Climate Ethics: A Bahá’í Perspective

1. Climate Ethics: A Bahá’í Perspective Based on the initial considerations of the Bahá’í International Community paper entitled “Seizing the Opportunity: Redefining the Challenge of Climate Change”

2. Authoritative assessments that global warming is : • “unequivocal and directly linked to human activity” (IPCC); • constitutes the “widest-ranging market failure ever seen” (Stern Review); and • represents the “defining human development challenge of the 21stcentury” (UNDP) seized the attention of governments & peoples alike

3. Effects of Climate Change Social disputes are caused by diminishing natural resources and the destruction of water supplies Extreme flooding,deaths from disease, intense storms damages homes and villages and causes deaths and disease Droughts have adverse impacts on agriculture

4. “Material civilization is like unto the lamp, while spiritual civilization is the light in that lamp. If the material and spiritual civilization become united, then we will have the light and the lamp together, and the outcome will be perfect. For material civilization is like unto a beautiful body, and spiritual civilization is like unto the spirit of life. If that wondrous spirit of life enters this beautiful body, the body will become a channel for the distribution and Development of the Perfections of humanity.” ‘Abdu’l-Baha, the Promulgation of Universal Peace.

5. What level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere should the world community identify as a target? Is it fair to prevent some countries from developing the way others have in the past? Ethical Questions of Climate Change Who is responsible for the consequences of climate change? Should some countries be allowed to generate more carbon dioxide per capita? If so, which ones? Who should pay for the damages ?

6. What is an ethic or ethics?

7. A set of principles of right conduct • Rules or standards governing conduct • The study of moral principles and appropriate conduct

8. “the field of philosophical inquiry that examines concepts and their employment about what is right and wrong, obligatory and non-obligatory, and when responsibility should attach to human actions that cause harm.” • White Paper on the Ethical Implications of Climate Change, p. 7.

9. Why is it important to address climate change ethically? • An ethical understanding highlights what is really at stake and goes right to the heart of the problem • Consideration of ethical dimensions often helps leaders to see common ground and a way forward. Including ethical issues in discussion forces values out into the open so that they can be discussed and debated. • Including ethical issues forces values into the open so they can be discussed and debated. • An ethical way of looking at things lends importance to the voices of those who are vulnerable or negatively impacted because in an ethical context those voices are highly relevant

10. “There are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which solutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned group can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems, but good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The essential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a perspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature, it also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders of governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts to solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles involved and then be guided by them.” Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace

11. Bahá’í Contribution • Humanity is at the threshold of a tremendous opportunity, • This is the opportunity to transition from a state-centered mode of interacting on the world stage to a mode rooted in the principle of the oneness of humanity, • Adherence to the oneness of humanity has implications for the survival of all people, • Nations must expand their understanding of who belongs to their community so that it includes people in other nations and future generations

12. Current Efforts Scotland passed a landmark law that requires a 42% cut in greenhouse gas emission by 2020, rising to 80% by 2050 The Bahá’í International Community is closely engaged with the subject of climate change at the international level The Bahá’í International Community’s initiated a call to the leaders of the world to bring their attention to the ethical and moral dimensions of climate change The Bahá’í International Community works closely with the Global Gender and Climate Alliance.

13. “The inward life of man as well as his outward environment have to be reshaped if human salvation is to be secured.” “No movement in the world directs its attention upon both these aspects of human life and has full measures for their improvement, save the teachings of Baha’u’llah. And this is its distinctive feature. If we therefore desire the good of the world we should strive to spread those teachings and also practice them in our own life.” Shoghi Effendi, Compilation of Compilations Vol. 1, p.48