compliled by Sally Walker
1. How do Bahá’ís view the environmental crisis? Bahá’ís see the environmental crisis as one of a number of issues requiring a profound change in human behavior. They believe that humanity is in a turbulent period of transition towards a unified global society. Humanity will be able to live in harmony with the natural environment when its spiritual and material potentials are given balanced attention. – Baha’i International Community
2. Bahá'ís believe that humanity is on the verge of an evolutionary leap that will carry humankind to a future where "world peace is not only possible but inevitable." – Baha’i International Community
3. "NATURE IN ITS essence is the embodiment of My Name, the Maker, the Creator. Its manifestations are diversified by varying causes, and in this diversity there are signs for men of discernment. Nature is God's Will and is its expression in and through the contingent world. It is a dispensation of Providence ordained by the Ordainer, the All-Wise." - Baha’u’llah
4. Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon, Director of the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto and author of the best-selling book The Upside of Down, spoke on Saturday morning of the five “tectonic stresses” he sees building up across the globe: demographic shifts, damage to environmental resources, climate change, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the global energy crisis.
Saying that it was time to stop relying on scholars or politicians for answers, Homer-Dixon urged citizens to take ownership of global problems themselves and find creative solutions to these accumulating
stresses. Citing a quote from Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Baha’i faith, that “to acquire knowledge is incumbent on all,” Homer-Dixon challenged the Bahá’í community to take a leadership role in creating
the groundswell of moral and ethical responsibility that he feels is a prerequisite to meaningful change.
5. All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.-Baha'u'llah
6. In previous statements, the Bahá’í International Community has identified a number of key principles needed to create sustainable development on a global scale. These principles include a mandate for justice above all else, a commitment to world citizenship, and an understanding of the interconnectedness of all things. Principles such as the equality of women and men, an emphasis on moral education, and the creation of a new system of global governance have also been held up as prerequisites to the creation of “an ever-advancing civilization,” as Bahá’u’lláh phrased it. -Perspective: Climate change and the oneness of humanity 2007
7. Bahá’u’lláh warned that humanity would face an increasing number of severe and unprecedented calamities until it recognized and fully embraced its underlying unity. The threat posed by global warming offers yet another opportunity to discover within ourselves the fundamental reality upon which the peace, security and well being of the entire planet depend. - Perspective: Climate change and the oneness of humanity 2007
8. More than a century ago, Bahá’u’lláh explained that humanity is moving inexorably into an age when its underlying oneness and the need for unity and collaboration in virtually all spheres of endeavor will eventually be universally recognized — and that from that recognition the long promised age of peace and security for all humanity will ultimately be realized. - Perspective: Climate change and the oneness of humanity 2007
9. For Bahá’ís, then, the growing scientific consensus on climate change and its wider public discussion offer an urgent reason for humanity to examine its underlying interdependence and oneness, which is the fundamental reality of the human condition today. The challenge of global warming, moreover, highlights the degree to which humanity must swiftly move towards unity of action at the global level if it is to thrive and, perhaps, even survive. - Perspective: Climate change and the oneness of humanity 2007
10. There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed. ~Mohandas K. Gandhi
11. Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites. ~William Ruckelshaus, Business Week, 18 June 1990
12. 'O Son of Spirit! The best beloved of all things in My 37 sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbour. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behoveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.' -Baha'u'llah
13. I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend? ~Robert Redford, Yosemite National Park dedication, 1985
14. We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb
15. The packaging for a microwavable "microwave" dinner is programmed for a shelf life of maybe six months, a cook time of two minutes and a landfill dead-time of centuries. ~David Wann, Buzzworm, November 1990
16. To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance. ~Buddha
17. The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies. ~Al Gore
18. Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ~Henry David Thoreau
19. We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyones arguing over where they're going to sit.” – David Suzuki
20. “There can be no peace as long as there is grinding poverty, social injustice, inequality, oppression, environmental degradation, and as long as the weak and small continue to be trodden by the mighty and powerful.” -Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama
21. “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find resources of strength that will endure as long as life lasts” – Rachel Carson
22. That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. In another passage He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens. -Baha'u'llah
23. The working of the material world is merely a reflection of spiritual conditions and until the spiritual conditions can be changed there can be no lasting change for the better in material affairs. - The Universal House of Justice
24. Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom. -Baha'u'llah
25. Spiritual consciousness is the generating power of human civilization. - Abdu'l-Baha
26. If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation. -Baha'u'llah
27. Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead. -Baha'u'llah
28. Environmental problems at their root are spiritual problems; they stem from a lack of awareness of the Source of all Existence. Once we come to that awareness, we can address environmental problems in very different ways, i.e. from their roots. Since beneath every environmental problem is a spiritual problem, awaiting every environmental problem is a spiritual solution. Drop a stone in the pond and the ripples will reach far beyond you. - canfeinesharim.org, Torah commentary
29. For the first time in history it is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad diversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planet – in the words of one great thinker, “the planetization of mankind.” Whether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors precipitated by humanity’s stubborn clinging to old patterns of behaviour, or is to be embraced now by an act of consultative will, is the choice before all who inhabit the earth. At this critical juncture when the intractable problems confronting nations have been fused into one common concern for the whole world, failure to stem the tide of conflict and disorder would be unconscionably irresponsible. UHJ, The Peace Message, 1985
30. The social roots of the coming global ecological crisis lie largely in the very structures of the present organization of society and the values inherent in the way they function. The most important of these structures are the nation state and the productive economic units, whether public enterprises or private multinational corporations and businesses. We have divided up both the planet and our economic activities into independent units in which the decision-making processes are not bound to consider anything beyond a narrowly defined framework.
There are many more implications of this approach to our present social, economic and environmental crises that cannot be developed here. What is clear is that a renewed set of values and ideals can lay a spiritual foundation that releases a new potential and establishes the ground rules for the evolution of a whole new set of social relationships, structures and functions better adapted to the new environment of the technically advanced, globally integrated civilization that is now beginning to take shape. The process cannot easily be planned, because there are no set models to follow. But if the values and motivations of the people involved are right, we can be optimistic of the ultimate outcome. Your countries in transition have a unique opportunity to avoid exchanging one outdated heritage for another, and to chart a new and more constructive path towards an environmentally safe, humanly satisfying and sustainable future. - Dr. Arthur Lyon Dahl, Coordinator, UN System-wide Earthwatch
31. Bahá'ís see the world as evolving rapidly towards a global society as technology breaks down barriers between nations. The problems of the environment are symptoms of the larger imbalances in society, and the barriers to their solution are largely economic, social and political. Changes in behaviour, sacrifices of individual interests in the common good, and major social adjustments will be required. Even where solutions have been agreed, as at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the will to apply them has been lacking, and this lack of will is fundamentally a spiritual problem. Changed values and a restoration of moral and ethical principles are needed. - Dr.Arthur Lyon Dahl, UN Environmental Program
32. We in the industrialized world have allowed our appetites to outrun both our resources and our humanity. - Rabbi Daniel Swartz,
33. Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle.- Pope John Paul II