Online Reporter
Flora TeckieBahá’í Perspective
International Mother Earth Day, on 22 April, was a call for action to protect mother earth, and for a more appropriate and equitable use of our natural resources.
We live in a planet with serious environmental challenges: climate change, deforestation, soil erosion, plastic pollution, and water shortages. There is need for serious and urgent commitment towards the responsible use and distribution of earth’s resources.
It has become clear that focussing mainly on the material aspects of environmental challenges, without looking into their moral and ethical dimensions, is counterproductive to humanity’s long-term well-being.
It is the Bahá’í view that, a global action for conservation of earth’s resources must be rooted in spiritual values and principles, in addition to technical and economic considerations. There is need for justice in utilizing the earth’s resources. Observing justice implies moving from the self-interest that dominates our world today, to a mode of sharing and caring for our natural resources.
The Bahá’í International Community states: “Setting humanity on a more sustainable path to the future involves transformation in attitudes and actions… Identifying the spiritual principles at the root of ecological challenges can also be key in formulating effective action… The principle of the oneness of humankind highlights the powerful connections found between raising the well-being of people and reversing environmental degradation… The principle of the oneness of humankind has implications for relationships at all levels”.
The Bahá’í International Community further states that “Only a comprehensive vision of a global society, supported by universal values and principles, can inspire individuals to take responsibility for the long-term care and protection of the natural environment”.
A global action for conservation of earth’s resources will require a commitment to a higher moral standard, and the development of consultative skills for the effective functioning of society at all levels.
Need to create systems that foster cooperation Resources must be directed away from those activities and programmes that are damaging to both the social and natural environment, and efforts bent towards the creation of systems that foster cooperation.
There is need for a globally accepted vision for the future, based on unity and willing cooperation among the nations, races, creeds, and classes of everyone. Wise care of the environment will depend on the unity of humanity.
The need for international cooperation to protect the environment cannot be over-emphasized. The local, national and the international communities are very much linked through the environment.
An ethic of respect, care, and justice towards the mother earth We, as human beings, are the custodians of the earth and have the obligation to ensure that nature is respected and protected as part of a divine trust for which we are ultimately answerable.
More than 100 years ago, Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í faith, wrote: “Nature in its essence is the embodiment of (God’s) Name, the Maker, the Creator … Nature is God’s Will and is its expression in and through the contingent world”.
Rather than asking how to exploit the earth’s resources without due regard to its environment, we should be asking how to live with an ethic of respect, care and justice towards all life and nature.
Furthermore, it is now clear that the relationships that link people to one another have a direct impact on the physical resources of our planet. There is a close relation, for example, between inequality and environmental degradation. The systems and practices that have resulted in large segments of society facing poverty, have similarly impoverished the natural environment. For example, the destructive impacts of climate change are aggravated by the extremes of wealth and poverty.
According to the Bahá’í International Community “a more balanced attitude toward the environment must therefore address human conditions as consciously as it does natural ones. It must be embodied in social norms and patterns of action characterised by justice and equity. On this foundation can be built an evolving vision of our common future together” and “Wealth needs to be acquired and expended by nations in a way that enables all the people of the world to prosper. Structures and systems that permit a few to have inordinate riches while the masses remain impoverished must be replaced by arrangements that foster the generation of wealth in a way that promotes justice”.
Genuine solutions to protect the earth, therefore, will require commitment to higher moral standards and a vision for the future, based on unity, social justice, and cooperation among the people of all nations, in addition to technical and economic considerations.
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