REPORT of the

Interfaith Conclave

on

Challenges of Climate Change:

Interfaith Approach, Mussoorie

11-12 April 2008

Organized by

Interfaith Coalition for Peace, New Delhi

in collaboration with

Woodstock International School, Mussoorie

        List of Participants

A two day Interfaith Conclave of various faiths was held at Hanifl Centre, Mussoorie  on 11 and 12 April 2008 in collaboration with Woodstock International School, Mussoorie.

Objective of the Conclave

Help people of faith become informed on the causes and consequences of global warming Equip people of faith to help our communities understand the negative impact on the web of life from behaviors and lifestyles that contribute to climate change Encourage faith communities and religious organizations to take action by using less energy and purchasing clean, renewable energy and energy efficient technologies

The conclave began with words of welcome by Rev. Fr. Packiam Samuel, Secretary, ICP and Mrs. Kaye Vogel Aoki, Principal, Woodstock School, Mussoorie and introduction of the participants and their conviction on climate crisis, followed by a video on Climate Change called  “An inconvenient Truth”.  The film set the message, clear and convincing, about the purpose of the Conclave.

Dr. Syed Zafar Mahmood, President ICP in his inaugural address paid gratitude to the Woodstock School for collaborating with ICP in organizing the Conclave.  He said that people at ICP are rational believers in God as they have read religious scriptures and researched on issues related to it and therefore say everything with firm belief and conviction.

He also stressed that, our primary concern is to protect the value of life, which is a manifestation of God's creative process on Earth.  Moral and religious principles of justice are involved because human destructiveness is threatening God's creatures, both human and non-human. We are concerned that global warming will lead to greater weather extremes, the inundation of low-lying land by rising seas, destruction of habitat, increased disease, and extinction of species. The industrialized nations are primarily responsible for the huge increase of greenhouse gases. Yet burdens caused by floods and droughts fall disproportionately upon the most vulnerable of our planet's people: the poor, sick, elderly, and those who will face still greater threats in future generations. Increasing weather extremes would threaten the homes, safety, and agricultural livelihood of those living on islands and low-lying coasts. Dr. Mahmood profusely quoted from various religious scriptures and traditions.  That pronounces Man’s position as God’s vicegerent on earth and his/her consequent responsibility for earth’s protection for good us by its inhabitants.  He reminded the audience that God has clarified through the scriptures that seas, mountains, earth, planets, satellites, atmosphere, skies, stars – everything has been made subservient to the human beings who are supposed to coordinate and optimize their mutual interplay for the larger benefit of the living beings.  The interfaith community has a vital role to play in this regard aspiring to achieve the cultivation of the great tradition of letting the larger purpose hold sway over parochial considerations.

Dr. Zafar Mahmood reiterated his well known theses that, for this purpose, the individual will have to earmark and devote one third of his/her time, assets, money, resources and love for the benefit of somebody beyond his/her immediate family.

The Panelist included the following eminent religious leaders, scholars and activists:

1. Dr. Deepali Bhanot ( Hindism)

2. Fr. Shaju Kalathingal SJ (Catholic)

3. Mufti Fazailur-Rahman Hilal Usmani (Islam)

4. Sardar Nirmal Singh (Sikhism)

5. Dr. Satish Gyan (Protestant)

6. Mr. Masroor Bhargawa (Bahai)

7. Ven. Khonchung Bandop (Buddism)

8. Mr. B.K. Ramesh (Brahmakumaris)

In the afternoon session the participants were divided into four groups to work on the following topics:

Impact of Global Climate Changes

Change in Temperature – Rise in temperature has led to following changes:-       a)       Melting of glaciers       b)       Fire in forests       c)       Drought

d)       Different types of diseases unheard of before like Chikungunea, dengue, bird flu etc.

2. Unusual rainfall – We are experiencing irregularity in rainfall since the past few years.  Rainfall is heavy in certain areas and sparse in others.  Kerala has experienced acid rain at least once in a year since the past two or three years.  As a result of this acidity in the soil may increase which will harm the plants.
    

3. Low elevation in coastal areas:- Coastline is lowering and sea level is rising.  Scientists are warning that some islands in the coastal areas may go under water.
    

4. Scarcity of natural resources:-

    Water – Scarcity of fresh pure water will lead to conflict and war.  It will also affect agriculture, endanger many water animals and cause water borne diseases.

b)   Forest – Deforestation will increase carbon-di-oxide in atmosphere.

c)   Animals – Many species of plants and animals may become extinct.

d)   Air – Breathing fresh air is becoming difficult.  Ozone layer is decreasing leading to diseases in plants and animals and skin diseases.

e)   Soil – Fertility of soil is also decreasing

 Need to Work with Media

Media should be interlinked with all religion. Spoken about the three media – Print, Mass Media, Electronic media. Media should emphasis or lay stress on Moral values without taking any particular religion.  Talking about moral values in general. Meeting with the organization and managers of different channels like NDTV, India Today etc. and give them projects – e.g. On climate changes getting data and making environmental movies.

