God is Green
Climate change is happening now and we're heading for the edge of a precipice. This Channel 4 documentary, presented by Mark Dowd, asks whether religion should have a greater role in preventing imminent disaster. Julia Bard reports
Human beings are consuming fossil fuels as if there's no tomorrow – and if we continue to produce carbon dioxide at these rates, there will be no tomorrow. Yet the world's major religions have said almost nothing about our responsibility to protect the Earth and the life that depends on it.
For many fundamentalist Christians who are waiting hopefully for the end of the world, events like the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, are welcome signs that we will soon be whisked off to heaven.
More earthbound Christians, though, are beginning to ponder on the biblical creation story, according to which, God says that humans should 'have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth'. Does 'dominion' mean that we are entitled to blow the tops off mountains to get at the coal beneath, as a Christian industrialist in Virginia USA argues? Or does it mean that we have a responsibility to protect the environment, as a growing number of Christians argue.
Mark Dowd says that Muslims who espouse green ideas are rare. He says that some blame the West for environmental destruction but few see the issue as a phenomenon that needs to be addressed worldwide. What should religious Muslims do if faced with a conflict between the injunction to participate in the Hajj – the pilgrimage to Mecca – and the urgent need to cut air travel in order to reduce carbon emissions?
The Catholic Church, too, is moving very slowly. The Vatican claims that it is studying the problem and, in the meantime, uses low energy light bulbs throughout its vast organisation, and claims that it produces no carbon emissions. It is not clear whether the huge amount of air travel its members clock up are included in this calculation and, when asked if the Vatican has shares in coal or oil companies, they don't seem to know.
According to Hinduism, the divine spirit is present in every molecule. Yet the demand for electricity in India is high, as it is in China and other rapidly industrialising countries. In 2005 Mumbai had its own version of Hurricane Katrina: 1,500 people died when the rainfall in one day was what was normally expected over six weeks. Some Hindus try to live their lives according to the view that all living and natural things are connected and interdependent, so if we damage the sky and the trees, this will damage us. But precisely because of this, some are fatalistic, seeing disasters as nature's way of maintaining the balance of the population.
Mark Dowd is a religious man, and he argues that, if we are to preserve God's fragile creation we need leaders to convince us that individuals can make a difference. He puts the Bishop of London on the spot by challenging him to reduce his carbon footprint. The Bishop agrees to take no flights for personal or holiday purposes for the next two years. Impressed at this commitment, Mark Dowd follows suit.
But will other religious leaders across the world take on responsibility for educating, encouraging and setting an example for ordinary people to save the planet before it's too late?
Find out more
Climate Change
www.bbc.co.uk/climate/
A wide ranging yet accessible and easy to understand website explaining the science, politics and impact of climate change.
Friends of the Earth
www.foe.co.uk/
Campaigns to fight climate change as well as addressing other environmental problems.
The Met Office
www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/hadleycentre/index.html
Section of the Met Office website devoted to its research on climate change.
RealClimate
www.realclimate.org
A commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists.
WWF-UK
www.wwf.org.uk/core/index.asp
WWF conserves endangered species, protects threatened habitats and addresses global threats, finding long-term solutions that benefit both people and nature.
