Waste and Faith
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every[one]'s needs,
but not every[one]'s greed” Mahatma Gandhi
Something I have
learned recently is that approaching environmentalism through intersectionality
can have a much bigger impact than approaching it individually. Faith, for
example, is an excellent vehicle to teach values of conservation. In most
religions, guidelines for interactions with the natural world are passed on
from generation to generation through religious text and word. In this post I
will explore several religions’ views on environmentalism.
JUDAISM
“See to it that you do
not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to
repair it” Midrash Kohelet Rabbah
Last summer I read a book about one man’s attempt to make zero impact on the
environment for a year. That man – Colin Beavan – gives up buying anything new,
makes zero trash, and even experiments with living without electricity. But
before he begins any of this, he seeks to find within humanity a unifying purpose
to maintain the earth we live on.
Early in No Impact
Man, Beavan meets a Rabbi named Steven Greenberg tells him of religious prohibitions of wastefulness. Steven
says, "as part of the law that must be obeyed in order to live in the
Promised Land, Moses said that ‘you must not destroy’ fruit-bearing trees
during war" [1]. In the, Moses continues with, “Are the trees
of the field human, that you should besiege them?” [2]. A casualty
of nature is a casualty all the same. This message is not alone in the Qur’an; lessons
against waste are sprinkled throughout the text. Though this passage is rarely
taken literally today, it has a timeless message: even at our ugliest, when we
destroy our own kind, we must not be so reckless as to destroy the earth as
well.
CHRISTIANITY
“We cannot say we love the land and
then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations” Pope John Paul II
Pope Francis is the
most prominent environmentalist leader in the Western world. He has been a
strong advocate for action on climate change and environmental issues. Of his most significant
contributions is Laudato si, a 192-page Encyclical
letter about climate change (a copy of which he gave to Donald Trump last year) in which he argues that a
restructuring of society though economic and social change is necessary for a
permanent reduction in the destruction of the environment.
Though the encyclical
is addressed to Bishops of the Catholic Church, it was written for the world. In
it, Pope Francis calls for “a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future
of our planet […] a conversation which includes everyone, since the
environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect
us all” [3]. And he has taken it upon himself to engage people around
unsustainable economic and political structures. In a 2015 speech he criticized
the “magical conception” of the free market, which “[suggests] that
problems can be solved simply by an increase in the profits of companies or
individuals." [4]
In addition to
calling for large-scale economic and social change, Pope Francis empowers individuals. He says “Individually, we are called
to ‘ecological conversion’ in our daily lives. We should not think that our
efforts – even our small gestures – don’t matter.” [5] Pope Francis’
ability to inspire people of all backgrounds – not just those of the Catholic
Church – is what sets him apart from other environmental leaders and gives him
the power to initiate large-scale changes.
“All of us can cooperate as instruments
of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture,
experience, involvements and talents” – Pope Francis
BUDDHISM
“Earth provides enough
to satisfy every[one]'s needs, but not every[one]'s greed” Mahatma Gandhi
Environmentalism is deeply rooted
in Buddhism, often through symbolism of trees. Buddha
“was also born at the foot of a tree. He attained enlightenment under a tree,
and finally passed away under a tree” [6]. This circular idea of
life perpetuates Buddhist ideology, so each person is seen as “a solid and
lasting self rather than a short-term bundle of thoughts, feelings and impulses”
[7]. Seeing oneself as a longer-lasting entity means valuing the future
beyond death. And because sustainability requires foresight, this is exactly
the kind of thinking that creates long-term solutions to environmental
problems.
Buddhist principles of
sustainability seem to work in practice, too. In Thailand, after the economic
crisis of the 1990’s, "The King of Thailand revived the traditional
concept of the Sufficiency Economy, built on Buddhist principles, and provided
a much-needed frame of reference to help countless microenterprises in rural villages
survive the economic shocks of the recession and build a sustainable future in
its aftermath." Though a complete restructuring of the economy is a
monumental task, it is both feasible and successful in certain situations.
At the center
of modern Buddhist environmentalism is the 14th Dalai Lama. Like Pope Francis,
he focuses on people’s interactions with the environment. In 2009, he took part
in a series of discussions on ecology, ethics, and interdependence. Scientists,
scholars, monks, and nuns from around the world gave presentations on climate
change, each bringing insight from their specialization. The meeting was of
monumental importance: it united two groups which are thought to contradict -
at least in the West - around a single global issue. The Dalai
Lama's presence alone was enough to draw international attention. Events like
these are what push public and political opinion to be environmentally-minded.
“Because we
all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with
each other and with nature. This is not just a dream, but a necessity” The
Dalai Lama
INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
Story of Menominee
Relationship to Wild Rice
The Menomini came into
possession of wild rice at the very inception of their tribal organization.
