The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale

Buddhism Sacred Texts

Buddhism Sacred Texts
	1. Introduction to Textual Resources The Buddhist tradition spans 2,500 years and more than a dozen cultures. Many texts address important aspects of human-nature relations, and a good number of these demonstrate ecological insight. No single text encompasses the diversity of Buddhist doctrines and practices related to the environment. Contemporary Buddhists are exploring affinities between cardinal Buddhist teachings and environmentally conscious ways of life. As they seek inspiration and guidance on present-day environmental issues, they often find themselves reinterpreting classic sources. In that way, the literature of eco-Buddhism�old and new�continues to develop.   2. Classic Sources from the Buddhist Tradition Maharatnakuta Sutra, “Dwelling In the Forest” “Kashyapa, after a forest-dwelling monk arrives at a secluded place, he should follow the Dharma of a forest-dweller and perform eight deeds to show kindness for all sentient beings. What are the eight? To benefit sentient beings; to gladden sentient beings; not to hate sentient beings; to be straightforward; not to discriminate among sentient beings; to be compliant with sentient beings; to contemplate all dharmas; and to be as pure as space. Kashyapa, a forest-dwelling monk should perform these eight deeds to show kindness for all sentient beings. . . .” “Kashyapa, if a forest-dwelling monk sees men, women, boys, girls, or animals when begging for food, he should have kindness and compassion toward them and think, ‘I strive with vigor so that I can make the vow that sentient beings who see me and those who give me food will all be reborn in heaven.’ . . .” “Kashyapa, if a forest-dwelling monk is given much food, he should gladly put a handful of it on a clean rock, thinking, ‘I give this to the birds and beasts that can eat it. I am the donor and they are the recipients.’ . . .”1 Metta Sutta, “Loving-kindness” This is what should be done By those who are skilled in goodness, And who know the path of peace: Let them be able and upright, Straightforward and gentle in speech, Humble and not conceited, Contented and easily satisfied, Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways, Peaceful and calm, wise and skillful, Not proud and demanding in nature. Let them not do the slightest thing That the wise would later reprove. Wishing: in gladness and in safety, May all beings be at ease. Whatever living beings there may be, Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, The great or the mighty, medium, short or small, The seen and the unseen, Those living near and far away, Those born to-be-born— May all beings be at ease! Let none deceive another, Or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill-will Wish harm upon another. Even as a mother protects with her life Her child, her only child, So with a boundless heart Should one cherish all living beings, Radiating kindness over the entire world, Spreading upward to the skies, And downward to the depths, Outward and unbounded. Freed from hatred and ill-will, Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down, Free from drowsiness, One should sustain this recollection. This is said to be the sublime abiding. By not holding to fixed views, The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, Being freed from all sense desires, Is not born again into this world.2   Lotus Sutra, “Dharma Rain” The Thus Come One, worthy of honor and reverence, is profound and far-reaching in wisdom. For long he remained silent regarding the essential, in no hurry to speak of it at once. If those who are wise hear of it they can believe and understand it, but those without wisdom will have doubts and regrets and for all time will remain in error. For this reason, he adjusts to the person’s power when preaching, taking advantage of various causes and enabling the person to gain a correct view. You should understand that it is like a great cloud that rises up in the world and covers it all over. This beneficent cloud is laden with moisture; the lightning gleams and flashes, and the sound of thunder reverberates afar, causing the multitude to rejoice. The sun’s rays are veiled and hidden, a clear coolness comes over the land; masses of darkness descend and spread� you can almost touch them. The rain falls everywhere, coming down on all four sides. Its flow and saturation are measureless, reaching to every area of the earth, to the ravines and valleys of the mountains and streams, to the remote and secluded places where grow plants, bushes, medicinal herbs, trees large and small, a hundred grains, rice seedlings, sugar cane, grape vines. The rain moistens them all, none fails to receive its full share. The parched ground is everywhere watered, herbs and trees alike grow lush. What falls from the cloud is water of a single flavor, but the plants and trees, thickets and groves, each accept the moisture that is appropriate to its portion. All the various trees, whether superior, middling, or inferior, take what is fitting for large or small, and each is enabled to sprout and grow. Root, stem, limb, leaf, the glow and hue of flower and fruit� one rain extends to them and all are able to become fresh and glossy. Whether their allotment of substance, form, and nature is large or small, the moistening they receive is one, but each grows and flourishes in its own way. The Buddha is like this when he appears in the world, comparable to a great cloud that covers all things everywhere. Having appeared in the world, or the sake of living beings he makes distinctions in expounding the truth regarding phenomena. The great sage, the World-Honored One, to heavenly and human beings, in the midst of all beings, pronounces these words: I am the Thus Come One, most honored of two-legged beings. I appear in the world like a great cloud that showers moisture upon all the dry and withered living beings, so that all are able to escape suffering, gain the joy of peace and security, the joys of this world and the joy of nirvana. All you heavenly and human beings of this assembly, listen carefully and with one mind! . . . I bring fullness and satisfaction to the world, like a rain that spreads its moisture everywhere. Eminent and lowly, superior and inferior, observers of precepts, violators of precepts, those fully endowed with proper demeanor, those not fully endowed, those of correct views, of erroneous views, of keen capacity, of dull capacity� I cause the Dharma rain to rain on all equally, never lax or neglectful. When all the various living beings hear my Law, they receive it according to their power, dwelling in their different environments. Some inhabit the realm of human and heavenly beings, of wheel-turning sage kings, Shakra, Brahma and the other kings� these are the inferior medicinal herbs. Some understand the Law of no outflows, are able to attain nirvana, to acquire the six transcendental powers and gain in particular the three understandings, or live alone in mountain forests, constantly practicing meditation and gaining the enlightenment of pratyekabuddhas� these are the middling medicinal herbs. Still others seek the place of the World-Honored One, convinced that they can become Buddhas, putting forth diligent effort and practicing meditation� these are the superior medicinal herbs. Again there are sons of the Buddha who devote their minds solely to the Buddha way, constantly practicing mercy and compassion, knowing that they themselves will attain Buddhahood, certain of it and never doubting� these I call the small trees. Those who abide in peace in their transcendental powers, turning the wheel of non-regression, saving innumerable millions of hundreds of thousands of living beings� bodhisattvas such as these I call the large trees. The equality of the Buddha’s preaching is like a rain of a single flavor, but depending upon the nature of the living being, the way in which it is received is not uniform, just as the various plants and trees each receive the moisture in a different manner. The Buddha employs this parable As an expedient means to open up and reveal the matter, using various kinds of words and phrases and expounding the single Law, but in terms of the Buddha wisdom this is no more than one drop of the ocean. I rain down the Dharma rain, filling the whole world, and this single-flavored Dharma is practiced by each according to the individual’s power. It is like those thickets and groves, medicinal herbs and trees which, according to whether they are large or small, bit by bit grow lush and beautiful. The Law of the Buddhas is constantly of a single flavor, causing the many worlds to attain full satisfaction everywhere; by practicing gradually and stage by stage, all beings can gain the fruits of the way.3   Hua-yen Sutra, “How Bodhisattvas Serve Sentient Beings” O noble-minded people, if you can help all sentient beings equally without discrimination, you will then consummate the full and perfect compassion, with which, if you accommodate sentient beings, you can then make all Tathagatas happy and satisfied. In this manner a Bodhisattva should accommodate and embrace all sentient beings.4   Tu-shun, The Jewel Net of Indra . . . Knowledge accords with things, being in one and the same realm, made by conditions, tacitly conjoining, without rejecting anything, suddenly appearing, yet not without before and after. Therefore the sutra says, “The sphere of the universal eye, the pure body, I now will expound; let people listen carefully.” By way of explanation, the “universal eye” is the union of knowledge and reality, all at once revealing many things. This makes it clear that reality is known to the knowledge of the universal eye only and is not the sphere of any other knowledge. The “sphere” means things. This illustrates how the many things interpenetrate like the realm of Indra’s net of jewels�multiplied and remultiplied ad infinitum. The pure body illustrates how all things, as mentioned before, simultaneously enter each other. Ends and beginnings, being collectively formed by conditional origination, are impossible to trace to a basis�the seeing mind has nothing to rest on. Now the celestial jewel net of Kanishka, or Indra, Emperor of Gods, is called the net of Indra. This imperial net is made all of jewels: because the jewels are clear, they reflect each other’s images, appearing in each other’s reflections upon reflections, ad infinitum, all appearing at once in one jewel, and in each one it is so�ultimately there is no going or coming. Now for the moment let us turn to the southwest direction and pick a jewel and check it. This jewel can show the reflections of all the jewels all at once, and just as this is so of this jewel, so it is of every other jewel: the reflection is multiplied and remultiplied over and over endlessly. These infinitely multiplying jewel reflections are all in one jewel and show clearly the others do not.

Buddhism and Ecology Bibliography

Buddhism and Ecology Bibliography

Duncan Ryuken Williams
Trinity College

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Abe, Masao. “Man and Nature in Christianity and Buddhism.” Japanese Religions 7, no. 1 (July 1971): 1–10.

Abraham, Ralph. “Orphism: The Ancient Roots of Green Buddhism.” In Dharma
Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 39–49. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.

Aitken, Robert. The Practice of Perfection: The Paramitas from A Zen Buddhist Perspective. New York: Pantheon, 1994.
________. “Right Livelihood for the Western Buddhist.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 227–32. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990. Reprinted in Primary Point 7, no. 2 (summer 1990): 19–22.
________. “Gandhi, Dogen, and Deep Ecology.” In Deep Ecology: Living As If Nature Mattered, eds. Bill Devall and George Sessions, 232–35. Salt Lake City, Utah: Peregrine Smith Books, 1985. Reprinted in The Path of Compassion: Writings on Socially Engaged Buddhism, ed. Fred Eppsteiner, 86–92 (Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1988).
________. The Mind of Clover: Essays in Zen Buddhist Ethics. San Francisco, Calif.: North Point Press, 1984.

Almon, Bert. “Buddhism and Energy in the Recent Poetry of Gary Snyder.” Mosaic 11 (1977): 117–25.

Anderson, Bill. “The Use of Animals in Science: A Buddhist Perspective.” Zen Bow Newsletter 6, no. 2–3 (summer-fall 1984): 8–9.

Ariyaratne, A. T., and Joanna Macy. “The Island of Temple and Tank. Sarvodaya: Self-help in Sri Lanka.” In Buddhism and Ecology, eds. Martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, 78–86. London: Cassell, 1992.

Badiner, Allan Hunt. ed. Mindfulness in the Marketplace: Compassionate Responses to Consumerism. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 2002.
________. “Is the Buddha Winking at Extinction?” Tricycle 3, no. 2 (winter 1993): 52–54.
________., ed. Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.
________. “Dharma Gaia: The Green Roots of American Buddhism.” Vajradhatu Sun, April-May 1988, 7.

Balsys, Bodo. Ahimsa: Buddhism and the Vegetarian Ideal. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publications, 2004.

Barash, David P. “Buddhism and the ‘Subversive Science’.” The Chronicle of Higher Education 47, no. 24 (2001): B13-B14.
________. “The Ecologist as Zen Master.” American Midland Naturalist 89, no. 1 (January 1973): 214–17.

Bari, Judi. “We All Live Here: An Interview with Judi Bari.” By Susan Moon. Turning Wheel (spring 1994): 16–19.

Barnhill, David L. “A Giant Act of Love: Reflections on the First Precept.” Tricycle 2, no. 3 (spring 1993): 29–33.
________. “Indra’s Net as Food Chain: Gary Snyder’s Ecological Vision.” Ten Directions (spring-summer 1990): 20–28.

Barnhill, David, and Roger Gottlieb, eds. Deep Ecology and World Religions: New Essays on Sacred Ground. Albany, NY: SUNY, 2001.

Batchelor, Martine, ed. “Even the Stones Smile: Selections from the Scriptures.” In Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, 2–17. London: Cassell, 1992.

Batchelor, Martine and Kerry Brown, eds. Buddhism and Ecology. London: Cassell, 1992.

Batchelor, Stephen. “The Sands of the Ganges: Notes Toward a Buddhist Ecological Philosophy.” In Buddhism and Ecology, eds. Martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, 31–39. London: Cassell, 1992.
________. “Buddhist Economics Reconsidered.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 178–82. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.
________. “Images of Ecology.” Primary Point 7, no. 2 (summer 1990): 9–11.

Bilimoria, Purushottama. “Buddha, fifth century BCE.” In Fifty Key Thinkers on the Environment, ed. Joy A. Palmer. New York: Routledge, 2001, 1-7.

Birch, Pru. “Individual Responsibility and the Greenhouse Effect.” Golden Drum: A Magazine for Western Buddhists, February-April 1990, 10–11.

Bloom, Alfred. “Buddhism and Ecological Perspective.” Ecology Center Newsletter, December 1989, 1–2.
________. “Buddhism, Nature, and the Environment.” Eastern Buddhist, n.s., 5, no. 1 (May 1972): 115–29.

Brown, Brian Edward. “Buddhism in Ecological Perspective.” Pacific World, n.s., 6 (fall 1990): 65–73.

Bruun, Ole and Arne Kalland, eds. Asian Perceptions of Nature: A Critical Approach. Richmond, Surrey: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 1995.

Buddhadasa Bhikkhu. “A Notion of Buddhist Ecology.” Seeds of Peace 2 (1987): 22–27.

Burkill, I. H. “On the Dispersal of the Plants Most Intimate to Buddhism.” Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 27, no. 4 (1946): 327–39.

Byers, Bruce A. “Toward an Ecocentric Community: From Ego-self to Eco-self.” Turning Wheel, spring 1992, 39–40.

