[trees-list] World Watch Report on Religion and the Environment
Whitney Bauman
wbauman@srcourse.org
Thu, 12 Dec 2002 22:27:46 -0800
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>Just thought you might be interested in this!
Whitney
>
>
>Hold For Release
>Thursday, December 19, 2002
>12:00 PM EST (17:00 GMT)
>
>
>For More Information Contact:
>Susan Finkelpearl
>tel: 202.452.1992 x517
>email: <mailto:sfinkelpearl@worldwatch.org>sfinkelpearl@worldwatch.org
>
>A LITTLE RELIGION GIVES
>ENVIRONMENTALISM NEW FERVOR
>New Worldwatch study documents how religious and environmental groups are
>partnering for the planet
>
><http://www.worldwatch.org/press/prerelease/EWP164E.pdf>Download the full
>PDF of <http://www.worldwatch.org/press/prerelease/EWP164E.pdf>Invoking
>the Spirit
>
>Washington, D.C. Religious institutions around the world are going green
>and providing a push to the environmental movement, says a new report from
>the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization.
>Invoking the Spirit: Religion and Spirituality in the Quest for a
>Sustainable World documents how these unconventional alliances are growing
>in frequency and significance to address issues from deforestation in
>Thailand to green investing by stockholders in New York.
>
>"This collaboration could change the world, " says author Gary Gardner,
>Worldwatch Research Director. "These groups have different but
>complementary strengths. Environmentalists have a strong grounding in
>science. Religious institutions enjoy moral authority and a grassroots
>presence that shape the worldviews and lifestyles of billions of people.
>It s a powerful combination that until recently remained virtually
>unexplored."
>
>Gardner says that in learning to work together, the two groups must
>overcome mutual misperceptions and divergent worldviews, which have
>historically kept them apart. He writes that secular environmentalists
>worry about the checkered history of religious involvement in societal
>affairs. Religious institutions, on the other hand, may have perspectives
>on the role of women, the nature of truth, and the moral place of human
>beings in the natural order that sometimes diverge from those of
>environmentalists.
>
>However, partnerships are successfully happening, and Invoking the Spirit
>provides examples from around the world where religions are using their
>influence to promote sustainability. For instance, in the 1990s,
>"environmentalist monks" in Thailand opposed shrimp farming and dam and
>pipeline construction and protected mangroves and bird populations. They
>even preserved trees by "ordaining" them within sacred community forests.
>
>Since 1996, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the symbolic leader of
>the 250 million-member Orthodox Church, has used the prestige of his
>office to gather prominent scientists, journalists, and religious leaders
>for four week-long, shipboard symposia focusing on water-related
>environmental issues.
>
>And in Sri Lanka, the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement, the largest NGO in
>the country, covering roughly half of the country s villages, is active in
>promoting a Buddhist-inspired vision of development that stresses moderate
>consumption.
>
>Religions are also tapping their extensive grassroots presence and
>economic resources to engage issues of sustainability. In the United
>States, 3,500 Lutheran, Presbyterian, Unitarian, and Quaker congregations
>have committed to purchasing fairly-traded, shade-grown, often organic
>coffee. Just five years old, the Interfaith Coffee Program now supplies
>about one percent of the country s congregations and is the
>fastest-growing source of revenue for the Equal Exchange Coffee Company,
>the program s sponsor.
>
>Meanwhile, Episcopal Power & Light offers its U.S. customers the
>opportunity to purchase electricity generated from solar, wind,
>geothermal, and other renewable energy sources, and helps congregations to
>green their houses of worship.
>
>Environmental organizations have also shown greater openness to working
>with religious groups. In Pakistan, the World Conservation Union (IUCN),
>working with the government of the country s North West Province, turned
>to Islamic clerics to help carry out the province s environmental action
>plan. Aware that the region had one mosque for every 70 Pakistanis, IUCN
>and the government saw the mosques as potentially more effective centers
>of education than even local schools. In addition, the Worldwide Fund for
>Nature sponsored the first major interfaith conference on environmental
>issues, in 1986, and Sierra Club president Carl Pope has called for
>greater attention to churches as allies in the environmental movement.
>
>-END-
>
>NOTES TO EDITORS:
>
>In an effort to distribute our publications in the most eco-friendly
>manner possible, we are distributing this publication electronically. To
>access your own advance copy of this paper, please go to:
><http://www.worldwatch.org/press/prerelease/EWP164E.pdf>http://www.worldwat
>ch.org/press/prerelease/EWP164E.pdf
>If you have difficulties accessing the document, please contact Susan
>Finkelpearl at:
><mailto:sfinkelpearl@worldwatch.org>sfinkelpearl@worldwatch.org or
>202.452.1992 x517.
>
>Worldwatch Email list: To stop receiving Worldwatch press advisories, or
>to have them delivered by email or post, please send your request to
><mailto:slapier@worldwatch.org>slapier@worldwatch.org or call 202.452.1992
>x511.
>
>About the Worldwatch Institute: The Worldwatch Institute is an independent
>research organization that works for an environmentally sustainable and
>socially just society, in which the needs of all people are met without
>threatening the health of the natural environment or the well-being of
>future generations.
>
>By providing compelling, accessible, and fact-based analysis of critical
>global issues, Worldwatch informs people around the world about the
>complex interactions between people, nature, and economies. Worldwatch
>focuses on the underlying causes of and practical solutions to the world's
>problems, in order to inspire people to demand new policies, investment
>patterns, and lifestyle choices. For more information, visit
><http://www.worldwatch.org/>http://www.worldwatch.org/.
