment. Finding workable and adequate solutions to climate and other environmental concerns are G20 priorities. The moral and practical voices of religious communities can help bring rainforest protection (vital to natural carbon sequestration) to scale, working with indigenous communities who live there. The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative exemplifies such approaches. Engagement with religious constituencies can also enhance public support for a fair and inclusive energy transition.

• Peacebuilding. Failures of trust across institutions and rising hate speech and incitement to violence call for urgent leadership responses. Programs and models like Indonesia’s Cross Cultural Religious Literacy Program and Arigatou International’s Ethics Education demonstrate how education reforms that include strategic religious engagement can help foster social harmony. Strong international leadership support is needed to help G20 members expand and learn from such promising programs. Strategies for dealing with Artificial Intelligence should include engagement of religious actors.

• Debt relief. The year 2000 Jubilee Movement calling for urgent action to address debt burdens of poorer countries harnessed the powerful ethical voice of religious communities united around this common cause. As we approach the 2025 Jubilee year and seek to address unsustainable debt burdens and rising demands for reforms of global governance, active and continuing involvement of religious communities in dialogue is essential.

• Human trafficking and modern slavery. Specific commitments by G20 leaders, supported by the G20 Interfaith Forum, to step up funding against human trafficking (labor, sex trafficking, organ trafficking and other forms) and modern slavery by 2030 would signal renewed commitment to truly “leave no one behind”. The G20 Interfaith Forum proposes to organize and lead a G20 Working Group in support of such a commitment.

The United Nations and G20 calls to “leave no one behind” and achieve the sustainable development goals are seen by too many as empty slogans. The G20 Communique should therefore include specific actions and commitments to priority humanitarian needs (especially for those forcibly displaced) and to address poverty. The G20 Interfaith Forum is committed to fostering continuing and active engagement between policymakers and the G20 interfaith community to assure that those who are excluded and left behind are lifted up with care and compassion.

Policy Briefs with expanded analysis and action recommendations related to these five focus areas and other important tissues are available at https://www.g20interfaith.org/if20-policy-briefs/, along with the supporting policy brief on Faith Action in Response to Climate Change.

The IEF has endorsed the Nature Positive Initiative to protect biodiversity.

Nature Positive is a global societal goal defined as ‘Halt and Reverse Nature Loss by 2030 on a 2020 baseline, and achieve full recovery by 2050’. To put this more simply, it means ensuring more nature in the world in 2030 than in 2020 and continued recovery after that.

Delivering the Nature Positive goal requires measurable net-positive biodiversity outcomes through the improvement in the abundance, diversity, integrity and resilience of species, ecosystems and natural processes. The Nature Positive goal is designed to drive society to deliver a measurable absolute improvement in the state of nature against a defined baseline, which will in turn improve nature’s ability to contribute to human wellbeing.

How can Nature Positive be measured?

Three key categories of metrics have been developed by which to measure nature-positive contributions and outcomes. They are retaining and restoring 1) species, 2) ecosystems, and 3) natural processes at all scales (global, national and landscape level). Examples of these metrics include richness, distribution, abundance and extinction risk of species, extent and ecological integrity of habitat, hydrological integrity, migration patterns, and carbon sequestration and storage. Further guidance on measuring the Nature Positive goal is in preparation by the Nature Positive Initiative.

Central to the definition of Nature Positive is that we ‘protect what is left and improve the rest’. While some losses will be unavoidable, we do need to secure the most significant areas for biodiversity, and to limit and compensate for other losses according to the mitigation and conservation hierarchy approach. Concern has been raised regarding the use of ‘net’ principle. Some safeguarding principles for net-positive (net- gain) outcomes have already been developed and will be soon further discussed and refined by the Nature Positive Initiative.

Why and how was Nature Positive developed?

The evidence has never been clearer. The impacts of climate change and an unfolding biodiversity crisis on humanity are profound and will not be felt equally. Humanity cannot thrive in the decades to come while we are surpassing planetary boundaries.

