Religion for the environment

I'm almost finished reading http://www.amazon.com/Future-Life-Edward-O-Wilson/dp/0679450785and in the book he talked about a symposium he took part in with Patriarch Bartholomew I and a group of other theologins and scientists of which the topic was the environment and earth stewardship. I found it very inspiring to say the least. Many "environmentalist" often scoff at religion (mainly the abrahamic religions) and many christian/catholics I know scoff at the typical environmentalist's ideology. This divide seems to be shifting and could provide hope for our future in ecological terms. Obviousky some of this took part awile ago but not THAT long ago so as to be ineffective.

Batholomew I

A quote from an article by the BBC.

"The spiritual leader of the world's estimated 300 million Orthodox Christians, Bartholomew I, is a man on an ecological, as well as a theological, mission.

The 270th successor to the Apostle St Andrew, dubbed the Green Patriarch, he was awarded on Wednesday Norway's $100,000 Sophie Prize for his environmental efforts.

He said the prize money would be donated will go to street children in Athens and Istabul, and to preparations for a church-led seminar on the Baltic Sea environment.
Patriarch Bartholomew is renowned for declaring that "crime against the natural world is a sin" four years after he assumed the ecumenical throne in Istanbul in 1991.
Now he is challenging leaders of other faiths to raise environmental awareness among their believers, and this week succeeded in persuading Pope John Paul II to call for an end to the destruction of the environment.
As the visibly frail Pope John Paul II signed the document via a live video link from the Vatican, Patriarch Bartholomew, in Venice, warned of a stark "social and environmental crisis which the world is facing." "We are concerned about the negative consequences for humanity and for all creation resulting from the degradation of some basic natural resources such as water, air and land, brought about by an economic and technological progress which does not recognise its own limits," said Mark Malloch Brown, head of the UN Development Programme, and the guest speaker chosen to read the Venice declaration.


Environmental baby
This unprecedented initiative from the heads of the traditionally hostile Eastern and Western wings of Christianity came as the culmination of a week-long symposium, the fourth of its kind, that brought together top scientists, theologians and ecologists aboard a giant cruise ship sailing around the Adriatic Sea.
The symposia are the patriarch's brainchild, designed to draw international attention to the pollution and ecological degradation of the areas they have visited - Aegean Sea, Black Sea and Danube River. "The symposium is a sort of symbol of what he's been able to do. Bringing as it were Church, science and the environment together is absolutely wonderful," said Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, who was one of the participants.


World Bank leaders were sufficiently impressed with the Black Sea Environmental Programme (BSEP) to break with standard practice of loans, instead donating $2 m to local clean up and education projects highlighted during the trip. "Environmental awareness is a matter of education and education does not only take place in school," the Patriarch told journalists on the Adriatic trip."

Another article from the LA Times "Christian Ecology"

Here is an interview with E.O. Wilson on Earthwatch Institute.

 

It always has been in most religions. Unfortunately most don't follow that basic tenant.