Calderazzo, John. “Meditation in a Thai Forest.” Audubon, January-February 1991, 84–91.

Chapple, Christopher Key. “Jainism and Buddhism.” In A Companion to Environmental Philosophy, ed. Dale Jamieson, 52-66. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.
________. “Toward an Indigenous Indian Environmentalism.” In Purifying the Earthly Body of God: Religion and Ecology in Hindu India, ed. Lance Nelson, 13–37. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1998.
________. Nonviolence to Animals, Earth, and Self in Asian Traditions. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1993.
________.“Noninjury to Animals: Jaina and Buddhist Perspective.” In Animal Sacrifices: Religious Perspectives on the Use of Animals in Science, ed. Tom Regan, 213-235. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986. Revised version printed as “Nonviolence to Animals in Buddhism and Jainism.” In Inner Peace, World Peace: Essays on Buddhism and Nonviolence, ed. by Kenneth Kraft, 49-62. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.

Codiga, Doug. “Zen Practice and a Sense of Place.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 106–11. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.

Colt, Ames B. “Perceiving the World as Self: The Emergence of an Environmental Ethic.” Primary Point 7, no. 2 (summer 1990): 12–14.

Cook, Francis. “The Jewel Net of Indra.” In Nature in Asian Traditions of Thought: Essays in Environmental Philosophy, eds. J. Baird Callicott and Roger T. Ames, 213–29. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1989.
________. “Dogen’s View of Authentic Selfhood and Its Socio-ethical Implications.” In Dogen Studies, ed. William R. LaFleur, 131–49. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1985.
________. Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977.

Cooper, David E., and Simon P. James. Buddhism, Virtue and the Environment. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing, 2005.

Cooper, David E. and Joy A. Palmer, eds. Spirit of the Environment: Religion, Value and Environmental Concern. New York: Routledge, 1998.

Coward, Harold, ed. Visions of a New Earth: Religious Perspectives on Population, Consumption, and Ecology. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 2000.

Crawford, Cromwell. “The Buddhist Response to Health and Disease in Environmental Perspective.” In Radical Conservatism: Buddhism in the Contemporary World: Articles in Honour of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa’s 84th Birthday Anniversary, 162–71. Bangkok: Thai Inter-Religious Commission for Development/International Network of Engaged Buddhists, 1990. Reprinted in Buddhist Ethics and Modern Society, eds. Charles Wei-hsun Fu and Sandra A. Wawrytko, 185–93 (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991).

Cry from the Forest: A “Buddhism and Ecology” Community Learning Tool. Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Buddhist Institute, NGO Working Group for Non-formal Monk Environmental Education Project (MEEP), UNDP-ETAP, and UNESCO, 1999. (http://www.camdev.org/Publications/Cry-English-Revised-for-printing.pdf)

Currier, Lavinia. “Report from Rio: The Earth Summit.” Tricycle 2, no. 1 (fall 1992): 24–26.

Curtin, Deane. “Dogen, Deep Ecology, and the Ecological Self.” Environmental Ethics 16, no. 2 (summer 1994): 195–213.

Dalai Lama. Foreword to Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.
________. “Buddhism and the Protection of Nature: An Ethical Approach to Environmental Protection.” Buddhist Peace Fellowship Newsletter, spring 1988.

Darlington, Susan Marie. “Practical Spirituality and Community Forests: Monks, Ritual and Radical Conservativism in Thailand.” In Nature in the Global South: Environmental Projects in South and Southeast Asia, eds. Paul Greenough and Anna L. Tsing, 347-366. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003.
________. “The Spirit(s) of Conservation in Buddhist Thailand.” In Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures, ed. Helaine Selin, 129-145. Boston: Kluwer Academic Press, 2003.
________. “Rethinking Buddhism and Development: The Emergence of Environmental Monks in Thailand.” Journal of Buddhist Ethics 7(2000):1-14. (http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/7/darlington001.html). Republished as “Buddhism and Development: The Ecology Monks of Thailand.” In Action Dharma: New Studies in Engaged Buddhism, eds. Christopher Queen, Charles Prebish, and Damien Keown, 96-109. London, UK: RoutledgeCurzon Press, 2003.
________. “Monks and Environmental Action in Thailand.” Buddhist Forum, 1994.
________. “Monks and Environmental Conservation: A Case Study in Nan Province.” Seeds of Peace 9, no. 1 (January-April 1993): 7–10.
________. “Buddhism, Morality, and Change: The Local Response to Development in Northern Thailand.” Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1990.

Davies, Shann, ed. Tree of Life: Buddhism and the Protection of Nature. Hong Kong: Buddhist Perception of Nature Project, 1987.

De Silva, Lily. “The Hills Wherein My Soul Delights: Exploring the Stories and Teachings.” In Buddhism and Ecology, eds. Martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, 18–30. London: Cassell, 1992.
________. “The Buddhist Attitude Toward Nature.” In Buddhist Perspectives on the Ecocrisis, ed. Klas Sandell, 9–29. Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society, 1987.

De Silva, Padmasiri. “Environmental Ethics: A Buddhist Perspective.” In Buddhist Ethics and Modern Society: An International Symposium, eds. Charles Wei-hsun Fu and Sandra A. Wawrytko, 173–84. Contributions to the Study of Religion, no. 31. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.
________. “Buddhist Environmental Ethics.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 14–19. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.

del Raye, Bonnie. “Buddhists Concerned for Animals.” In Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism, ed. Sandy Boucher, 289–94. San Francisco, Calif.: Harper and Row, 1988.

Devall, Bill. “Ecocentric Sangha.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 155–64. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.
________. Simple in Means, Rich in Ends: Practicing Deep Ecology. Salt Lake City, Utah: Peregrine Smith, 1988.

Devall, Bill and George Sessions. Deep Ecology: Living As If Nature Mattered. Salt Lake City, Utah: Peregrine Smith, 1985.

Dhamma Bhikkhu Rewata. “Buddhism and the Environment.” In Radical Conservatism: Buddhism in the Contemporary World: Articles in Honour of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa’s 84th Birthday Anniversary, 156–61. Bangkok: Thai Inter-Religious Commission for Development/International Network of Engaged Buddhists, 1990.

Donegan, Patricia. “Haiku and the Ecotastrophe.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 197–207. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.

Dutt, Denise Manci. “An Integration of Zen Buddhism and the Study of Person and Environment.” Ph.D. diss., California Institute of Integral Studies, 1983.

Duval, R. Shannon, and David Shaner. “Conservation Ethics and the Japanese Intellectual Tradition.” Conservation Ethics 11 (fall 1989): 197–214.

Dwivedi, O. P., ed. World Religions and the Environment. New Delhi, India: Gilanjal Publishing House, 1989.

Earhart, H. Byron. “The Ideal of Nature in Japanese Religion and Its Possible Significance for Environmental Concerns.” Contemporary Religions in Japan 11, nos. 1–2 (March-June 1970): 1–25.

Ehrlich, Gretel. “Pico Iyer Talks With Gretel Ehrlich: Buddhist at the Edge of the Earth.” Tricycle 5, no. 3 (spring 1996): 77–82.

Einarsen, John., ed. The Sacred Mountains of Asia. Boston: Shambhala Press, 1995.

Eppsteiner, Fred., ed. The Path of Compassion: Writings on Socially Engaged Buddhism. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1988.

Fields, Rick. “The Very Short Sutra on the Meeting of the Buddha and the Goddess.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 3–7. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.
________. “A Council of All Beings.” Yoga Journal (November-December 1989): 52, 108.

Fitzsymonds, Sue. “Treading Softly on This Earth.” Golden Drum: A Magazine for Western Buddhists, February-April 1990, 12.

Foltz, Richard. Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2003.

Fossey, Kevin, Somdech Preah Maha Ghosananda, Sri Kushok Bakula, and Nhem Kim Teng. “Buddhism.” Faith in Conservation: New Approaches to Religion and the Environment, eds. Martin Palmer and Victoria Finlay, 77-82. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2003.

Franke, Joe. “The Tiger in the Forest: A Walk with the Monk Who Ordained Trees.” Shambhala Sun 4, no. 2 (November 1995): 48–53.

Gates, Barbara. “Reflections of an Aspiring Earth-Steward.” Inquiring Mind 7, no. 2 (spring 1991): 18–19.

Getz, Andrew. “A Natural Being: A Monk’s Reforestation Project in Thailand.” Buddhist Peace Fellowship Newsletter, winter 1991, 24–25.

Giryo, Yanase. O Buddha! A Desperate Cry from a Dying World. Nagoya, Japan: KWIX, 1986.
________ . An Appeal for Your Help in Halting World Environmental Destruction Now for Future Generations. (Information may be obtained from: Jiko-bukkyo-kai, Okaguchi 2 chome 3–47, Gojo, Nara Prefecture, Japan 637.)

Gold, Ann Grodzins. “Children and Trees in North India.” Worldviews: Environment, Culture, Religion 6, no. 3 (2002): 276-299.

Gosling, David L. Religion and Ecology in India and Southeast Asia. London: Routledge, 2001.

Grady, Carla Deicke. “A Buddhist Response to Modernization in Thailand: With Particular Reference to Conservation Forest Monks.” Ph.D. diss., University of Hawaii, 1995.
________. “Women and Ecocentric Conscience.” Newsletter on International Buddhist Women’s Activities 21 (October 1989). Reprinted as “Women and Ecocentricity,” in Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 165–68 (Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990).

Granoff, Phyllis. “The Violence of Non-Violence: A Study of Some Jain Responses to Non-Jain Religious Practices.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15, no. 1 (1992): 1–43.

Gray, Dennis D. “Buddhism Being Used to Help Save Asia’s Environment.” Seeds of Peace 2 (1987): 24–26.

Grosnick, William Henry. “The Buddhahood of the Grasses and the Trees: Ecological Sensitivity or Scriptural Misunderstanding.” In An Ecology of the Spirit: Religious Reflection and Environmental Consciousness, ed. Michael Barnes, 197–208. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1994.

Gross, Rita. “Toward A Buddhist Environmental Ethic.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 65, no. 2 (summer 1997): 333–53.

Halifax, Joan. The Fruitful Darkness: Reconnecting with the Body of the Earth. San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993.
________. “The Third Body: Buddhism, Shamanism, and Deep Ecology.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 20–38. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.

Hannan, Pete. “Images and Animals.” Golden Drum: A Magazine for Western Buddhists, August-October 1989, 8–9.

Harris, Ian. “Buddhist Causation, Dysteology and Environmental Ethics.” Ecology and Asian Religions, ed. Lance Nelson. Albany, NY: State University Press of New York, 2000.
________. “Buddhism and Ecology.” Contemporary Buddhist Ethics, ed. Damien Keown, 113-136. London, England: Curzon Press, 2000.
________. “Buddhist Environmental Ethics and Detraditionalization: The Case of EcoBuddhism.” Religion 25, no. 3 (July 1995): 199–211.
________. “Getting to Grips with Buddhist Environmentalism: A Provisional Typology.” Journal of Buddhist Ethics 2 (1995): 173–90.
________. “Causation and ‘Telos’: The Problem of Buddhist Environmental Ethics.” Journal of Buddhist Ethics 1 (1994): 46–59.
________. “How Environmentalist Is Buddhism?” Religion 21 (April 1991): 101–114.

Harvey, Peter. “Attitude to and Treatment of the Natural World.” An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics, 150-186. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Hayward, Jeremy. “Ecology and the Experience of Sacredness.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 64–74. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.

Head, Suzanne. “Creating Space for Nature.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 112–27. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.
________. “Buddhism and Deep Ecology.” Vajradhatu Sun, April-May 1988, 7–8, 12.

Henning, Daniel H. Buddhism and Deep Ecology. Bloomington: AuthorHouse Press, 2002.

Ho, Mobi. “Animal Dharma.” In Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner, 129–35. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.

Hope, Marjorie and James Young. “Buddhism.” Voices of Hope in the Struggle to Save the Planet, 245-280. Croton-on-Hudson, NY: Apex Press, 2000.

Htun, Nay. “The State of the Environment Today: The Needs for Tomorrow.” In Tree of Life: Buddhism and the Protection of Nature, ed. Shann Davies, 19–29. Hong Kong: Buddhist Perception of Nature Project, 1987.

Hughes, James., ed. Green Buddhist Declaration. Moratuwa: Sarvodaya Press, 1984. (Information may be obtained from: 98 Rawatawatte Rd., Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.)

Ikeda, Daisaku. “Man in Nature.” In Dialogue on Life 1, 26–56. Tokyo: Nichiren Shoshu International Center, 1976. Reprinted in Life: An Enigma, A Precious Jewel, trans. Charles S. Terry, 28–46 (Tokyo and New York: Kodansha International, 1982).
________. “Life and the Environment.” In Dialogue on Life, vol. 2, 78–90. Tokyo: Nichiren Shoshu International Center, 1977.

Inada, Kenneth K. “Environmental Problematics.” In Nature in Asian Traditions of Thought: Essays in Environmental Philosophy, eds. J. Baird Callicott and Roger T. Ames, 231–45. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1989.

Ingram, Catherine. In the Footsteps of Gandhi: Conversations with Spiritual Social Activists. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press, 1990.

Ingram, Paul O. “Nature’s Jeweled Net: Kukai’s Ecological Buddhism.” Pacific World 6 (1990): 50–64.

Inoue, Shin’ichi. Putting Buddhism to Work: A New Theory of Management and Business, trans. Duncan Williams. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1997.

Jacobsen Knut A. Prakrti in Samkhya-Yoga: Material Principle, Religious Experience, Ethical Implications. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1999.