Mi’nibush created the bear [and then made the bear into an Indian]. He called
the Indian “Shekatcheke’nau.” … Then taking the Indian to the river he showed
it to him and gave it into his hands, with all its fish, its great beds of wild
rice, and many sugar trees along its banks. He said, “I give these things to
you, and you shall always have them— the river, the fish, the wild rice, and
the sugar trees.” When Weskineu the Thunderer came from Lake Winnebago to the
Menominee River, the Bear clan turned everything, including the river and the
wild rice, over to the Thunderer. But the Thunderer always brought rain and
storms, so the rice harvest was ruined. Weskineu then returned the rice to [the
bear clan]. So, after that when rice harvest came Shekatcheke’nau called all
his people together, and they made a feast, and smoked, and asked the Great
Spirit to give them fair weather during the harvest. Since then there has
always been a fine, stormless harvest season.
Tribal stories served not only to entertain, but also to teach morals. The
story of the Menominee above emphasizes how responsible human intervention can
actually benefit an ecosystem while providing sustenance for people. When the
river, rice, and fish were turned over to the Thunderer - that is, taken out of
human hands - the ecosystem suffered and there was no rice to harvest. But once
the rice was returned to humans, it flourished.
This is rare message in modern society – the message instead is that humans are
destroying the earth. This is because today humans are dependent on
unsustainable systems, while indigenous people were dependent on sustainable
ones. They saw themselves as caretakers of the environment, who both give and
take to maintain balance.
The way in which American Indians interacted with the environment was dominated
by Colonialism in the fourteenth century. The resources they relied on were
taken, and most were eventually forced to adopt the unsustainable lifestyle of
colonialists. In a collaborative piece with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, researcher Stuart Harris writes, "The European dream of conquering the wilderness,
manicuring the forests, improving on nature, making the world look like
England, and fulfilling the American dream of material possessions and white
picket fences must be realigned. We must look at infrastructure within a larger
context of long-term interwoven multi-species survival" [8]. The
European dream has spread globally, and rekindling sustainable ideologies will
take time and effort.
ISLAM
“But waste
not by excess: for Allah loveth not the wasters” (Quran
6:141)
Islam has a strong
environmental framework that not only dictates how Muslims should interact with
the earth, but also gives the moral justifications behind those rules.
The Prophet Muhammad was a great leader in the implementation of Allah's words
on environmentalism. There is a principle of Islamic teaching that says men are
guardians of the land and hold the responsibility of passing down their
property to the next generation in as pure a form as they inherited it. The
Prophet made this achievable by creating zones known as Haram and Hima where
resources were to be preserved, much like national parks today. Haram areas
were placed around water sources to protect groundwater from pollution, and
Hima areas were placed around wildlife and forestry to protect certain species,
such as camels.
The Qur’an has many [lines] on the environment, but here are some that focus
specifically on waste: “Eat and drink, but waste not by excess; 'He' loves not
the excessive” (Al-A’raf 7:31); “And do not follow the bidding of the
excessive, who cause corruption in the earth and do not work good” (Ash-Shu’ara
26: 151-152); “But waste not by excess: for Allah loveth not the wasters”
(Quran 6:141) [9].
One
interpretation of the Qur’an that resonated with me as I was researching is
that the "utilization of natural resources (ni‘matullah – the gifts of Allah) is a sacred trust invested
in mankind; he is a mere manager and not an owner, a beneficiary
and not a disposer" [9]. Some see the earth as a gift from God
to humans, making consumers of earth's resources with no regard to their
end. Islam's teachings instead put humans in a managerial position where they
are responsible for the well-being of both themselves and their resources.
CONCLUSION
Last year at my university I helped
create a panel of environmental and theological experts. One theologian argued
that faith mandates environmentalism
from each individual. Just as the responsibility of faith is given to new
generations, the earth and its resources are also given. Because faith and
sustainability share that same idea of perpetuation, they are powerful when
used together.
I think the strength
of the bond between sustainability and faith is weaker in the mash of cultures
and faiths of America. A country who follows a faith that teaches environmental
ethics does not need to be told by science or politicians of the consequences
of their actions. America’s approach to environmentalism relies heavily on
scientists to identify a problem, on journalism to interpret that problem, and
finally on lawmakers to impose a solution. Most of those solutions are
influenced more so by the politician's personal goals than the scientific
recommendations. But with the religious ethics of environmentalism, all of the
proving and communicating and convincing is unnecessary, and solutions are
created by people who have a moral obligation to the environment.
SOURCES
[1] Beavan, Colin. No Impact
Man. Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2009.
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