Motivated for Action and Collaboration: The Abrahamic Religions and Climate Change

Jame Schaefer

doi:10.3390/geosciences6030031

Abstract

Leaders of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have publicly advocated action to mitigate the adverse effects of human-forced climate change. Particularly prominent prior to, during, and after the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change were Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Pope Francis, and Patriarch Bartholomew. Also prominent was a group of Islamic clerics, leaders of organizations, and scholars who collaborated in issuing a declaration on climate change three months prior to COP 21. Informed by the Earth sciences, these leaders shared their faith-based rationales for acting locally to internationally as indicated in the documents explored in this article. Examples of organizations motivated by their leaders’ faith perspectives demonstrate their readiness to act informed by scientists. To work effectively, these religious leaders and activist groups require well-substantiated conclusions from data collected to counter unsubstantiated claims by climate skeptics. Earth scientists will find among the religious leaders and groups allies in the quest for a flourishing planet.

Highlights

After years of observing government failures to make decisions aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of human-forced climate change, leaders of the world religions and advocacy groups focused on the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention Framework on Climate Change held near Paris, France in December 2015
Judaism represented by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Christianity by Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic
Church and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam by the signatories of the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change share a basic faith in God as the Creator of the world to whom they believe they are responsible for how they function in relation to one another and to

Summary

Introduction

In On Earth as in Heaven: Ecological Vision and Initiatives of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew; Chryssavgis, J., Ed.; Fordham University Press: New York, NY, USA, 2012; pp. Founded in 1948, the WCC is a global fellowship of Christians that brings together 345 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican, and other denominations representing approximately 550 million Christians to promote their unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world and that works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church; Available online: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/publications/making-peace-with-the-earth-actionadvocacy-for-climate-justice (accessed on 26 May 2016). Available online: http://fore.yale.edu/climate-change/books-and-websites-on-religion-andclimate-change/ (accessed on 25 May 2016)

Discussion and Conclusions

Findings