5. Now-a-day every news channel has Breaking News – e.g. related to – Aishwarya and Abishek Bachan wedding.  Instead of this we can have environmental issues or Burning Issues as Breaking News.  So that common man will be targeted.  If not 100 people are influenced at least 80 people will be influenced.

6. On T.V. Religious Channel – Astha, God Channel etc. request them to promote them to talk about environmental issues relating it to religion.

7. In place of worship – Like in Church, Mosque, Temples etc. have talk on ethical problems.  e.g. cleanliness in next to Godliness. e.g. In Punjab/ And in India  - Muslim 7.8 crores – will be effected.

8. Contacting model and sports stars to propagate environmental issues so that youth of today will be interested.

9. Internet – Home chain better – Internet group will collect data from different environmental resources and pass it to different people.

10. Print Media – To write in columns on spiritual tree.

11. In school – student make pamphlets and distributing it to the parent during P.T. Meeting.

Carrying the Politicians along

-          Create awareness within the politicians      -  At the time of election, we should offer them an agenda, and impose the need for changing that specific area to be more environmental –friendly.      -  Plantation should be done.  Government should utilize the resources present to plant trees in as many areas as possible.  After they agree, we should follow-up, seeing to it that the plants are taken care of.  This is our responsibility.

     -   Backup & monitoring of the agenda presented to the government.

     -   Campaigns should take place and the common man should see to it that the message goes across to the politicians.  It has to begin with us, within us, and its our duty.

     -   Government should see to it that there are employment schemes present within urban as well as rural areas so that there is no migration/ people not travel – pollution.

     -   Socrates once said, ‘Man by nature is a political animal’.  Hence it is our duty more than anything else to make a change.

     -   Politicians should realize that in the end, their action will help them and the whole nation.

Our group is very optimistic that there will be definite change in our attitudes and thereby taking up the challenges of climatic change and making our world, a beauteous place to live in.

Joining hands with Municipal Program

Mussoorie, a small hill town, experiences as influx of a large number of tourists, who purchase snacks and drinks.  As there are no bins for disposal, and no systematic infrastructure for collecting trash, itter is discarded down the hillsides. Dehradun, which was made the provincial capital of Uttaranchal seven years ago, has experienced a subsequent large growth in population and a large impact on the environment of the town, including the cutting down of 15,000 trees in the past seven years.  Trash and littering also because a pressing issue.
Mumbai, a large city with a rapidly growing population, has been found to be the 7th dirtiest city in the world.  Despite a large budget and many attempts to improve conditions, the Clean Mumbai program was a failure.  Though many campaigns were well-meant, and a response to real problems, programs were often incomplete.  Spitting was banned, but no spittoons provided.  Littering was banned, but no rubbish bins placed in public areas. Simply instituting fines was ineffective.  Laws alone do not effect change without the necessary supporting infrastructure – collection bins and a program of emptying them and removing rubbish and recyclable material. On how to work most effectively with municipal authorities and programmes, the discussion converged as follows:-
	a) Know which municipal officials to contact, find the responsible official with the power to take action. b) Find out what programs are already in place, and work within existing programs. c) Find out what the problems of the community we, so they can be brought to the attention of officials.

Drawing on our personal experiences, discussed some of the problems that can be encountered in the implementation of programmes.  To summarize some common problems.

1) New trees were planted in Dehradun, with protective fences, sponsored by local businesses.  However, no provision was made for watering the trees, so they died. 

2) If the population is not informed about a program, such as how to separate organic (wet) garbage from recyclable (dry) garbage, this separation will not occur and the program will fail.

3) If spitting is banned, spittoons should be provided.  If littering is banned, garbage bins must be provided.

4) In India, lingering effects of the caste system, or in other cultures, a perceived class issue of garbage collection as a low –status job can hinder programmes to collect trash.  One participant cited his own experience of neighbors in a new settlement.  Trash was strewn about the neighborhood, with residents throwing garbage in empty lots or neighbor’s yards in secret, when they felt they were not observed.  Our informant chose to lead by example, taking a bag of garbage to the large bin 150 meters down the road every evening, in full view of the neighbors.  He and his wife made a daily walk and were joined by others.  Eventually, the neighbors arranged to share the expense of hiring someone to collect the garbage – and they take pride in their clean neighborhood.  Caste-related inhibition about handling garbage had to be overcome, but this was a success in the end.

The point was made in several ways that finger –pointing is not the answer.  The residents of Mussoorie can blame the tourists for consuming snacks, but must themselves act to change the infrastructure.  The residents of high rise buildings in Mumbai may blame trash on the slum dwellers, but this myth can be exposed when the habits of each are studied – The slum dwellers, with some resources, recycle and reuse containers which more affluent residents can afford to discard.