Jaini, Padmanabh S. “Indian Perspectives on the Spirituality of Animals.” In Buddhist Philosophy and Culture: Essays in Honour of N. A. Jayawickrema, eds. David J. Kalupahana and W. G. Weeraratne, 169–78. Colombo: N. A. Jayawickrema Felicitation Volume Committee, 1987.

James, Simon P. Zen Buddhism and Environmental Ethics. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004.
________. “‘Thing-Centered’ Holism in Buddhism, Heidegger, and Deep Ecology.” Environmental Ethics 22 (2000): 359-375.

Jayaprabha. “Ethics and Imagination.” Golden Drum: A Magazine for Western Buddhists, August-October 1989, 10–11.

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Buddhism

Buddhism and Ecology: Challenge and Promise Donald K. Swearer Harvard University

Introduction Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962), Jonathan Schell’s The Fate of the Earth (1982) and Bill McKibben’s The End of Nature (1989) addressed three different global environmental problems—toxic contamination of the food chain, the worldwide consequences of nuclear proliferation, and the impact of global warming. These warnings led to major changes in national and international policy: the banning of the widespread use of DDT as a pesticide, the START treaties that negotiated nuclear arms reduction agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the Kyoto agreements to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Each utilizes science to advance a public policy agenda. In addition, each shares a similar holistic worldview, namely, that all life-forms are interdependent or, as the 1975 National Academy of Sciences Report stated, our world is a whole “in which any action influencing a single part of the system can be expected to have an effect on all other parts of the system.” The “Religions of the World and Ecology” project brings the rich historical and contemporary resources of the world’s religions into critical dialogue with the global environmental crisis. In particular, it seeks to broaden and deepen the symbolic, conceptual, and practical dimensions of their distinctive holistic worldviews for an understanding of human flourishing, community, the natural environment, and their interactions. The project also seeks to influence both social behavior and public policy by encouraging ongoing collaboration among various interdisciplinary arcs that must be forged if the environmental crisis has any hope of being resolved.1 This paper explores ways in which the Buddhist traditions might contribute to this discussion and to the practice of a more ecologically aware lifestyle. Buddhism’s Holistic Worldview Despite significant variations among the different Buddhist traditions that have evolved over its 2,500 year journey throughout Asia and now in the West, Buddhists see the world as conjoined on four levels: existentially, morally, cosmologically, and ontologically. Existentially, Buddhists affirm that all sentient beings share the fundamental conditions of birth, old age, suffering, and death. The existential realization of the universality of suffering lies at the core of the Buddha’s teaching. Insight into the nature of suffering, its cause and its cessation, and the path to the cessation of suffering constitutes the capstone of the Buddha’s enlightenment experience (Mahasacakka Sutta, Majjihma Nikaya) as well as the content of the four noble truths, the Buddha’s first teaching. That the Buddha decides to share this existential insight into the cause and cessation of suffering is regarded by the tradition as an act of universal compassion. Buddhist environmentalists assert that the mindful awareness of the universality of suffering produces compassionate empathy for all forms of life, particularly for all sentient species. They interpret the Dhammapada’s ethical injunction not to do evil but to do good as a moral principle advocating the nonviolent alleviation of suffering, an ideal embodied in the prayer of universal loving-kindness that concludes many Buddhist rituals: “May all beings be free from enmity; may all beings be free from injury; may all beings be free from suffering; may all beings be happy.” Out of a concern for the total living environment, Buddhist environmentalists extend loving-kindness and compassion beyond people and animals to include plants and the earth itself. The concepts of karma and rebirth (samsara) integrate the existential sense of a shared common condition of all sentient life-forms with the moral dimension of the Buddhist cosmology. Not unlike the biological sciences, rebirth links human and animal species. Evolution maps commonalities and differences among species on the basis of physical and genetic traits. Rebirth maps them on moral grounds. Every form of sentient life participates in a karmic continuum traditionally divided into three world-levels and a hierarchical taxonomy of five or six life-forms. Although this continuum constitutes a moral hierarchy, differences among life-forms and individuals are relative, not absolute. Traditional Buddhism may privilege humans over animals, animals over hungry ghosts, male gender over the female, monk over laity but all forms of karmically conditioned life-human, animal, divine, demonic—are related within contingent, samsaric time: “In the long course of rebirth there is not one among living beings with form who has not been mother, father, brother, sister, son, or daughter, or some other relative. Being connected with the process of taking birth, one is kin to all wild and domestic animals, birds, and beings born from the womb” (Lankavatara Sutra). Nirvana, the Buddhist highest good, offers the promise of transforming karmic conditionedness into an unconditioned state of spiritual liberation, a realization potentially available to all forms of sentient life on the karmic continuum. That plants and trees or the land itself have a similar potential for spiritual liberation became an explicit doctrine in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism but may even have been part of popular Buddhist belief from earliest times—in sum, a realization that all life-forms share both a common problematic and promise. Although the Buddhist doctrines of karma and rebirth link together all forms of sentient existence in a moral continuum, Buddhist ethics focus on human agency and its consequences. The inclusion of plants and animals in Buddhist soteriological schemes may be important philosophically because it attributes inherent value to nonhuman forms of life. Nonetheless, humans have been the primary agents in creating the present ecological crisis and will bear the major responsibility in solving it. The myth of origins in the Pali canon describes the deleterious impact of human activity on the primordial natural landscape. Unlike the garden of Eden story in the Hebrew Bible where human agency centers on the God-human relationship, the Buddhist story of first origins describes the negative impact of humans on the earth created by selfishness and greed. In the Buddhist mythological Eden, the earth flourishes naturally, but greedy desire leads to division and ownership of the land that in turn promotes violent conflict, destruction, and chaos. In short, in the Buddhist myth of first origins, human agency destroys the natural order of things. Though change is inherent in nature, Buddhists believe that natural processes are directly affected by human morality.2 Within the Buddha’s enlightenment vision (Nirvana) all the major dimensions of the Buddhist worldview are found. Tradition records that during the night of this experience the Buddha first recalled his previous lives within the karmic continuum; then he perceived the fate of all sentient beings within the cosmic hierarchy; finally he fathomed the nature of suffering and the path to its cessation formulated as the four noble truths and the law of interdependent coarising. The Buddha’s enlightenment evolved in a specific sequence: from an understanding of the particular (his personal karmic history), then to the general (the karmic history of humankind), and finally to the principle underlying the cause and cessation of suffering. Subsequently, this principle is further generalized as a universal law of causality: “On the arising of this, that arises; on the cessation of this, that ceases.” Buddhist environmentalists find in the causal principle of interdependence an ecological vision that integrates all aspects of the ecosphere—particular individuals and general species—in terms of the principle of mutual codependence. Within this cosmological model individual entities are by their very nature relational, thereby undermining the autonomous self over against the “other,” be it human, animal, or vegetable. Buddhist environmentalists see their worldview as a rejection of hierarchical dominance of one human over another or humans over nature, and as the basis of an ethic of emphathetic compassion that respects biodiversity. In the view of the Thai monk, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, “The entire cosmos is a cooperative. The sun, the moon, and the stars live together as a cooperative. The same is true for humans and animals, trees, and the earth. When we realize that the world is a mutual, interdependent, cooperative enterprise . . . then we can build a noble environment. If our lives are not based on this truth, then we shall perish.” A Western Buddhist, observing that the Buddhist worldview or dharma not only refers to the teachings of the Buddha but also to all things in nature, characterizes Buddhism as a “religious ecology.”3 In later schools of Buddhist thought the cosmological vision of interdependent causality evolved into a more substantive sense of ontological unity. Metaphorically, the image of Indra’s net found in the Hua Yen (Jp. Kegon) tradition’s Avatamsaka Sutra has been especially important in Buddhist ecological discussions. For Gary Snyder the image of the universe as a vast web of many-sided jewels each constituted by the reflections of all the other jewels in the web and each jewel being the image of the entire universe symbolizes the world as a universe of bioregional ecological communities. Buddhist environmentalists argue, furthermore, that ontological notions such as Buddha-nature or Dharma-nature (e.g., buddhakaya, tathagatagarbha, dharmakaya, dharmadhatu) provide a basis for unifying all existent entities in a common sacred universe, even though the tradition privileges human life vis-�-vis spiritual realization. For T’ien-t’ai monks in eighth century China, the belief in a universal Buddha-nature blurred the distinction between sentient and nonsentient life-forms and logically led to the view that plants, trees, and the earth itself could achieve enlightenment. Kukai (774–835), the founder of the Japanese Shingon school and Dogen (1200–1253), the founder of the Soto Zen sect, described universal Buddha-nature in naturalistic terms, “If plants and trees were devoid of Buddhahood, waves would then be without humidity” (Kukai); “The sutras [i.e., the dharma] are the entire universe, mountains, and rivers and the great wide earth, plants and trees” (Dogen). Buddhist environmentalists cite Dogen’s view as support for the preservation of species biodiversity. Two types of criticism have been leveled against Buddhist environmentalists (sometimes characterized as ecoBuddhists or Green Buddhists); scholars who argue that ecologizing the Buddhist worldview distorts the philosophical and historical integrity of the tradition; and, practioners who see a tendency in Green Buddhism to reduce the tradition to a one-dimensional teaching of simple interrelatedness at the expense of its classical emphasis on the development of spiritual and ethical transformation. The four dimensions of the Buddhist worldview as proposed above offer a framework for understanding both the advocates of Buddhist environmentalism and their critics. The Ecology of Human Flourishing Buddhism arose in north India in the fifth century BCE at a time when the region was undergoing a process of urbanization and political centralization accompanied by commerical development and the formation of artisan and merchant classes. The creation of towns and the expansion of an agrarian economy led to the clearing of forests and other tracts of uninhabited land. These changes influenced early Buddhism in several ways. Indic Buddhism was certainly not biocentric and the strong naturalistic sentiments that infused Buddhism in China, Korea, and Japan appear to have been absent from early monastic Buddhism, although naturalism played a role in popular piety. Nonetheless, the natural world figures prominently in the Buddhist conception of human flourishing perhaps, in part, because of the very transformation of the natural environment in which it was born. As we shall see, while nature as a value in and of itself may not have played a major role in the development of early Buddhist thought and practice, it was a necessary component of the tradition’s articulation of an ecology of human flourishing. Although the picture of the Buddha seated under the tree of enlightenment has not traditionally been interpreted as a paradigm for ecological thinking, today’s Buddhist environmental activists point out that the decisive events in the Buddha’s life occurred in natural settings: that the Buddha Gotama was born, attained enlightenment, and died under trees. The textual record, furthermore, testifies to the importance of forests, not only as an environment preferred for spiritual practices such as meditation but also as a place where laity sought instruction. Historically, in Asia and increasingly in the West, Buddhists have situated centers of practice and teaching in forests and among mountains at some remove from the hustle and bustle of urban life. The Buddha’s own example provides the original impetus for such locations: “Seeking the supreme state of sublime peace, I wandered . . . until . . . I saw a delightful stretch of land and a lovely woodland grove, and a clear flowing river with a delightful forest so I sat down thinking, ‘Indeed, this is an appropriate place to strive for the ultimate realization of . . . Nirvana’” (Ariyapariyesana Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya). Lavish patronage and the traffic of pilgrims often complicated and compromised the solitude and simple life of forest monasteries, but forests, rivers, and mountains constitute an important factor in the Buddhist ecology of human flourishing. Recall, for example, the Zen description of enlightenment wherein natural phenomena such as rivers and mountains are perceived as loci of the sacred. Although religious practioners often tested their spiritual mettle in wild nature, the norm appears to be a relatively benign state of nature conducive to quiet contemplation as suggested by the above quotation, or by the naturalistic gardens that one finds today in many Japanese Zen monasteries originally located on the outskirts of towns. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu called his forest monastery in south Thailand “the Garden of Empowering Liberation,” observing: “The deep sense of calm that nature provides through separation from the stress that plagues us in the day-to-day world protects our heart and mind. The lessons nature teaches us lead to a new birth beyond suffering caused by our acquisitive self-preoccupation.” For Buddhist enviromentalists, centers like Buddhadasa’s Garden of Empowering Liberation also present an example of a sustainable lifestyle grounded in the values of moderation, simplicity, and non-acquisitiveness. Technology alone cannot solve the ecocrisis. More importantly, it requires a transformation of values and of lifestyle. Buddhadasa intended the Garden of Empowering Liberation not as a retreat from the world but as a place where all forms of life—humans, animals, and plants—live as a cooperative microcosm of a larger ecosystem and as a community where humans can develop an ecological ethic. Such an ethic highlights the virtues of restraint, simplicity, loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity, patience, wisdom, nonviolence, and generosity. These virtues represent moral ideals for all members of the Buddhist community— religious practioner, lay person, political leader, ordinary citizen, male, female. For example, political leaders who are mandated to maintain the peace and security of the nation, are also expected to embody the virtue of nonviolence. In this connection, King Asoka is cited for his rejection of animal sacrifice and protection of animals. The twin virtues of wisdom and compassion define the spiritual perfection of the bodhisattva (saint) but these prized moral qualities, associated especially with the Buddha or monks, are represented in narrative and didactic literature by a variety of human and animal life-forms. For contemporary engaged Buddhists—the Dalai Lama especially—a sense of responsibility rooted in compassion lies at the very heart of an ecological ethic: “The world grows smaller and smaller, more and more interdependent . . . today more than ever before life must be characterized by a sense of universal responsibility, not only . . . human to human but also human to other forms of life.”4 For many Buddhist environmentalists compassion necessarily follows an understanding of all life-forms as mutually interdependent. Others argue that a mere cognitive recognition of interdependence is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for an ecological ethic. These critics emphasize the centrality of practice in Buddhism and the tradition’s insistence on training in virtue and the threefold path to moral and spiritual excellence (morality, mindful awareness, wisdom). Among contemporary engaged Buddhists, the Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, has been the most insistent on the central role of mindful awareness in the development of a peaceful and sustainable world. Critics of the ethical saliency of the traditional Buddhist vision of human flourishing argue that philosohical concepts such as not-self (anatman) and emptiness (sunyata) undermine human autonomy and the distinction between self and other, essential aspects for an other-regarding ethic. What are the grounds for an ethic or laws that protect the civil rights of minorities or animal species threatened with extinction when philosophically Buddhism seems to undermine their significance by deconstructing their independent reality as an epistemological fiction? Furthermore, they point out that the most basic concepts of Buddhism—Nirvana, suffering, rebirth, not—self, and even causality-were intended to further the goal of the individual’s spiritual quest rather than engagement with the world. They conclude, therefore, either that Buddhism serves primarily a salvific or soteriological purpose or that the attempt to ecologize the tradition distorts the historical and philosophical record. Buddhist environmentalists respond that their tradition brings to the debates about human rights and the global environment an ethic of social and environmental responsibility more compatible with the language of compassion based on the mutual interdependence of all life-forms than the language of rights. Furthermore, to apply Buddhist insights to a broad ecology of human flourishing represents the tradition at its best, namely, a creative, dynamic response to its contemporary context. A related but more sympathetic criticism from within the Buddhist environmental movement suggests that for Buddhism to be an effective force for systemic institutional change, the traditional Buddhist emphasis on individual moral and spiritual transformation must be adjusted to address more forcefully the structures of oppression, exploitation, and environmental degradation. While preserving the unique Buddhist emphasis on the practice of mindful awareness and a lifestyle of simplicity, today’s engaged Buddhist activists are, indeed, addressing head-on international issues ranging from the disposal of nuclear waste to human rights violations in Myanmar and a just and peaceful resolution of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The most internationally visible leaders in this movement are the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh but they are joined by many others from around the globe including Sulak Sivaraksa, Ahangamage T. Ariyaratna, Joanna Macy, and Kenneth Kraft. About this Author Donald Swearer joined the Harvard Divinity School as Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies after he retired from Swarthmore College in 2004 as the Charles and Harriet Cox McDowell Professor of Religion. His recent publications include: The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia (SUNY, 1995/rev. ed. Silkworm Books, 2007); The Legend of Queen Cama (SUNY, 1998); Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand (Princeton, 2004); and The Sacred Mountains of Northern Thailand and Their Legends (Silkworm Books, 2004).

