arthra
Baha'i
A Baha'i perspective on the environment has been represented as follows:
Sustainable Development and the Environment of the World:
An Overview
by Arthur Lyon Dahl
1997-10
State of the world and future trends
The environmental problems of the planet and the challenge of achieving more sustainable forms of development have been high on the political agenda for some years. As we consider the role and activities of a Bahá'í Environment Forum, it may help to sketch out what we understand about the world and where it is going from a Bahá'í perspective, how the Bahá'í community has responded to the opportunities created, and what kind of roles might be appropriate to a network of Bahá'is concerned about these issues.
Our present world is clearly on an unsustainable course environmentally and economically. The recent UNEP Global Environment Outlook report shows that the state of the world environment continues to deteriorate overall despite progress in some areas. Extremes of wealth and poverty are also increasing within and between many nations, a trend which is socially unsustainable. The population continues to grow, the well-off consume an ever-increasing proportion of the world's resources while the numbers of very poor increase, and growing damage to the Earth's productive capacity constrains future options. Our civilization is living beyond its means, accumulating not only financial debt, but resource debt, pollution debt, and the human debt represented by poverty and deprivation. There are known risks of increased damage and suffering from air and water pollution, resource depletion, climate change, and other environmental problems. We can also be certain that there will be surprises from interactions between complex systems, unexpected chemical effects, new or resurgent diseases, and overconfidence in technological fixes. Bahá'u'lláh's warning on civilization carried to excess is sufficiently clear on this point.
When we look at the Bahá'í vision of future society, we can see how different it is from life today, showing that fundamental changes are required, and indeed inevitable, in our social and economic structures and life-styles. The critique of the present system in The Promise of World Peace is very clear. We know that the present-day order is lamentably defective and will soon be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead. (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, p. 216 and 7). How and when this will happen we cannot predict, but the process of change could at times be traumatic or even catastrophic, and the transition at the end of this century will be significant. The speed with which the former Soviet Union collapsed should be an appropriate warning. These events should not worry us, as they are part of God's plan for the world, and they will create many opportunities to teach the Faith and to introduce constructive change....
Source:
http://bahai-library.com/dahl_sustainable_development_overview
Also see:
Transforming Environments from the Inside Out
Sustainable Development and the Environment of the World:
An Overview
by Arthur Lyon Dahl
1997-10
State of the world and future trends
The environmental problems of the planet and the challenge of achieving more sustainable forms of development have been high on the political agenda for some years. As we consider the role and activities of a Bahá'í Environment Forum, it may help to sketch out what we understand about the world and where it is going from a Bahá'í perspective, how the Bahá'í community has responded to the opportunities created, and what kind of roles might be appropriate to a network of Bahá'is concerned about these issues.
Our present world is clearly on an unsustainable course environmentally and economically. The recent UNEP Global Environment Outlook report shows that the state of the world environment continues to deteriorate overall despite progress in some areas. Extremes of wealth and poverty are also increasing within and between many nations, a trend which is socially unsustainable. The population continues to grow, the well-off consume an ever-increasing proportion of the world's resources while the numbers of very poor increase, and growing damage to the Earth's productive capacity constrains future options. Our civilization is living beyond its means, accumulating not only financial debt, but resource debt, pollution debt, and the human debt represented by poverty and deprivation. There are known risks of increased damage and suffering from air and water pollution, resource depletion, climate change, and other environmental problems. We can also be certain that there will be surprises from interactions between complex systems, unexpected chemical effects, new or resurgent diseases, and overconfidence in technological fixes. Bahá'u'lláh's warning on civilization carried to excess is sufficiently clear on this point.
When we look at the Bahá'í vision of future society, we can see how different it is from life today, showing that fundamental changes are required, and indeed inevitable, in our social and economic structures and life-styles. The critique of the present system in The Promise of World Peace is very clear. We know that the present-day order is lamentably defective and will soon be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead. (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, p. 216 and 7). How and when this will happen we cannot predict, but the process of change could at times be traumatic or even catastrophic, and the transition at the end of this century will be significant. The speed with which the former Soviet Union collapsed should be an appropriate warning. These events should not worry us, as they are part of God's plan for the world, and they will create many opportunities to teach the Faith and to introduce constructive change....
Source:
http://bahai-library.com/dahl_sustainable_development_overview
Also see:
Transforming Environments from the Inside Out