Question:
What is your faith’s position on the environment?
Answer: Love of nature,
the environment, and sustainable development are linked and grounded in
the principles and sacred writings of the Bahá’í Faith. I
mention the religion’s key teaching: oneness in all its forms. Humans
are contiguous and interdependent with the environment in a global “web
of life.” The earth is a sacred trust, the marvellous handiwork of the
Creator, requiring careful, responsible stewardship, not mad,
self-destructive exploitation.
The Bahá’í world community, with approximately 6 million members, has a
respectable record on environmental projects. Back in 1992, our office
at the UN, the Bahá’í International Community, which has
consultative status, prepared a statement for the proposed UN “Earth
Charter” for its Conference on Environment and Development. In that
document, the Bahá’ís outlined the process for achieving universally
acceptable standards:
“It is our conviction that any call to global action for environment
and development must be rooted in universally accepted values and
principles. Similarly, the search for solutions to the world’s grave
environmental and developmental problems must go beyond
technical-utilitarian proposals and address the underlying causes of
the crisis. Genuine solutions, in the Bahá’í view, will require a
globally accepted vision for the future, based on unity and willing
cooperation among the nations, races, creeds, and classes of the human
family.”
The work is ongoing. Here are just a few of many small-scale, global
environmental projects: The Bahá’í Vocational Institute for Rural
Women, located in India and the Clean and Beautiful Swaziland campaign
founded by Dr.Irma Allen. Both received Global 500 Awards from the
United Nations Environment Program; an organic farming project by the
Bahá’í community of Japan teaches how to grow food without artificial
fertilizers or pesticides; in rural Kenya, a Bahá’í-sponsored
development project encourages and empowers village women to develop
their own entrepreneurial weaving businesses.
In Winnipeg (24 June 2010), Bahá’ís were part of an international
interfaith delegation that challenged world leaders to take action on
the environment through a statement issued just before the G8 and G20
summits held in Toronto. Suzanne Tamas, representative of the Canadian
Bahá’í Office of External Affairs, urged politicians to make reflective
decisions for the long-term, and the common good, rather than for
short-term national interests. -
Jack
McLean