Endnotes

1 James Gustafson, A Sense of the Divine (Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 1994). Return to text 2 Lily de Silva, “The Hills Wherein My Soul Delights,” in Buddhism and Ecology, Martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, eds. (London: Cassell, 1992). Return to text 3 Martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, eds., Buddhism and Ecology (London: Cassell, 1992). Return to text 4 Nancy Nash, “The Buddhist Perception of Nature Project,” in Buddhist Perspectives on the Ecocrisis, Klas Sandell, ed., (Buddhist Publication Society, 1987). Return to text   This article was originally published in Earth Ethics 10, no.1 (Fall 1998). Copyright © 1998 Center for Respect of Life and Environment. Reprinted with permission.

 

Shinto Links

General Shinto Links

Ancient Japan Shinto Kokugakuin University: Encyclopedia of Shinto Pluralism Project Religious Tolerance Organization: Basic Information on Shinto Shinto and Buddhism: Wellsprings of Japanese Spirituality (article)

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Links: Tsubaki America Shinto Homepage

The Forum on Religion and Ecology does not support or thereby endorse any organizations listed in this section. Links are provided as possible research opportunities.

Shinto Engaged Projects

Engaged projects in religion and ecology refers to the activities of community organizations and religious institutions that are inspiring and grounding environmental concerns in practical programs, outreach, and education. These projects generally incorporate religious traditions as part of their environmental philosophy drawing on particular scriptures, symbols, and rituals. Engaged projects range from Learning Centers and Retreat Centers to Organic Farms and Alternative Energy Communities.

International Engaged Projects

Alliance of Religions and Conservation

Shinto Statements

Statement Prepared by the Jinja Honcho
Shinto Faith Statement

Shinto and Ecology Bibliography

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Reader, Ian. Religion in Contemporary Japan. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1991.
_______. “The Animism Renaissance Reconsidered: An Urgent Response to Dr. Yasuda.” Nichibunken Newsletter 6, May 1990, 14–16.

Reader, Ian, and George J. Tanabe, Jr. Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion of Japan. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1998.

Sonoda Minoru Shizen. “fudo to Shinto.” In Shinto: Nihon no minzoku shukyo, ed. Sonoda Minoru, 5–14. Tokyo: Komondo, 1990.

Tomiyama Kazuko. Land of Water and Forest, Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1998.
_______. Mizu to midori to tsuchi. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1971.

Totman, Conrad. The Green Archipelago: Forestry in Preindustrial Japan. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1989.

White, Lynn Jr. “The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis.” Science 155, no. 3767 (10 March 1967): 1203–1207.

Wong, Anny. “The Anti-Tropical Timber Campaign in Japan.” In Environmental Movements in Asia, eds. Arne Kalland and Gerard Persoon, 131–50. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Man and Nature in Asia Series, No. 4. Surrey: Curzon Press. 1998.

Yasuda Yoshinori. “Animism Renaissance.” Nichibunken Newsletter 5, January 1990, 2–4.

 

Copyright © 2004 Rosemarie Bernard.
Reprinted with permission.

Shinto

Shinto and Ecology:
Practice and Orientations to Nature

Rosemarie Bernard
Harvard University

Introduction
Shinto (or kannagara no michi, literally “the way of the deities”) is Japan’s indigenous religion. Shinto refers to diverse and localized religious beliefs, ritual practices, and institutions. On the one hand, Shinto encompasses local community practices, while on the other it also includes the elaborate and highly structured ceremonial practices of the imperial institution and, in earlier historical periods, of the state. From its beginnings in early Japanese history, Shinto has been profoundly influenced by Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Syncretic interaction with Buddhism, in particular, has been strong historically. Yet, at the beginning of Japan’s modernization Shinto would be officially separated from Buddhism at the level of divinities worshiped, ritual practices, and institutional structures. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Shinto ritual practices were centralized and reorganized according to a hierarchy that brought even the smallest outlying Shinto shrines within the fold of state administration, with the emperor and his rituals at the center. The effects of those modern transformations were profound as regards ceremonial practices and institutional structure, but less so upon the most fundamental beliefs that are characteristic of the Shinto orientation to the world.

Today, there are more than 80,000 Shinto shrines that are scattered all over the Japanese archipelago. There deities are worshiped and rituals are still performed according to the general patterns established by the state for all shrines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Yet this is carried out in keeping with localized tradition and regional or community preferences. Regionality of Shinto religious practice accounts for great diversity in Shinto, while those different instances share certain basic beliefs and values.

It is impossible to consider the topic of Shinto and ecology without making reference to the broader issue of Japanese cultural attitudes to the natural environment. This is because what one might describe as Shinto beliefs are often values that are entrenched in Japanese folk culture in general, and which find expression in other areas beyond religion, from sociopolitical organization to aesthetics, and so on. Yet, as Conrad Totman has noted in his work on the history of forestry in Japan,¹ the destruction of the natural environment gradually increased to such proportions that the archipelago came to stages of severe environmental degradation several times, only to be barely saved by systematic, usually centrally managed, programs of reforestation. Indeed, it is an irony that a country in which the boundaries between culture and nature are so fluid should have undergone such a degree of environmental degradation. However, such historical developments must also be understood against the background of Japanese culture, according to which nature is valued not as “wild nature,” but instead as “humanized” or “culturalized” nature. In Japan, nature is “cultivated” by culture. Nature is idealized in its “cultured” forms. Some would argue that historically religions, including Shinto, have played a part in the wanton exploitation of forest resources. On the other hand, Japanese indigenous religion and its orientation to the world, which are interconnected with nature and aesthetics, have a great deal to offer in the struggle to conserve the environment.

The Shinto beliefs and attitudes toward nature which are relevant to the problem of environmental preservation include three key points. First, great value is accorded sacred space and time, generally as shrines in groves, the boundaries of which are demarcated as distinct from the secular world. The location of Shinto shrines in local landscapes is an important dimension of their sacredness. As Japanese folklorists have often emphasized, the traditional Japanese village, in close proximity to a community shrine, is focused on agriculture, with seasonal worship of deities offered the fruits of production. The agricultural cycle provides the rhythms of ritual activities that punctuate the year. Cyclical time, periodic time repeats itself as an eternal process.

The second point notes a close relation between nature, deities (kami), and human beings. The interactivity of those three is such that human beings also act upon the world they inhabit with nature and deities. Preventing the natural world from devolving into a state of chaos is the goal of certain ritual action. Discretion towards nature and the kami is essential, since they nurture human life. In Shinto, and in Japanese folk beliefs more generally, the natural and social environments are interrelated. In spatial and topographical terms, this is manifested in the arrangement of traditional residences in relation to fields, mountains, and rivers. The community shrine, situated in a forested grove, is the very expression of the community itself (in a Durkheimian sense) that sacralizes itself in the demarcated domain of sacred space.

Finally, the idea of purification is a key aspect of all ritual activity in Shinto. Purification (harae) is performed to reestablish order and balance between nature, humans, and deities. Regularly performed as part of all ritual, as well as on special occasions during the year, purification ceremonies counteract pollution (kegare). Harm done or accreted pollution can be neutralized by means of ritual purification. The latter, in particular, is a key dimension of the relationship between the Japanese and nature, which warrants “cultivation” and exploitation of the environment on the one hand, yet which on the other emphasizes the need to rectify imbalances between nature, humans, and deities. Religious belief is not only a matter of thought, but equally of practice. While many Japanese are likely to believe that by virtue of their cultural identity they live in harmony with nature, one cannot help but recognize the ecological devastation of many parts of Japan. Shinto is a diverse set of beliefs and practices which have been deeply embeded in Japanese cultural history. Shinto ritual, in particular, has had a role to play in Japan’s modernization, and continues to be affected, as is all of Japanese society, by the impact of technological and economic change. At present, the only significant green spaces in crowded Japanese urban centers are the groves that surround Shinto shrines. Even the simple preservation of those shrine groves is a difficult task to achieve given the onslaught of pollution as well as pressures to make spatial concessions to further urban growth. The Shinto community is aware of the importance of its special position as guarantor of groves of urban and outlying greenery. Moreover, they are aware of the crucial challenges of translating tradition into modern relevance, so as to transform belief systems into environmental practice.

About this Author
Rosemarie Bernard is an anthropologist who has done research on Shinto ritual, specifically on the rites of renewal at the Grand Shrines of Ise, and on Japanese imperial ritual. From April 1993 to March 1994 she was an Information Officer in the Public Relations Section of Jingu Shicho (the bureaucracy that manages The Grand Shrines of Ise). She is currently a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. She is editing the forthcoming volume, Shinto and Ecology, in the CSWR/Harvard University Press World Religion and Ecology book series.

Endnotes
¹ Conrad Totman, The Green Archipelago (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1990).
Return to text

 

This article was originally published in Earth Ethics 10, no.1 (Fall 1998).
Copyright © 2004 Rosemarie Bernard.
Reprinted with permission.

Multimedia

Religion and a New Environmental Ethic: Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim




Pt. 1 Human Face of Climate Change: Mary Evelyn Tucker




Pt. 2 Human Face of Climate Change: Mary Evelyn Tucker

Pt. 3 Human Face of Climate Change: Mary Evelyn Tucker



350.org International Day of Climate Action: Mary Evelyn Tucker




Mary Evelyn Tucker at Cathedral of Saint John the Divine screening of RENEWAL




Pt. 1 Thomas Berry & The Great Work of Our Time: Anne Marie Dalton




Pt. 2 Thomas Berry & The Great Work of Our Time: Anne Marie Dalton




Pt. 1 Thomas Berry The Great Work: Mary Evelyn Tucker




Pt. 2 Thomas Berry The Great Work: Mary Evelyn Tucker




Pt. 3 Thomas Berry The Great Work: Christopher Key Chapple




Mary Evelyn Tucker at the Garrison Institute's Satyagraha

 

Why We Chose F&ES
In these short videos, students tell the world why they chose to study at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

 

Strong Evidence on Climate Change Underscores Need for Actions to Reduce Emissions…

Full title:

Strong Evidence on Climate Change Underscores Need for Actions to Reduce Emissions and Begin Adapting to Impacts

May 19, 2010

WASHINGTON — As part of its most comprehensive study of climate change to date, the National Research Council today issued three reports emphasizing why the U.S. should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change.  The reports by the Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, are part of a congressionally requested suite of five studies known as America's Climate Choices.

"These reports show that the state of climate change science is strong," said Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences.  "But the nation also needs the scientific community to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening, and focus also on when and where the most severe impacts will occur and what we can do to respond."

To read “Strong Evidence on Climate Change Underscores Need for Actions to Reduce Emissions and Begin Adapting to Impacts,” click here:

http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=05192010

 

A Comprehensive Ethical Analysis of the Copenhagen Accord

Were the December 2009 Copenhagen climate change talks a disaster or a positive step forward? This article surveys both perspectives and then examines the Copenhagen Accord, the three-page political document hastily cobbled together by world leaders in Copenhagen's final two days. The conclusion: most nations failed to live up to their ethical obligations in approaching the negotiations and the driving forces behind the content of the Copenhagen Accord are based upon ethically problematic assumptions and premises.

