Ecology

Bahá'ís of Warwick

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THE BAHA'I APPROACH TO THE ENVIRONMENT

"Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My name, the Maker, the Creator. Its manifestations are diversified by varying causes, and in this diversity there are signs for men of discernment. Nature is God's Will and is its expression in and through the contigent world. It is a dispensation of Providence ordained by the Ordainer, the All-Wise."

 Baha'i Writings

Oneness

      The Baha'i approach is one of wholeness and oneness, in other words it is a holistic religion. Baha'u'llah said that all life was more interconnected than man realised.

Global Vision

      The restoration of a suitable environment for all living things is a global problem. We talk of global warming and global crisis, but rarely of global solutions. The Baha'is would argue that there must be a form of global government. At present, any one country is generally regarded as being within its rights to pursue its own course, without regard for the effect this has on others. Baha'is find this analysis and viewpoint inadequate, as indeed do many environmentalists. The world government must have the right to actively discourage any one country from taking unilateral harmful action. However, the structure of any world administration must, in the Baha'i view, allow for such local initiatives as add to the global picture. Each piece of the planet's surface is held in trust by the local inhabitants as well as by mankind as a whole. The inter-relationship of the whole and the part was emphasised by Baha'u'llah when He said that the members of each Local Spiritual Assembly should:  "Regard themselves as the guardians appointed of God for all who dwell on Earth."

The Baha'is and Green Movements

      Richard St. Barbe Baker, founder of the "Men of the Trees", was a Baha'i. He saw the need to plant millions of trees to stop the desert spreading, and he understood how trees actually encourage rainfall in dry areas. More recently, the Baha'is were invited to become part of the World Wide Fund for Nature's Network on Conservation and Religion. WWF is working with several of the world's religions to help preserve the environment.

Kindness To All Creatures

Kindness to animals is given great importance in the Baha'i Scriptures:

"It is essential that ye show forth the utmost consideration to the animal, and that ye be even kinder to him than to your fellow man."

Baha'is are encouraged to train their children in this. The Baha'i Writings also say:

"Unless ye must,

Bruise not the serpent in the dust,

How much less wound a man.

And if ye can,

No ant should ye alarm,

Much less a brother harm."

The Future

      For humanity to survive, the human habitat, like that of any other species, must be sustainable. This must mean the abolition of war and of all forms of destructive competition. In its place must be an ordered society in which the diversity and richness of the parts must be preserved and nourished. The attitudes brought about by this type of society will obviously directly produce a similar approach to the environment, in the same way that excessive materialism is seen to produce waste and short-sighted usage of resources.

Food and Agriculture

      At present, much of human food production is wasteful. Numerous researchers have shown that rearing "livestock" uses more land, and that the equivalent vegetable crops use less. Moreover, large parts of the earth's surface are becoming degraded through overgrazing by herds of domestic animals. According to the Baha'i Writings:

 "The food of the future will be fruit and grains. The time will come when meat will no longer be eaten........our natural food is that which grows out of the ground."

Balance

      Running through all the Baha'i teachings are the ideas of evolution and of balance. Most of human society is only now beginning to have an understanding of continual and natural change, and has not yet fully grasped the importance of balance, and yet these are two of the natural processes which have existed since the creation first came into being. Interference with this balance, and deliberate neglect of it, bring attendant problems. Baha'u'llah warned that there are things in the earth which, "are capable of changing the whole atmosphere of the earth", and from which "contamination would prove lethal".

The Preservation Of Life

      The preservation of the diversity of life forms is frequently called for on medicinal grounds, and the Baha'i Writings again highlight this necessity: "It is possible to cure by foods, aliments and fruits; but as today the science of medicine is imperfect, this fact is not yet fully grasped. When the science of medicine reaches perfection, treatment will be given by foods, aliments, fragrant fruits and vegetables".

      Baha'is work for a simultaneous improvement in the spiritual life of the individual and the material well-being of mankind. These aims each require a more balanced civilization than that which we have at present. Baha'u'llah warned, "The civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men. Thus warneth you He Who is the All-Knowing. If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation. Meditate on this, O people".

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