Community organization outside the political party system is vital.  Interfaith and grassroots movements can show the municipal authorities that citizens – voters – care about an issue enough to devote their own time and effort to it.  Activities bring like-minded individuals together, and a simple program can grow and provide as example for others, as well as being a foundation for other successful initiatives.

Interfaith Spiritual Mandate

The presentation from different faith communities emphasised the followings:

·         The case for action on climate change is a moral as well as a practical one: challenging the world's rich and powerful nations to act with justice towards future generations and to the world's poorest.

·         That a purely acquisitive approach to the physical world goes against religious and ethical principles: "The more we see the created order simply in relation to our own wants, our own needs, let alone our own greed and acquisitiveness, the further away we are from God."

·         Justice, needed to be done across the generations: "... it's possible for us to act unjustly in relation to future generations; to privilege our own interests and concerns over those of our children and grandchildren. The crisis that is threatened by climate change at the moment is a crisis of that kind. We are being shown, more clearly perhaps than we could have imagined ten or twenty years ago, we are being shown how easy it is to be unjust, unfair to our children and grandchildren."

·         The fact that measures to combat climate change impacted primarily on poorer societies also raised questions of global economic justice: "The biggest challenge that faces us in terms of global policy at the moment is how we are to find ways of reducing and controlling climate change without eating into the economic aspirations, the proper aspirations of our poorest societies towards prosperity, respect and dignity."

·         The presenters also said that changing this would involve real sacrifice; "...because this will mean real challenges to developed and prosperous societies; real challenges to let go of some of their security and some of their prosperity, we should be under no illusion that this will be an easy task. We have to persuade people, and of course we have to persuade ourselves, that sacrifice is necessary and important and, at the end of the day, life-giving.  Our scriptures remind us that we do have choices, that we can make a difference."

Mussoorie Declaration on Climate Change

We, members of the Inter-faith community in India, express our concern for the proper stewardship of God's creation. It is from our faith perspective that we approach environmental and justice issues. We express our concern that human irresponsibility is contributing to accelerating global climate change, producing negative impact on ecological balance. Our primary concern is to protect the value of life, which is a manifestation of God's creative process on Earth.

We appreciate the growing effort of religious, scientific, business, and governmental leaders around the world to address the threat of accelerating global climate change. As scientists develop measurement models for the human impact on climate, there is mounting evidence of a threat to life. We recognize that scientists have not yet fully separated the climate system's natural random variability from human-generated variability. Yet there is significant scientific consensus that human-generated greenhouse gases are impacting global climate change. We also know that human ability to generate additional greenhouse gases is greater than the Earth's spontaneous capacity to reverse our actions. This makes any delay on our part increasingly irresponsible and problematic. The threat of accelerating global warming has been sufficiently documented to require action as an ethical responsibility. It would be imprudent to do nothing in the face of this grave threat to God's creation, our well-being, and that of our descendants. Moral and religious principles of justice need to be involved more intensely because human destructiveness is threatening God's creatures, both human and non-human. We are concerned that global warming will lead to greater weather extremes, the inundation of low-lying land by rising seas, destruction of habitat, increased disease, and extinction of species. The industrialized nations are primarily responsible for the huge increase of greenhouse gases. Yet burdens caused by floods and droughts fall disproportionately upon the most vulnerable of our planet's people: the poor, sick, elderly, and those who will face still greater threats in future generations. Increasing weather extremes are bigger threats to the homes, safety, and agricultural livelihood of those living on islands and low-lying coasts.

Most religious traditions proclaim the need to seek justice and to care for creation:

·         "The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." (Psalm 24:1)

·         "Justice, and only justice, you shall follow..." (Deuteronomy 16:20)

·         "You shall love your neighbor as yourself..." (Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 22:39)

·         "...I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not welcome me; naked and you did not clothe me ... as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me." (Matthew 25:42-45)

·         "...do no mischief on the earth after it has been set in order; that will be best for you if you have faith." (Quran 7:85)

·         "Great Spirit, fill us with the Light. Give us the strength to understand and the eyes to see. Teach us to walk the soft Earth as relatives to all that live." (Anonymous)

As people of faith whom God calls to be stewards of creation, we are eager to join the effort in for a climate change campaign. That effort will work to protect creation and bring pressure against the causes of the human impact on climate change. We affirm a grave responsibility to protect the well-being of our descendants. We call on the interfaith community to use its voice and actions to under gird the scientific consensus with a moral consensus.

In the Hebrew account of Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph called on the Pharaoh to use seven years of plenty to prepare for seven years of drought. This was later affirmed by God in the Quran.  Likewise we are now called to take responsible precautionary action to limit global warming and to promote justice for those affected by global climate changes. We believe that people of faith can help bring about effective policies that protect God's creation and promote justice for all people.

As people of faith seeking to be true to our understanding of God's intentions for creation, we affirm our concern for environmental issues and human justice issues. We resolve to "choose life so that our descendants may live."  We call on people of faith to provide prophetic and committed leadership on the issue of global climate change.

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