To read "A Comprehensive Ethical Analysis of the Copenhagen Accord," click here:

http://climateethics.org/?p=343#more-343

 

Ethics: Duties and Responsibilities, Not Just Narrow National Economic Interest

Some nations failed to approach the recent Copenhagen climate change negotiations from an ethical perspective, focusing instead on narrow national economic interests, according to a statement released by the Collaborative Program on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change in a December 11 press conference at the Copenhagen talks.

To read "Ethics: Crucial Missing Element in Negotiations - Duties and Responsibilities, Not Just Narrow National Economic Interest," click here:
http://climateethics.org/?p=320

To view the EDCC press conference, click here:
http://www3.cop15.meta-fusion.com/kongresse/cop15/templ/play.php?id_kongressmain=1&theme=unfccc&id_kongresssession=2433

 

Climate Map Shows World After 4 Degrees Celsius Rise

An interactive map of the world details the likely effects of a failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The map shows the impact of an average four degrees Celsius rise in global temperature on water availability, agricultural productivity, health, sea level rise, risk of fire, melting of ice sheets, and thawing of permafrost.  A September 2009 study by the Met Office Hadley Centre, the UK's climate change research organization and creators of the map, indicated that such a 4C rise could come as soon as 2060 without urgent and serious action to reduce emissions.

To access the interactive climate map, click here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2009/oct/22/climate-change-carbon-emissions

 

2000-2009, The Warmest Decade

The 2000-2009 decade is on track to be the hottest since records began in 1850, according to data released by the World Meteorological Organization, the U.N.'s weather agency, in December 2009.  The second warmest decade was the 1990s. Only the United States and Canada experienced cooler conditions than average in 2009 although Alaska had the second-warmest July on record.  In central Africa and southern Asia, 2009 will probably be the warmest year, but overall, 2009 will "be about the fifth-warmest year on record," said Michel Jarraud, WMO secretary-general.

To read the WMO press release, click here:
http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_869_en.html

 

Global Land-Ocean Temperature, 1880 - present

NASA's Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index graph provides a clear view of the steep rise in global temperatures since 1880 and particularly over the past three decades. The graph is a line plot of the index, 1880 to present, with the base period 1951-1980. The dotted black line is the annual mean and the solid red line is the five-year mean. The green bars show uncertainty estimates.

To see the Global Land-Ocean Temperature graph, click here:
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.A2.lrg.gif

 

The Copenhagen Accord: What Happened?

The results of the December climate change summit in Copenhagen are confusing even to veterans of the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  This short paper summarizes the Copenhagen events and provides clear answers to the following questions: What happened? Is it a good deal? Who wins and who loses? What is next?

To read "The Copenhagen Accord: What Happened?" click here:
http://www.iddri.org/Publications/Collections/Idees-pour-le-debat/Id_082009_guerin_wemaere_accord_copenhague.pdf

To read the Copenhagen Accord, click here:
http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/cop_15/application/pdf/cop15_cph_auv.pdf

 

World Will Warm Faster Than Predicted in Next Five Years

From 2009 to 2014, projected rises in anthropogenic influences and solar irradiance will increase global surface temperature 0.15 (+/-.03) degrees Celsius, a rate 50% greater than predicted by the IPCC, according to a study published August 15, 2009 in Geophysical Research Letters.  The study refutes recent claims by climate skeptics that "global warming has taken a break," based on cherry-picked data noting a leveling off of temperatures since 1998, the hottest year on record.

Abstract: "How will Earth's surface temperature change in future decades?" http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2009GL038932.shtml

Article: World will warm faster than predicted in next five years, study warns
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/27/world-warming-faster-study

Analysis from RealClimate.org (with chart and animated graph) http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/10/a-warming-pause/

The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change

The Stern Review, released on October 30, 2006, provides the most thorough and rigorous analysis to date of the costs and risks of climate change and reducing emissions and convincingly argues that the benefits of strong, early global action to mitigate climate change will be far lower than the costs.  Among its conclusions:

-- Climate change will affect the basic elements of life for people around the world - access to water, food production, health, and the environment. Hundreds of millions of people could suffer hunger, water shortages and coastal flooding as the world warms.

-- Climate change could have very serious impacts on growth and development. If no action is taken to reduce emissions, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could reach double its pre-industrial level as early as 2035, virtually committing us to a global average temperature rise of over 2°C.  In the longer term, there would be more than a 50% chance that the temperature rise would exceed 5°C.  Such a radical change in the physical geography of the world would lead to major changes in the human geography - where people live and how they live their lives.

-- If we don't act, the overall costs and risks of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5% of global GDP each year, now and forever. If a wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, the estimates of damage could rise to 20% of GDP or more. In contrast, the costs of action - reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change - can be limited to around 1% of global GDP each year.

The report was prepared by Lord Stern, then head of the UK Government Economic Service and now chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and IG Patel professor of economics and government at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Full Report: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/stern_review_report.htm
Executive Summary (long): http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/Executive_Summary.pdf
Executive Summary (short): http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/CLOSED_SHORT_executive_summary.pdf

Moral and Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change: Appeal to World Leaders

September 2009

We, the undersigned non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council, leaders of the world’s religions, and other members of civil society, urge the governments of the world to participate in the UN High Level Event on Climate Change through representatives at the highest level and unequivocally call on them to:

 

• Consider deeply the ethical and moral questions at the root of the climate change crisis—questions of justice and equity that will determine the survival of cultures, ecosystems, and present as well as future generations;
• Recognize that the quest for climate justice is not a competition for limited resources but part of an unfolding process towards greater degrees of unity among nations as they endeavor to build a sustainable, just and peaceful civilization;
• Distinguish their contributions to this High-Level Event by demonstrating trust, justice, solidarity, and a vision of prosperity for the most vulnerable populations;
• Demonstrate courage and moral leadership as they articulate the vision and secure the foundations for a comprehensive and legally binding agreement during the 15^th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCC and the 5th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in December 2009; and
• Ensure that commitments in all arenas of the climate change challenge are guided by ethical and moral considerations so as to inspire the trust and confidence of individuals, communities and institutions to effect the changes needed to build a sustainable civilization.
• We call on the gathered leaders to summon the same spirit and sense of urgency that led to the creation of the United Nations, to forge a climate change agreement worthy of the trust of humankind.

 

Bahá’í International Community,

Citizens for Science Accountability & Safety,

Company of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul,

Congregation of Notre Dame,

Franciscans International,

GRATIS Foundation,

Initiatives of Change International,

International Peace Research Association,

International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation,

International Public Policy Institute,

International Women’s Anthropology Conference,

Loretto Community,

Oxfam,

Passionists International,

School Sisters of Notre Dame,

Sisters of Charity Federation,

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur,

Society of Catholic Medical Missionaries,

Solar Cookers International,

SustainUS,

The Congregations of St. Joseph,

UNANIMA International,

WEDO,

WOCAN

 

http://www.bic.org/statements-and-reports/ethical-dimensions-appeal-for-high-level-event.pdf