Since December 2019, a group of CEOs from Environmental Organizations, Sustainable Business Platforms and Research Institutions have been convening to identify and advocate for an ambitious, science-based and measurable global goal for nature, and for this goal to be adopted internationally. The lack of a clear and measurable goal for addressing the nature loss crisis was a major obstacle to aligning on ambition, driving action and increasing accountability. The group recognized the need for an overarching goal that could have the same impact as and which would mutually reinforce both the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5 degrees (and the net zero emissions pathway to it) and the equity-oriented Sustainable Development Goals. This includes recognition that neither of those other vital global agendas can be met without also halting and reversing nature loss by 2030. Nature Positive is by default therefore also People Positive, since a healthy environment is only possible to achieve through social inclusion and equity, while providing social benefits for all people.

In December 2022, the UN CBD COP 15 adopted a Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) whose mission is to ‘halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030’, and by 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and widely used, maintaining ecosystems services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people’, which is consistent with the Nature Positive goal.

Applying the Nature Positive goal

Nature positive is a global and societal goal. Individual entities, geographies and countries can and must demonstrate their sufficient contribution to a global nature-positive outcome. In operationalizing Nature Positive, tackling drivers and the negative and positive impacts is central.

Companies and financial institutions can contribute to the Nature Positive goal by taking these high-level actions: Assess their material impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities; shift their business strategy and models; commit to science-based targets for nature; report their nature-related issues to investors and other stakeholders; transform by avoiding and reducing negative impacts, restoring, and regenerating nature; collaborate across land, seascapes and river basins; and advocate to governments for policy ambition.

For national and local governments, ensuring nature-positive outcomes by 2030 requires the adoption and implementation of holistic plans across scales, supported by enabling regulations.

Driving alignment and developing further guidance

Nature Positive creates an opportunity for all stakeholders - governments, businesses, Indigenous Peoples, science, civil society - to work creatively and collaboratively to halt and reverse nature loss.

More clarity is needed for different kinds of market participants to ensure all are contributing proportionately to securing a nature-positive world. The Nature Positive Initiative has therefore been launched with an initial diverse group of founding organizations who aim to drive alignment around the definition, integrity and use of the term ‘nature positive’, to develop the necessary guidance, and to catalyze a broader and more diverse community committed to the longer-term effort of delivering a nature-positive future.

For more information see https://www.naturepositive.org

Artist Call: One Shared Earth–In Harmony with Life

“One of the most pressing problems of humanity in the current century is how a growing, rapidly developing, and not yet united global population can, in a just manner, live in harmony with the planet and its finite resources.” —The Universal House of Justice, 29 November 2017 

Artists and creators of all kinds have a special role to awaken people, to envision these truths and inspire a deeper contemplation and empathy that can result in transformative action. Artistic expression can help us expand our appreciation for the wonder and majesty of the natural world and our place in it. 

“The natural world, in all its wonder and majesty, offers profound insight into the essence of interdependence. From the biosphere as a whole to the smallest microorganism, it demonstrates how dependent any one life-form is on numerous others—and how imbalances in one system reverberate across an interconnected whole.” —Bahá’í International Community, One Planet, One Habitation, §1 

We invite you to use your artistic expression, whether in painting, photography, sculpture, poetry, music, performance and other forms – to explore these questions and spark meaningful conversations: 

• How have you experienced the changes that the Earth is going through? 
• What does it mean to be “organic with the world” and the world is organic with us? 
• How can we awaken to the truth of our underlying unity with all of life? 
• Why is the oneness of humanity the core ingredient to achieving a just and sustainable planet? 
• How do you envision a future where we live in harmony with each other and the living Earth? 

Learn more: https://www.greenacre.org/event/artist-call-one-shared-earth-in-harmony…

The Tipping Points of Climate Change and Where We Stand

We are nearly halfway through the 2020s, dubbed the most decisive decade for action on climate change. Where exactly do things stand? The climate crisis is accelerating in a way that makes climate scientists very nervous. Climate impact scholar Johan Rockström offers the most up-to-date scientific assessment of the state of the planet and explains what must be done to preserve Earth's resilience to human pressure. At the end of the talk, Rockstrom describes the difficult but not impossible path to a very different and much nicer future for us all. 

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl6VhCAeEfQ text