>
>
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<blockquote type=cite cite>Just thought you might be interested in
this!</blockquote><br>
<br>
Whitney<br>
<br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite cite> <br>
<br>
<font size=2><b>Hold For Release<br>
Thursday, December 19, 2002<br>
12:00 PM EST (17:00 GMT) <br>
</font></b> <br>
<br>
<font size=2><b>For More Information Contact:</b><br>
Susan Finkelpearl<br>
tel: 202.452.1992 x517<br>
email:
<a href="mailto:sfinkelpearl@worldwatch.org">sfinkelpearl@worldwatch.org</a>
<br>
</font><br>
<font size=5 color="#CC6600"><b><div align="center">
A LITTLE RELIGION GIVES<br>
ENVIRONMENTALISM NEW FERVOR </b><br>
</font><font size=4>New Worldwatch study documents how religious and environmental groups are partnering for the planet </b><br>
</font></b><br>
</b><a href="http://www.worldwatch.org/press/prerelease/EWP164E.pdf">Download the full PDF of </a><a href="http://www.worldwatch.org/press/prerelease/EWP164E.pdf"><i>Invoking the Spirit</a><br>
</i></div>
<br>
</i><b>Washington, D.C. </b>Religious institutions around the world are going green and providing a push to the environmental movement, says a new report from the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization. <i>Invoking the Spirit: Religion and Spirituality in the Quest for a Sustainable World</i> documents how these unconventional alliances are growing in frequency and significance to address issues from deforestation in Thailand to green investing by stockholders in New York. <br>
<br>
"This collaboration could change the world, " says author Gary Gardner, Worldwatch Research Director. "These groups have different but complementary strengths. Environmentalists have a strong grounding in science. Religious institutions enjoy moral authority and a grassroots presence that shape the worldviews and lifestyles of billions of people. It s a powerful combination that until recently remained virtually unexplored." <br>
<br>
Gardner says that in learning to work together, the two groups must overcome mutual misperceptions and divergent worldviews, which have historically kept them apart. He writes that secular environmentalists worry about the checkered history of religious involvement in societal affairs. Religious institutions, on the other hand, may have perspectives on the role of women, the nature of truth, and the moral place of human beings in the natural order that sometimes diverge from those of environmentalists. <br>
<br>
However, partnerships are successfully happening, and <i>Invoking the Spirit</i> provides examples from around the world where religions are using their influence to promote sustainability. For instance, in the 1990s, "environmentalist monks" in Thailand opposed shrimp farming and dam and pipeline construction and protected mangroves and bird populations. They even preserved trees by "ordaining" them within sacred community forests. <br>
<br>
Since 1996, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the symbolic leader of the 250 million-member Orthodox Church, has used the prestige of his office to gather prominent scientists, journalists, and religious leaders for four week-long, shipboard symposia focusing on water-related environmental issues. <br>
<br>
And in Sri Lanka, the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement, the largest NGO in the country, covering roughly half of the country s villages, is active in promoting a Buddhist-inspired vision of development that stresses moderate consumption. <br>
<br>
Religions are also tapping their extensive grassroots presence and economic resources to engage issues of sustainability. In the United States, 3,500 Lutheran, Presbyterian, Unitarian, and Quaker congregations have committed to purchasing fairly-traded, shade-grown, often organic coffee. Just five years old, the Interfaith Coffee Program now supplies about one percent of the country s congregations and is the fastest-growing source of revenue for the Equal Exchange Coffee Company, the program s sponsor. <br>
<br>
Meanwhile, Episcopal Power & Light offers its U.S. customers the opportunity to purchase electricity generated from solar, wind, geothermal, and other renewable energy sources, and helps congregations to green their houses of worship. <br>
<br>
Environmental organizations have also shown greater openness to working with religious groups. In Pakistan, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), working with the government of the country s North West Province, turned to Islamic clerics to help carry out the province s environmental action plan. Aware that the region had one mosque for every 70 Pakistanis, IUCN and the government saw the mosques as potentially more effective centers of education than even local schools. In addition, the Worldwide Fund for Nature sponsored the first major interfaith conference on environmental issues, in 1986, and Sierra Club president Carl Pope has called for greater attention to churches as allies in the environmental movement. <br>
<br>
<b><div align="center">
-END-</b> <br>
</div>
<br>
<font size=2><b>NOTES TO EDITORS:<br>
</font></b><br>
</b>In an effort to distribute our publications in the most eco-friendly manner possible, we are distributing this publication electronically. To access your own advance copy of this paper, please go to:<br>
<a href="http://www.worldwatch.org/press/prerelease/EWP164E.pdf">http://www.worldwatch.org/press/prerelease/EWP164E.pdf</a> <br>
If you have difficulties accessing the document, please contact Susan Finkelpearl at:<br>
<a href="mailto:sfinkelpearl@worldwatch.org">sfinkelpearl@worldwatch.org</a> or 202.452.1992 x517. <br>
<br>
<b>Worldwatch Email list</b>: To stop receiving Worldwatch press advisories, or to have them delivered by email or post, please send your request to <a href="mailto:slapier@worldwatch.org">slapier@worldwatch.org</a> or call 202.452.1992 x511. <br>
<br>
<b>About the Worldwatch Institute</b>: The Worldwatch Institute is an independent research organization that works for an environmentally sustainable and socially just society, in which the needs of all people are met without threatening the health of the natural environment or the well-being of future generations.<br>
<br>
By providing compelling, accessible, and fact-based analysis of critical global issues, Worldwatch informs people around the world about the complex interactions between people, nature, and economies. Worldwatch focuses on the underlying causes of and practical solutions to the world's problems, in order to inspire people to demand new policies, investment patterns, and lifestyle choices. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.worldwatch.org/">http://www.worldwatch.org/</a>. <br>
<br>
<br>
</blockquote></html>
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