Religion

	Overview of World Religions and Ecology Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim Yale University 2009 Background The environmental crisis is one that is well documented in its various interlocking manifestations of industrial pollution, resource depletion, and population explosion. The urgency of the problems are manifold, namely, the essential ingredients for human survival, especially water supplies and agricultural land, are being threatened across the planet by population and consumption pressures. With the collapse of fishing industries and with increasing soil erosion and farm land loss, serious questions are being raised about the ability of the human community to feed its own offspring. Moreover, the widespread destruction of species and the unrelenting loss of habitat continue to accelerate. Climate change threatens to undermine efforts to reverse these trends and to move toward a sustainable future for humans and nature. Clearly religions need to be involved with the development of a more comprehensive worldview and ethics to ground movements toward sustainability. Whether from an anthropocentric or a biocentric perspective, more adequate environmental values need to be formulated and linked to areas of public policy. Scholars of religion as well as religious leaders, and laity can be key players in this articulation process. Moreover, there are calls from other concerned parties to participate in a broader alliance to halt the loss of species, topsoil, and natural resources as well as to mitigate the effects of climate change. This alliance of scholars, religious leaders, and activists is creating common ground for dialogue and creative partnership in envisioning and implementing long range, sustainable solutions to some of our most pressing environmental problems. This is critical because the attitudes and values that shape people’s concepts of nature come primarily from religious worldviews and ethical practices. The moral imperative and value systems of religions are indispensable in mobilizing the sensibilities of people toward preserving the environment for future generations. One of the greatest challenges to contemporary religions, then, is how to respond to the environmental crisis which some believe has been perpetuated by the enormous inroads of materialism and secularization in contemporary societies, especially those societies arising in or influenced by the modern West. Others such as the medieval historian Lynn White have suggested that the emphasis in Judaism and Christianity on the transcendence of God above nature and the dominion of humans over nature has led to a devaluing of the natural world and a subsequent destruction of its resources for utilitarian ends. While the particulars of this argument have been vehemently debated, it is increasingly clear that the environmental crisis presents a serious challenge to the world’s religions. This is especially true because many of these religions have traditionally been concerned with the paths of personal salvation that frequently emphasize other worldly goals and reject this world as corrupting. How to adapt religious teachings to this task of revaluing nature so as to prevent its destruction marks a significant new phase in religious thought. Indeed, as the historian of religions, Thomas Berry, has so aptly pointed out, what is necessary is a comprehensive reevaluation of human-Earth relations if the human is to continue as a viable species on an increasingly degraded planet. In addition to major economic and political changes, this will require adopting worldviews that differ from those which have captured the imagination of contemporary industrialized societies that view nature as a commodity to be exploited. How to utilize the insights of the world’s religions is a task of formidable urgency. Indeed, the formulation of a new ecological theology and environmental ethics is already emerging from within several of the world’s religions. Clearly each of the world’s religious traditions has something to contribute to these discussions. Broader Ethical Context for Sustainability The focus of ethics in the world’s religions has been largely human centered. Humane treatment of humans is often seen not only as an end in itself but also as a means to eternal reward. While some have critiqued this anthropocentric perspective of world religions as rather narrow in light of environmental degradation and the loss of species, it is nonetheless important to recall that this perspective has also helped to promote major movements for social justice and human rights. While social justice is an ongoing and unfinished effort of engagement, the challenge for the religions is also to enlarge their ethical concerns to include the more than human world. Social justice and environmental integrity are now being seen as part of a continuum. For some decades environmental philosophers have been developing the field of environmental ethics that can now provide enormous resources for the world’s religions in considering how to expand their ethical focus. Emerging biocentric, zoocentric, and ecocentric ethics are attentive to life forms, animal species, and ecosystems within a planetary context. A new “systems ethics” of part and whole, local and global, will assist the religions in articulating a more comprehensive form of environmental ethics from within their traditions. This is a major part of the development of religions into a dialogue with the sustainability movement. Humans are seeking an ethics to respond not only to suicide and homicide but also biocide and ecocide. Thus religions are gradually moving from exclusively anthropocentric ethics to ecocentric ethics and even to anthropocosmic ethics. The latter is a term used by Tu Weiming to describe the vibrant interaction of Heaven, Earth, and humans in a Confucian worldview.(1) In this context, humans complete the natural and cosmic world and become participants in the dynamic transformative life processes. This idea can extend ethics to apply to the land-species-human-planet-universe continuum. This is a fruitful yet still emerging path toward a comprehensive ethics for sustainability. This path has various challenges, including within the religions themselves. Problems and Promise It must be recognized that the world’s religions, through intolerance and exclusive claims to truth, have often contributed to tensions between peoples, including wars or forced conversion. It is also the case that religions have often been at the forefront of reforms, such as in the labor movement, in immigration law, in justice for the poor and oppressed. The movements of non-violence for freedom in India and for integration in the United States were inspired by religious principles and lead by religious leaders. In addition, the emerging dialogue on religion and ecology also acknowledges that in seeking long-term environmental sustainability, there is clearly a disjunction between contemporary problems regarding the environment and traditional religions as resources. The religious traditions are not equipped to supply specific guidance in dealing with complex issues such as climate change, desertification, or deforestation. At the same time one recognizes that certain orientations and values from the world’s religions may not only be useful but even indispensable for a more comprehensive cosmological orientation and environmental ethics. The disjunction of traditional religious resources and modern environmental problems in their varied cultural contexts needs to be highlighted so that new conjunctions can be identified. Scholars of religion and ecology acknowledge that religious scriptures and commentaries were written in an earlier age with a different audience in mind. Similarly, many of the myths and rituals of the world’s religions were developed in earlier historical contexts, frequently agricultural, while the art and symbols were created within worldviews very different from our own. Likewise, the ethics and morality of the world’s religions respond primarily to anthropocentric perspectives regarding the importance of human-human relations, and the soteriology and spirituality are formulated in relation to theological perspectives of enhancing divine-human relations. Despite these historical and cultural contingencies, there are particular religious attitudes and practices as well as common ethical values that can be identified for broadening and deepening environmental perspectives. Thus we affirm the actual and potential contribution of religious ideas for informing and inspiring ecological theology, environmental ethics, and grassroots activism. Religions are now reclaiming and reconstructing these powerful religious attitudes, practices, and values toward re-conceiving mutually enhancing human-Earth relations. Careful methodological reflection is needed in considering how to bring forward in coherent and convincing ways the resources of religious traditions in response to particular aspects of our current environmental crisis.  It entails a self-reflexive yet creative approach to retrieving and reclaiming texts and traditions, reevaluating and re-examining what will be most efficacious, and thus restoring and reconstructing religious traditions in a creative postmodern world. All of this involves a major effort to evoke the power and potential of religious traditions to function even more effectively as sources of spiritual inspiration, moral transformation, and sustainable communities in the midst of the environmental challenges faced by the Earth community. That is because world religions are being recognized in their great variety as more than simply a belief in a transcendent deity or a means to an afterlife. Rather, religions are seen as providing a broad orientation to the cosmos and human roles in it. Attitudes toward nature thus have been significantly, although not exclusively, shaped by religious views for millennia in cultures around the globe. In this context, then, religions can be understood in their largest sense as a means whereby humans, recognizing the limitations of phenomenal reality, undertake specific practices to effect self-transformation and community cohesion within a cosmological context. Religions thus refer to those cosmological stories, symbol systems, ritual practices, ethical norms, historical processes, and institutional structures that transmit a view of the human as embedded in a world of meaning and responsibility, transformation and celebration. Religions connect humans with a divine presence or numinous force. They bond human communities and they assist in forging intimate relations with the broader Earth community. In summary, religions link humans to the larger matrix of indeterminacy and mystery from which life arises, unfolds, and flourishes. Certain distinctions need to be made here between the particularized expressions of religion identified with institutional or denominational forms of religion and those broader worldviews that animate such expressions. By worldviews we mean those ways of knowing, embedded in symbols and stories, which find lived expressions, consciously and unconsciously in the life of particular cultures. In this sense, worldviews arise from and are formed by human interactions with natural systems or ecologies. Consequently, one of the principal concerns of religions in many communities is to describe in story form the emergence of the local geography as a realm of the sacred. Worldview generates rituals and ethics, ways of acting, which guide human behavior in personal, communal, and ecological exchanges. The exploration of worldviews as they are both constructed and lived by religious communities is critical because it is here that we discover formative attitudes regarding nature, habitat, and our place in the world. In the contemporary period to resituate human-Earth relations in a more balanced mode will require both a reevaluation of sustainable worldviews and a formulation of viable environmental ethics. A culture's worldviews are contained in religious cosmologies and expressed through rituals and symbols. Religious cosmologies describe the experience of origination and change in relation to the natural world. Religious rituals and symbols arise out of cosmologies and are grounded in the dynamics of nature. They provide rich resources for encouraging spiritual and ethical transformation in human life. This is true for example in Buddhism, which sees change in nature and the cosmos as a potential source of suffering for the human. Confucianism and Daoism, on the other hand, affirm nature's changes as the source of the Dao. In addition, the death-rebirth cycle of nature serves as an inspiring mirror for human life, especially in the Western monotheistic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All religions translate natural cycles into rich tapestries of interpretive meanings that encourage humans to move beyond tragedy, suffering, and despair. Human struggles expressed in religious symbolism find their way into a culture's art, music, and literature. By linking human life and patterns of nature, religions have provided a meaningful orientation to life's continuity as well as to human diminishment and death.  In addition, religions have helped to celebrate the gifts of nature such as air, water, and food that sustain life. In short, religions have been significant catalysts for humans in coping with change and transcending suffering while at the same time grounding humans in nature's rhythms and Earth's abundance. The creative tensions between humans seeking to transcend this world and yearning to be embedded in this world are part of the dynamics of world religions. Christianity, for example, holds the promise of salvation in the next life as well as celebration of the incarnation of Christ as a human in the world. Similarly, Hinduism holds up a goal of moksha, of liberation from the world of samsara while also highlighting the ideal of Krishna acting in the world. This realization of creative tensions leads to a more balanced understanding of the possibilities and limitations of religions regarding environmental concerns. Many religions retain other worldly orientations toward personal salvation outside this world; at the same time they can and have fostered commitments to social justice, peace and ecological integrity in the world. A key component that has been missing in much environmental discourse is how to identify and tap into the cosmologies, symbols, rituals, and ethics that inspire changes of attitudes and actions for creating a sustainable future within this world. Historically, religions have contributed to social change in areas such as the abolitionist and civil rights movements. There are new alliances emerging now that are joining social justice with environmental justice. In alignment with these "ecojustice" concerns, religions can encourage values and ethics of reverence, respect, restraint, redistribution, responsibility, and renewal for formulating a broader environmental ethics that includes humans, ecosystems, and other species. With the help of religions humans are now advocating for a reverence for the Earth and its long evolutionary unfolding, respect for the myriad species who share the planet with us, restraint in the use of natural resources on which all life depends, equitable distribution of wealth, recognition of responsibility of humans for the continuity of life into future generations, and renewal of the energies for the great work of building a sustainable Earth community.  These are the virtues for sustainability, which the world’s religions can contribute. The Call and the Response It is, thus, with some encouragement that we note the growing call for the world’s religions to participate in these changes toward a more sustainable planetary future. There have been various appeals from environmental groups and from scientists and parliamentarians for religious leaders to respond to the environmental crisis. In addition, there has been a striking growth in monographs and journal articles in the area of religion and ecology. Several national and international meetings have also been held on this subject. For example, environmental groups such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have sponsored interreligious meetings, such as the one in Assisi in 1986. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in North America has established an annual Environmental Sabbath and distributes thousands of packets of materials for uses in congregations throughout the United States and Canada. The Parliament of World Religions, held in Chicago in 1993 and attended by some 8,000 people from all over the globe, issued a Global Ethics of Cooperation of Religions on Human and Environmental Issues statement. The subsequent Parliaments held in Capetown and Barcelona had the environment as a major theme. The Parliament planned for December 2009 in Melbourne also has a major focus on the role of religions in contributing to a sustainable future. International meetings on the environment such as the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders have been held in Oxford (1988), Moscow (1990), Rio (1992), and Kyoto (1993). These included religious leaders such as the Dalai Lama as well as diplomats and heads of state such as Mikhail Gorbachev, who hosted the Moscow conference and attended the Kyoto conference to set up an International Green Cross for environmental emergencies. Moreover, the Tehran Seminar on Environment, Culture, and Religion was held in Iran in June 2001 and one on “Environment, Peace and the Dialogue of Civilizations and Cultures” was organized in May 2005. Both of these were sponsored by the Iranian government with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme. Gorbachev has held several Earth Dialogues on “Globalization: Is Ethics the Missing Link?” held in Lyon, France in 2002, in Barcelona, Spain in 2004, and in Brisbane, Australia in 2006. The International Union for the Conservation organized the first panel on “Spirituality and Conservation” at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona in 2009. Since 1995 the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has convened symposia on “Religion, Science, and the Environment” focused on water issues in Europe, the Amazon, and the Arctic. Similarly, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) based in England has been convening conferences and activating religious communities. In the United States, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRP) has organized the Jewish and Christian communities on this issue. The time is thus propitious for encouraging the contributions of particular religions to solving the ecological crisis, especially by developing a more comprehensive environmental ethics to ground movements focused on sustainability. Conclusion: The Need for Interdisciplinary Dialogue Clearly religions have a central role in the formulation of worldviews that orient us to the natural world and the articulation of ethics that guide human behavior. The size and complexity of the problems we face require collaborative efforts both among the religions and in dialogue with other key domains of human endeavor. Religions, thus, need to be in conversation with sectors—science, economics, education, and public policy—that have addressed environmental issues. Environmental changes will be motivated by these disciplines in very specific ways: namely, economic incentives will be central to adequate distribution of resources, scientific analysis will be critical to understanding nature’s economy, educational awareness will be indispensable to creating modes of sustainable life, public policy recommendations will be invaluable in shaping national and international priorities, and moral and spiritual values will be crucial for the transformations required for life in an ecological age. Thomas Berry has observed that assisting humans by degrading the natural world cannot lead to a sustainable community. The only sustainable community is one that fits the human economy into the ever-renewing economy of the planet. The human system, in its every aspect, is a subsystem of the Earth system, whether we are speaking of economics or physical well being or rules of law. In essence, human flourishing and planetary prosperity are intimately linked. Endnotes 1. The word “anthropocosmic” is used by Tu Weiming in Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative Transformation (Albany: State University of New York, 1985). Return to text

More Statements from World Religions

This section outlines some of the official statements on religion and ecology. It is divided into four subsections:

1. Early Statements on Religion and Ecology

2. Official Statements on Religion and Ecology from Religious Organizations

3. Official Statements on Religion and Ecology

4. Church Related Organizations Working with Environmental Issues

The statements listed here are reflective of some of the current statements on religion and ecology. It is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of all statements on religion and ecology.
 

1. Early Statements Calling for the Religious Community to Address Environmental Issues

Global Forum, Moscow: January 1990
(Obtained Through the National Religious Partnership for the Environment)
“Preserving and Cherishing the Earth: An Appeal for Joint Commitment in Science and Religion”

National Religious Partnership for the Environment 1991
“The Joint Appeal in Religion and Science: Statement by Religious Leaders at the Summit on Environment”

Union of Concerned Scientists 1992
“World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity”

 

2. Official Statements on Religion and Ecology from Religious Organizations

Buddhism

Statement Prepared by Kevin Fossey
Buddhism Faith Statement on Ecology

Daoism

The China Daoist Association
Daoist Faith Statement

Indigenous Traditions

Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER)
Environmental Capacity-building Initiatives for First Nations

First Nations Environmental Network
“Voices for Mother Earth”

Statement Submitted by Thomas Banyacya
Hopi Message to the United Nations General Assembly

Jainism

Statement Prepared by Dr L. M. Singhvi for the Institute of Jainology
Jain Faith Statement

Judaism

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL)
“Mission Statement”

Interfaith Climate Network
Let There Be Light: Energy Conservation and God's Creation

Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Confronting the Challenge of Climate Change

Jewish Council for Public Affairs
JCPA Statement on Environmental Leadership and Justice

Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Resolution On Energy And Environment Priorities

National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council
Statement on The Protection of Biological Diversity

Statement Prepared by Professor Nahum Rakover for the
World Jewish Congress
Jewish Faith Statement

Shinto 

Statement Prepared by the Jinja Honcho
Shinto Faith Statement

Christianity

National Council of Churches (NCC)
Eco-justice Working Group

 
National Religious Partnership for the Environment
“Mission Statement”

World Council of Churches
Justice, Peace, and Creation Concerns
“The Earth’s Atmosphere: Responsible Caring and Equitable Sharing for a Global Commons”
“WCC Statement to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change COP3” 
"Churches for Water in Africa"

Interfaith Organizations

Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship
The Montserrat Statement (Buddhist and Christian)
 

Other Organizations: Religion and Science

Joint Appeal by Religion and Science for the Environment
“Declaration of the ‘Mission to Washington’”

 

3. Official Statements on Religion and Ecology

Christian Denominational Statements

Note that official statements and resolutions are defined differently from various denominational perspectives. Please read the overview pages of each denomination to gain a clearer understanding of how these statements are presented and acted upon within the organization.
 

American Baptist
“Policy Statements and Resolutions Home Page”
Policy Statement on “Ecology: An Ecological Situational Analysis”
Resolution on “Environmental Concerns”
Resolution on “Global Warming”
Resolution on “Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste”
Resolution on “Individual Lifestyle for Ecological Responsibility”
Resolution on “Nuclear Power: Seeking Rational Solutions”


Catholic Church
Alberta Bishops Letter on Ecology (October 4, 1998)
“Celebrate Life: Care for Creation”

Archdiocese of Santa Fe (October 15–16, 2000)
New Mexico Religious Leaders Statement to the Interfaith Climate Change Training Event

Bishops Pastoral Letter (2001)
“Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good”
“The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good: Reflection Guide”

Boston Province Bishops Pastoral Letter on the Environment (October 4, 2000)
“And God Saw That It Was Good”

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)
“What is Happening to Our Beautiful Land?”

New Mexico Catholic Conference
“Partnership for the Future”

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
“Toward a Better Distribution of Land”

Pope John Paul
Address to Farmers and Agricultural Representatives (2000)
“Earth is Entrusted to Humanity’s Use, Not Abuse”

Pope John Paul
“The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility”

Pope John Paul XXIII: Encyclical Letter
Pacem in Terris: “On Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity, and Liberty”

Pope John Paul’s Homily (2000)
“We Must Be the Custodians of Nature”

Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople
Roman Catholic-Eastern Orthodox Joint Declaration on the Environment

Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
Environmental Initiatives
Community Supported Agriculture

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
Environmental Justice Public Policy (Brownfields, Energy, Takings, Climate Change)
“Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence, and the Common Good”
“Renewing the Earth”
USCCB Environmental Justice Program

Episcopal Church
General List of Statements on:
Environmental Stewardship
Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation
Land Use

Episcopal Church Involvement in Special Projects
“Peace and Justice: Environmental Stewardship”

Other Episcopal Resources
Episcopal Ecological Network (EEN)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Caring for Creation

Studies and Other Study Papers
"Can New Nuclear Weapons Prevent Nuclear War?"
Nuclear Energy: Problems and Promises (1980)

Church Involvement in Special Projects
Environmental Education and Advocacy

 

Greek Orthodox: Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Presentations and Reports from Seminars and Symposiums on Religion, Science, and the Environment

Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople
Protocol No. 765

Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and Pope John Paul II
Eastern Orthodox-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the Environment 

United Church of Canada
Energy in the One Earth Community
Justice, Peace, and Creation
One Earth Community: A Statement of Ethical Principles for Environment and Development

United Methodist Church
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church
Statements on “Animal Life”
Statements on “Energy Resources Utilization”
Statements on “Space" and on “Science and Technology”
Statements on “The Natural World”
Statements on “Water, Air, Soil, Minerals, Plants”
Additional related statements about the Natural World can be found in The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church (no on-line format available).
 

