7.4: Engaging Religions- Toward Economic and Ecological Flourishing

Despite the problems with religion, there is great promise in a partnership between religion and science around climate change. This is vital because we need to encourage a new sense of progress, one that is concerned not just with economic growth, but with the genuine flourishing of the Earth community. The world’s religions may offer some ethical norms for enhancing this larger flourishing of life. For example, this is the work of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which urges businesses toward social and environmentally responsible investment and models this in the investment portfolios of religious congregations. To approach investing this way, shareholders have to consider the long term and future generations—that is, broader interests beyond weekly stock market indices and quarterly financial reports.

Such ways of thinking involve enhancing the quality of life, not the quantity of material possessions. In this framework, economic progress should be measured not by a nation’s gross national product (GNP), but rather by gross national happiness (GNH) indicators such as those the government of Bhutan has developed. Based on Buddhist principles of right livelihood and well-being, GNH is part of the Bhutanese constitution and is implemented by a GNH Commission (Figure 7.4.1). Religions can assist in such endeavors, as they are well equipped to point toward more lasting values and sources of deeper happiness. They understand the efficacy of long-term thinking and have been attending to this for centuries. Religious communities are active in the fossil fuel divestment movement, and some, such as the United Church of Christ, have led the way. Union Theological Seminary in New York, the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, and the Jesuit-based Seattle University have all divested from fossil fuels.

Figure 7.4.1 The Paro Taktsang, or Tiger’s Nest, a Buddhist monastery built in 1692 on a sheer cliff at an elevation of 10,000 feet, expresses the spiritual values to which Bhutan’s gross national happiness (GNH) measures also attest. Photograph by Baron Reznik via Flickr.

Figure 7.4.2 Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca, Morocco, is part of the country’s effort to green its mosques. Reproduced from Milamber via Flickr.

Many religious communities are concerned about the long-term common good and the ecological flourishing of the Earth community—land, water, air, soil, and all species, human and more-than-human. They aim to uphold the wonder, beauty, and complexity of nature for present and future generations. This sense of wonder is shared by religion and science and can help reorient our lives by grounding us in gratitude. Life is an extraordinary unfolding process of which we are a small but indispensable part.

Our essential ethical question, then, is What does the ecological flourishing of the Earth community require in the face of climate change? World religions need to develop a moral framework for responding to climate change that allows for common but differentiated responsibilities. The developed world has different responsibilities from the developing world, and yet we must all work together to create the basis for a shared and vibrant future.

I am suggesting that ethical responses to environmental issues such as climate change involve reimagining human-Earth relations on a scale that is locally differentiated, culturally sensitive, ethically grounded, and globally attuned. An awareness of place-based local concerns is indispensable, as is sensitivity to particular cultures and religions. From this basis an ethics can emerge that is grounded in place and culture, but also globally aware.

Box 7.4.1  Greening Mosques

Morocco has undertaken a project to green its 15,000 mosques, starting with 600 by 2019 (Figure 7.4.2). Through a partnership with Germany’s international development agency, GIZ, the Moroccan government aims to make mosques and other buildings more energy efficient and increase their use of renewable energy, particularly solar power. The project’s other key goals include raising public awareness about renewable energy, creating new jobs, and training people to fill such jobs.