Inspiring Progress

Inspiring Progress Getting Religions Involved in Product Stewardship Gary Gardner Worldwatch Institute May 30, 2007

The Plan for Today • Religions: An Untapped Resource • Religions as Movers of Change • Religious Assets • Making the Pitch

Religions: An Untapped Resource Growing secularism, but… • 40 percent of Americans attend religious services at least monthly • Great influence on corporations through shareholder activism • Help shape worldviews in the U.S.

Religions As Agents of Change • Abolition Movement • Civil Rights Movement • End of Apartheid • Debt Reduction • Climate Change

Religious Assets • Moral authority of leaders • Political weight of numbers • Inspirational power of scripture • Emotive power of ritual • Infrastructural assets of religions

Religions Becoming Active

Evangelical Initiatives • ESA—”The Noah’s Ark of our day” • What Would Jesus Drive? • Climate Change Campaign • Use of religious language

“Environmentalist Monks” • Religious authorities respected • Creative conservation strategy • Use of ritual

Shipboard Seminars • Under leadership of HAH Patriarch Bartholomew • Gatherings of policymakers, journalists, religious leaders, scientists • Six held on major waterways since 1994 • Captive audience that learns together • Tapping moral authority

Interfaith Power and Light Energy audits Energy & climate education Using religious infrastructure Efficiency upgrades

Moderation in Consumption • “All things in moderation”– Terence • “The Middle Way”—Buddhism and Baha’i Faith • Many faiths have similar teachings

Teachings On Consumption • Baha’i Faith “In all matters, moderation is desirable. If a thing is carried to excess, it will prove a source of evil.”

Teachings On Consumption • Buddhism “Whoever in this world overcomes his selfish cravings, his sorrow falls away from him, like drops of water from a lotus flower.”

Teachings On Consumption • Judaism “Give me neither poverty nor riches.” • Christianity “No one can be the slave of two masters…You cannot be the slave both of God and money.”

Teachings On Consumption • Confucianism “Excess and deficiency are equally at fault.” • Daoism “He who knows he has enough is rich.”

Teachings On Consumption • Hinduism “That person who lives completely free from desires, without longing…attains peace.” • Islam “Eat and drink, but waste not by excess: He loves not the excessive.”

V. Making the Pitch • Religion: Not a “rented constituency” • Sustainability: About policies and technologies, yes, but values, too • Religions shape values and worldviews • So seek partners, as DOE does with Energy Star

For More Information www.worldwatch.org

Inspiring Progress