Unitarian Universalist
General Resources
UU Master Page for Actions, Resolutions, and Resources (1961�2000)
Master page on “Ecological Resolutions”

General Environmental Resolutions
Resolution on “Earth, Air, Water, and Fire” (1997)
Resolution on the “Environment” (1969)
Resolution on the “Environment” (1971)
Resolution on “Natural Resources” (1966)
Resolution on “Protecting the Biosphere” (1989)
“Seventh Principal of the UU Principals and Purposes Statement”

Energy Issues
Resolution on “Alternative Sources and Conservation of Energy” (1981)
Resolution on “Safer Alternatives to the Alaska Pipeline” (1973)
Resolution on “Energy” (1977)
Resolution on “Nuclear Power” (1976)
Resolution on “Safer Sources of Energy” (1992)
Resolution on “Solar Heating” (1979)

Environmental Justice
Resolution on “Carcinogens in Air and Water” (1976)
Resolution on “Environmental Justice” (1994)
Resolution on “Toxic Substances and Hazardous Waste” (1984)
Resolution on “Toxic Threats to Children” (1997)

Policy Issues
Resolution on “Problems of Environmental Policy” (1977)
Resolutions on “United Nations and Earth Day Celebrations” (1994)

Population
Resolution on “Choices Affecting Population” (1990)
Resolution on “Population” (1962)
Resolution on “Population and Development” (1996)
Resolution on “Population and the Quality of Life” (1975)
Resolution on “Population Stabilization” (1973)
Resolution on “Survival and Population Control” (1970)
Resolution on “World Hunger and Population Control” (1966)
 

Additional Denominational Statements on the Environment
The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty

 

Islamic Statements

Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Guardians of the Natural Order

United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development
Islamic Declaration on Sustainable Development
The original draft of the first official Islamic statement was entitled, the "Jeddah Environment Declaration." This statement was later renamed the "Islamic Declaration on Sustainable Development." This statement is included in the United Nations (UN) World Summit on Development (Johannesburg, South Africa) paper entitled, "General Framework of Islamic Agenda for Sustainable Development Islamic Declaration on Sustainable Development: Background Paper No.5."

Statement Prepared by Hyder Ihsan Mahasneh for the Muslim World League
Islamic Faith Statement

 

 

4. Religiously Related Organizations Working with Environmental Issues

Christianity

Episcopal
The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS)
“Mission Statement”

Episcopal Power and Light: The Regeneration Project

The Episcopal Working Group on Science, Technology, and Faith
“Mission Statement”

Lutheran
Environmental Education and Advocacy

Presbyterian
Presbyterians for Restoring Creation
“Mission Statement”

Unitarian Universalist
Ministry for Earth (formerly the Seventh Principal Project)

Other Ecumenical Agencies
Eco-Justice Ministries

Climate Policy: Squaring Up To Reality

Worldwide reduction of greenhouse gas emissions along with funding for adaptation to climate change, particularly for nations which can least afford adaptation measures, will need to be much stronger than currently planned if dangerous global impacts of climate change are to be avoided.  This May 2008 article from Nature Reports Climate Change, whose lead author Martin Parry is the former co-chair of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, presents opportunities for world leaders to address this challenge.

To read “Climate Policy: Squaring Up To Reality,” click here:

http://www.nature.com/climate/2008/0806/full/climate.2008.50.html

Pace of Climate Change Exceeds Estimates of 2007 IPCC Report

The pace of global warming is accelerating much faster than was predicted in the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, because industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased more quickly than expected and higher temperatures are triggering self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms in global ecosystems.   Scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University released their findings on February 14^th at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  “We are basically looking now at a future climate that’s beyond anything we’ve considered seriously in climate model simulations,” said Christopher Field, principle investigator of the study.

To read more on the Carnegie Institution’s AAAS paper, click here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/14/AR2009021401757.html

To read more on why the 2007 IPCC report is already out of date, click here:
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2120

Interfaith

A Climate Change Call to Action from the Global Council of the United Religions Initiative
February 12, 2010
http://www.uri.org/Features/Features_Main/climatechangestatement.html


A Spiritual Obligation to Act on Climate Change
By Rev. Nelson Bock, Denver Post
September 30, 2009
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13446139


Statement of the World's Religious Traditions on Climate Change
September 21, 2009
http://www.religionsforpeace.org/initiatives/protect-earth


Moral and Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change: Appeal to World Leaders
September 2009
http://www.bic.org/statements-and-reports/ethical-dimensions-appeal-for-high-level-event.pdf


Uppsala Interfaith Climate Manifesto
October 2008
http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?di=173302


An Interfaith Declaration on the Moral Responsibility of the U.S. Government to Address Global Warming
The Regeneration Project and the Interfaith Power and Light campaign http://www.theregenerationproject.org/
May 2007
http://www.theregenerationproject.org/mfiles/Interfaith%20Declaration.pdf


Common Declaration of Pope Benedict XVI and The Archbishop of Canterbury His Grace Rowan Williams
November 23, 2006
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20061123_common-decl_en.html


Earth's Climate Embraces Us All: A Plea from Religion and Science for Action on Global Climate Change
The National Religious Partnership on the Environment http://www.nrpe.org/index.html
May 2004
http://www.nrpe.org/issues/i_air/air_interfaith01.htm


Common Declaration on Environmental Ethics
Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
June 10, 2002
http://212.77.1.243/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2002/june/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20020610_venice-declaration_en.html


Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship
February 1, 2000
http://www.cornwallalliance.org/articles/read/the-cornwall-declaration-on-environmental-stewardship/

 

Shinto

Shinto Faith Statement on Ecology
2003
http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=74

Prepared by the Jinja Honcho, the representative body of all Shinto Shrines in Japan.  From the book, Faith in Conservation, by Martin Palmer with Victoria Finlay, published by the World Bank in 2003.

Judaism

Jewish Values and Position of the Reform Jewish Movement on Climate Change
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
2009
http://rac.org/advocacy/issues/issuecc/jp/


The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) Mission Statement
2007
http://www.coejl.org/~coejlor/about/mission.php

COEJL deepens the Jewish community’s commitment to the stewardship of creation and mobilizes the resources of Jewish life and learning to protect the Earth and all its inhabitants.


World Jewish Congress Faith Statement on Ecology
2003
http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=81

Prepared on behalf of the World Jewish Congress by Professor Nahum Rakover, an Orthodox legalist and Torah/Talmud scholar.  From the book, Faith in Conservation, by Martin Palmer with Victoria Finlay, published by the World Bank in 2003.


Global Warming: A Jewish Response
Prepared by the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) for the National Interfaith Training on Global Warming
September 2000
http://www.coejl.org/climatechange/gw_jewishresponse.php
 

Jainism

Jainism Faith Statement on Ecology
2003
http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=82

Prepared on behalf of the Institute of Jainology by Dr L. M. Singhvi, President of the Jain Institute, the main body bringing together the three distinct traditions of the Jains.  From the book, Faith in Conservation, by Martin Palmer with Victoria Finlay, published by the World Bank in 2003.

Islam

Islamic Faith Statement on Ecology
2003
http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=75

Prepared on behalf of the Muslim World League by Hyder Ihsan Mahasneh, a biologist, Islamic scholar, and the first African head of the Kenya National Parks Service.  From the book, Faith in Conservation, by Martin Palmer with Victoria Finlay, published by the World Bank in 2003.


Islamic Declaration on Sustainable Development
September 2002
http://science-islam.net/article.php3?id_article=261&lang=fr

Submitted by the First Islamic Conference of Environment Ministers at the United Nations
World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa

Hinduism

Hindu Declaration on Climate Change

Presented for Consideration to the Convocation of Hindu Spiritual Leaders
Parliament of the World’s Religions, Melbourne, Australia, December 8, 2009

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/xpress/hindu-press-international/2009/12/07/hindu-declaration-on-climate-change/

 

Daoism

Daoism Faith Statement on Ecology
2003
http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=70

Prepared by The China Daoist Association, based at White Cloud Temple in Beijing, the leading body representing all Daoists in mainland China.  It is an authoritative statement by the Association.  From the book, Faith in Conservation, by Martin Palmer with Victoria Finlay, published by the World Bank in 2003.
 

Confucianism

to come...

Christianity - Protestant Denominations and Organizations

Episcopal Church / Anglican Communion

The Hope We Share: A Vision For Copenhagen
A Statement from the Anglican Communion Environmental Network
http://acen.anglicancommunion.org/index.cfm
October 12, 2009
http://acen.anglicancommunion.org/_userfiles/File/copenhagen_ACEN.pdf

Resolution B002: Response to Global Warming
2007
http://gc2006.org/legislation/view_leg_detail.aspx?id=188&type=ORIGINAL

Common Declaration of Pope Benedict XVI and The Archbishop of Canterbury His Grace Rowan Williams
November 23, 2006
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20061123_common-decl_en.html


Evangelical

Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action
The Evangelical Climate Initiative http://christiansandclimate.org/
February 8, 2006
http://christiansandclimate.org/learn/call-to-action/

Global Warming Briefing for Evangelical Leaders
Evangelical Environmental Network http://www.creationcare.org/
2005
http://www.creationcare.org/files/global_warming_briefing.pdf

On the Care of Creation: An Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation
Evangelical Environmental Network http://www.creationcare.org/
1994
http://www.creationcare.org/resources/declaration.php


Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Lutherans Reflect on Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
December 31, 2009
http://www.elca.org/Who-We-Are/Our-Three-Expressions/Churchwide-Organization/Communication-Services/News/Releases.aspx?a=4377;#&&a=4377


Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice
1993
http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice/Advocacy/Issues/Environment-and-Energy/Global-Warming-Climate-Change.aspx


National Council of Churches of Christ

Eco-Justice Programs
http://www.nccecojustice.org/globalwarming.htm


Presbyterian Church U.S.A.

Call to Restore the Creation
1990
http://www.pcusa.org/environment/restore.htm


Quaker / Society of Friends

About the Responsibility to Address Global Climate Change
2000
http://www.nccecojustice.org/globalwarmingfriends.htm


Reformed Church in America

Climate Change Update by the Commission on Christian Action
1993
http://www.nccecojustice.org/globalwarmingreformed.htm


Southern Baptist

Southern Baptist Declaration on the Environment and Climate Change
The Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative http://www.baptistcreationcare.org/
March 10, 2008
http://www.baptistcreationcare.org/node/1


Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

Statement of Conscience on Global Warming/Climate Change
2006
http://www.uua.org/socialjustice/socialjustice/statements/8061.shtml

Beyond Science: Ethical/Religious Dimensions of Global Warming
June 23, 2006
http://uuministryforearth.org/globalwarming/BeyondScienceGA2006.pdf


United Church of Christ

A Resolution on Climate Change
2007
http://www.ucc.org/synod/resolutions/climate-change-final.pdf


United Methodist Church
God’s Creation and the Church
2004
http://archives.umc.org/interior_print.asp?ptid=4&mid=963

Environmental Justice for a Sustainable Future
2004
http://archives.umc.org/interior_print.asp?ptid=4&mid=959

Environmental Stewardship
2000
http://archives.umc.org/interior_print.asp?ptid=4&mid=962


World Alliance of Reformed Churches

The Accra Confession: Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth
2004
http://www.pcusa.org/acswp/pdf/accra.pdf


World Council of Churches

Statement to the high-level segment of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP11 and COP/MOP1)
December 9, 2005
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-programmes/justice-diakonia-and-responsibility-for-creation/climate-change-water/091205-statement-to-cop-11-and-copmop-1.html

Christianity - Eastern Orthodox

Message by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for World Environment Day
June 5, 2009
http://www.ec-patr.org/docdisplay.php?lang=en&id=1071&tla=en


Message by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Synaxis of the Heads of Orthodox Churches
October 10, 2008
http://www.pontificalorientalinstitute.com/newsengl/ne/patriarch-bartholomew-at-the-synaxis-of-the-heads-of-orthodox-churches.html


Message of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the Day of the Protection of the Environment
September 1, 2008
http://www.ec-patr.org/docdisplay.php?lang=en&id=970&tla=en


Encyclical of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the Day of the Protection of the Environment
September 1, 2006
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-programmes/justice-diakonia-and-responsibility-for-creation/climate-change-water/01-09-06-encyclical-of-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew.html


Common Declaration on Environmental Ethics
Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
June 10, 2002
http://212.77.1.243/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2002/june/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20020610_venice-declaration_en.html

Indigenous Traditions

The Anchorage Declaration
Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change
Indigenous Environment Network http://www.ienearth.org/
April 24, 2009
http://www.ienearth.org/docs/TheAnchorageDeclaration.pdf

Vision Statement of the First Nations Environmental Network
http://www.fnen.org/?q=node/35

Confucianism

Coming Soon

Christianity - Roman Catholic

Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace
"If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation"
January 1, 2010
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20091208_xliii-world-day-peace_en.html


Encyclical Letter “Caritas in Veritate” of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI on integral human development
June 29, 2009
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html


The St. Francis Pledge
Catholic Climate Covenant http://catholicclimatecovenant.org/
April 22, 2009
http://catholicclimatecovenant.org/the-st-francis-pledge/


Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace
January 1, 2007
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20061208_xl-world-day-peace_en.html


Common Declaration of Pope Benedict XVI and The Archbishop of Canterbury His Grace Rowan Williams
November 23, 2006
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20061123_common-decl_en.html


Common Declaration on Environmental Ethics
Pope John Paul II and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I
June 10, 2002
http://212.77.1.243/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2002/june/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20020610_venice-declaration_en.html


Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good
The Catholic Climate Covenant of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops http://catholicclimatecovenant.org/
June 15, 2001
http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/globalclimate.shtml#change


Catholic Coalition on Climate Change
http://catholicsandclimatechange.org/
Sign up for email newsletter:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5256/t/2114/signUp.jsp?key=162

Buddhism

Buddhism Faith Statement on Ecology
2003
http://www.arcworld.org/faiths.asp?pageID=66

Prepared by:

• Kevin Fossey, Buddhist educator and representative of Engaged Buddhism in Europe;
• Somdech Preah Maha Ghosananda, Patriarch of Cambodian Buddhism; 
• His Excellency Sri Kushok Bakula, 20th Reincarnation of the Buddha’s Disciple Bakula, head of Ladakhi Buddhism, and initial rebuilder of Mongolian Buddhism; 
• Venerable Nhem Kim Teng, Patriarch of Vietnamese Buddhism. 

From the book, Faith in Conservation, by Martin Palmer with Victoria Finlay, published by the World Bank in 2003.

Minimum Ethical Criteria for All Post-Kyoto Regime Proposals

Full title: Minimum Ethical Criteria for All Post-Kyoto Regime Proposals: What Does Ethics Require of a Copenhagen Outcome?

The Kyoto Protocol http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php, ratified by 184 countries (but not the United States) since its adoption in Kyoto, Japan in 1997, set binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change, amounting to an average of five per cent below 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.  Not only have these targets not been met, but the main provisions of the treaty expire in 2012.

At the UN climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007, the international community agreed to negotiate a new climate change regime that will constitute the second commitment period under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change http://unfccc.int/essential_background/items/2877.php.  The first negotiating session took place in Poznań, Poland in December 2008 and the second is scheduled for December 2009 in Copenhagen.  Little progress was made in Poznań on the architecture of the new commitment period, but various proposals were considered on a vision statement to guide negotiations.

This paper, from www.climateethics.org, argues that different post-Kyoto regime proposals may lead to different ethical conclusions but all proposals must satisfy two minimum ethical considerations by:

• Requiring sufficient greenhouse gas emissions reductions to assure that the international community is on a reduction pathway that will prevent dangerous climate change harm (environmental sufficiency criteria);

• Beginning to base differences among national allocations on the basis of equity and justice (equity criteria).

“Minimum Ethical Criteria for All Post-Kyoto Regime Proposals: What Does Ethics Require of a Copenhagen Outcome?” by Donald A. Brown

http://climateethics.org/?p=50

Ethical considerations in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions

“Acknowledging the global nature of climate change calls for the widest possible cooperation by all countries and their participation in an effective and appropriate international response in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.”

So states the Preamble to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) http://unfccc.int/essential_background/items/2877.php, the international treaty ratified by 192 countries since its introduction in 1992, which led to the Kyoto Protocol http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php, ratified by 184 countries (but not the United States) since 1997.  The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, and the international community is struggling to create a new global agreement to replace it at the December 2009 UN climate change conference in Copenhagen in order to give nations time to ratify it before 2012.

The ethical interpretations of the preamble phrase, “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,” are central to the current impasse in the global climate change negotiations.

Industrialized countries must drastically reduce their emissions and provide finance and technology to assist reduction of emissions in developing countries.  Developing countries insist that a solution to climate change cannot come at the expense of their development.  Reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in developing nations, primarily in the southern hemisphere, are also necessary, but economic growth and poverty alleviation are inexorably linked to lack of access to energy services – and, consequently, a seemingly inevitable increase in fossil fuel use and thus carbon emissions. 

Several frameworks for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change are under consideration.  Two of the most promising are “Contraction & Convergence” and “Greenhouse Development Rights.”  Both are potentially feasible approaches, and both stress equity, development, mitigation, and adaptation.

Contraction and Convergence

The basic ethical principle of Contraction & Convergence is “equal per capita emission allocation.”  It reduces global greenhouse gas emissions so that atmospheric concentrations become stabilized at an agreed safe level (contraction) and distributes the permissible emissions under the contraction on an equal per capita basis globally for all countries (convergence).

For more information on Contraction & Convergence: http://www.gci.org.uk/

To run or download a presentation on Contraction & Convergence:

http://www.gci.org.uk/images/CC_Demo(pc).exe

Greenhouse Development Rights

The basic ethical principle of Greenhouse Development Rights is “ability to pay.”  It combines the costs of emissions mitigation and development funding and calculates for each nation a “measurement of responsibility and capacity” based on the percentage of its population above a “development threshold,” or minimum per capita income, and excludes emissions that correspond to consumption from those below the threshold.

For more information on Greenhouse Development Rights: http://www.sei.se/web-resources/greenhouse-development-rights-gdrs.html

For a brief executive summary on Greenhouse Development Rights: http://gdrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/gdrs_execsummary.pdf

Roles of religion and ethics in addressing climate change

The world’s religious traditions must play major roles in enabling societies and individuals to take effective and ethical actions to address the causes and impacts of climate change.  After summarizing current climate change knowledge, this paper outlines the pivotal roles of religions on issues of climate change and environmental justice, which hinge primarily on their functions in society and their ethical teachings and influence.  The potential of religions to inspire action is then evaluated empirically against data from two compilations of religious activity on climate change.  The analysis indicates significant religiously-based involvement and influence on ethical aspects of climate change and points to great potential for the role of religion in future solutions.

“Roles of religion and ethics in addressing climate change” by Paula J. Posas

http://snre.ufl.edu/graduate/files/publicationsbyalumni/Posas2007.pdf

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Report

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (LINK TO http://www.ipcc.ch/about/index.htm) assesses the latest scientific, technical, and socio-economic literature produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change, its observed and projected impacts, and options for adaptation and mitigation. The IPCC was established in 1988 to provide decision-makers and others interested in climate change with an objective source of information about climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters.

The IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report, composed of four volumes (one for each of the IPCC Working Groups and a synthesis report), was published in 2007. The “Summary for Policymakers” of each report is linked below.

To read Working Group I Report: “The Physical Science Basis,” click here:
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-spm.pdf

To read Working Group II Report: “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability,” click here:
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-spm.pdf  

To read Working Group III Report: “Mitigation of Climate Change,” click here:
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-spm.pdf  

To read the IPCC Fourth Assessment Synthesis Report, click here:
http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf 

Global Warming Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points Near

James Hansen, one of the world’s most eminent climate scientists and director of NASA’S Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, is nearly certain that the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has already risen beyond safe levels. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 remained between 260 and 280 parts per million for approximately 10,000 years until about 1750, the start of the industrial era. Since then, it is widely acknowledged that human activity has increased the concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG). The current concentration is 385 parts per million and is rising by 2 ppm per year. Hansen claims that the goal to keep global warming less than two degrees Celsius and GHG concentration at 450 ppm or lower (for which GHG emissions must peak by 2015) is “a recipe for global disaster, not salvation.” He and others are now calling for a level of no more than 350 ppm. This June 2008 article by Hansen came 20 years after his 1998 testimony to Congress, which sounded one of the first alarm bells on the dangers of global warming.

To read “Global Warming Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points Near,” click here:

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TwentyYearsLater_20080623.pdf

The Consequences of Delayed Action on Climate Change

Emissions of greenhouse gases must peak by 2015 to limit global temperature increase to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times and avoid dangerous and irreversible effects of climate change, according to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in November 2007. Postponing international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would likely lead to substantially more damage. Delaying the peak emissions date by just one decade (from 2015 to 2025) increases the temperature outcome by approximately 0.5 degrees Centigrade (0.9 Fahrenheit) by 2100. Delaying the peak date another decade (to 2035) increases it a further 0.5o C. This December 2008 article by former IPCC co-chair Martin Parry outlines likely global impacts by 2100 in water, ecosystems, food, coasts, health, and singular events from warming associated with varying amounts of emissions cuts.

To read “The Consequences of Delayed Action of Climate Change,” click here:

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/53345696.PDF

The Greenhouse Effect and the Bathtub Effect

The global impact of climate change caused by increases of human-generated greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere is largely irreversible for at least 1,000 years, according to a paper published in the February 10, 2009 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Rising sea levels threatening many coastal areas and major droughts in southern Europe, North Africa, the southwestern United States, and western Australia will increase as atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, and persist long after they hit peak levels. The paper, “Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions,” is based on research led by Susan Solomon at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The “Bathtub Effect” visually illustrates why stabilizing emissions of greenhouse gases will not immediately stabilize the climate. Think of the atmosphere as a bathtub with a partially opened drain. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fuels and destruction of forests – the faucet – are flowing into the tub twice as fast as they are being absorbed by plants and the ocean – the drain. Meanwhile, the “sinks” – forests and oceans that absorb greenhouse gases – are becoming saturated, so the drain is clogged up.

For an interactive visual demonstration of the Bathtub Effect, click here:
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/climate_change/anim/challenge/index.htm

To read more on the Greenhouse Effect and the Bathtub Effect, click here:
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/the-greenhouse-effect-and-the-bathtub-effect/

To read the paper, “Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions,” click here:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/01/28/0812721106.full.pdf+html

About Us

Directors:
John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
www.yale.edu/religionandecology

Overview:
The Forum on Religion and Ecology is the largest international multireligious project of its kind. With its conferences, publications, and website it is engaged in exploring religious worldviews, texts, ethics, and practices in order to broaden understanding of the complex nature of current environmental concerns. The Forum recognizes that religions need to be in dialogue with other disciplines (e.g., science, economics, education, public policy) in seeking comprehensive solutions to both global and local environmental problems.

Objectives:

The objectives of the Forum on Religion and Ecology are to create a new academic field of study that has implications for environmental policy. To this end, the Forum has organized conferences, published books and articles, and developed a world class international web site on religion and ecology. In collaboration with the ecological sciences, the Forum is helping to identify the ethical dimensions by which the religions of the world can respond to the growing environmental crisis. In addition, inspired by the work of Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, the Forum is creating a film called Journey of the Universe that will provide an integrating framework for understanding the story of the universe and the Earth from the perspectives of science and religion. This will ground environmental transformation in an evolutionary perspective regarding our profound relatedness to and dependence on the larger Earth community.

Origin:

Grim and Tucker initiated this work with a series of conferences on religion and ecology from 1996-1998 at Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions. Over 800 environmentalists and international scholars of the world’s religions participated. Ten volumes resulted that were published by Harvard. A concluding series of conferences were held at Harvard including one on world religions and animals (published by Columbia University Press), one on the ecological imagination with Orion magazine, one on world religions and climate change published by Daedalus.

Results:

Ten years ago religion and ecology was neither a field of study nor a force for transformation. Over the last decade a new field of study has emerged within academia with courses being taught at colleges and high schools across North America and in some universities in Europe.  Canada and Europe now have their own Forums and Australia is planning one. Moreover, a new force of religious environmentalism is growing in churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques around the world. Now every major religion has statements on the importance of ecological protection and hundreds of grassroots projects have emerged. The Forum on Religion and Ecology has played an active role in these developments.

Major accomplishments of the Forum over the last ten years:

• A new field of study in religion and ecology has developed that is recognized by the American Academy of Religion, represented in 12 major articles in the new Encyclopedia of Religion, and growing through the peer-viewed academic journal Worldviews.

• A new force of religious environmentalism has emerged represented by both statements and action of the world’s religions regarding the moral nature of the ecological crisis. This is now depicted in a film called Renewal, which highlights eight case studies of religious engagement with environmental issues in the United States.

• A world class international website on religion and ecology was created and is based at Yale www.yale.edu/religionandecology.  This is a website designed for research, education, and outreach. It contains introductory articles on the world’s religions and ecology as well as annotated bibliographies for all published monographs and articles in English on this topic. It has syllabi and materials for teaching. It has gathered the statements of religious leaders and organizations on the environmental crisis, including climate change. It also features events, conferences, and news reports.

• The Forum’s network has grown from 800 to over 8,000 people who receive our monthly newsletter as well as news articles which we gather from the United Nations Environment Programme.

• A series of ten conferences at Harvard on world religions and ecology was held from 1996-1998. We concluded this series, which was the first of its kind, with interdisciplinary conferences at the American Academy of Arts and Science, at the United Nations, and at the American Museum of Natural History with over 1000 in attendance. Scientists, economists, policy makers, UN officials and educators participated in these conferences.
  
  
• Major publishing projects have been completed, including ten volumes from Harvard on world religions and ecology, which emerged from the conference series. Several of these have been translated into other languages, including the volumes on Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism into Chinese. The Hinduism and Jain volumes are available in India.

• A new film, Journey of the Universe, is near completion that will be the first telling of the universe story, accompanied by an illustrated book, an educational course, and a website.

• Four volumes of Thomas Berry’s essays have been published, a Berry website created, and an archive for his papers has been established at Harvard.

Establishing the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University: 2006 – present

• We are currently working with the faculties of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the Divinity School, the Department of Religious Studies, the Center for Bioethics

• Working with students in the joint Master’s degree program between the Forestry School and the Divinity School and teaching classes in world religions and ecology

• Organized a major conference on religious environmentalism in March 2008 titled, “Renewing Hope” which had over 350 people in attendance

• This conference featured a new film titled, “Renewal: Stories from America’s Religious-Environmental Movement.” We were advisors to the filmmakers for 3 years.

• Wrote the lead article and assisted in the publication and distribution of Reflections magazine (Spring 2007) from Yale Divinity School entitled “God’s Green Earth: Creation, Faith, Crisis” (22,000 copies have been distributed).

• Did a “You Tube” presentation on religion and ecology for the Forestry School (2008).

• Asked by the IUCN to organize a panel on Sustainability and Conservation for the Barcelona World Conservation Congress (October 2008)

• Organized a symposium at the Yale Club in New York to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Forum on Religion and Ecology (November 2008)

• Organized panels on ethics and ecology at the AAAS (2007, 2009)

• Have spoken extensively at colleges and universities across the United States

• Organizing panels on religion and ecology for the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne, Australia (December 2009)

Climate Change Science

Climate Change Ethics

Climate Change Statements from World Religions

Climate Change