A faith-based environmental approach for people and the planet: Some inter-religious perspectives on our Earth-embeddedness

engage and empower an array of stakeholders from different cultural and religious backgrounds. This article addresses the question of an integrated ecology by selecting appropriate and recent literature from mainstream religions and the subsequent interpretation and application.


Introduction
In 2015, some world environmentalists came together around an ambitious plan of action for people, the planet and prosperity called Transforming the World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Launched by the fourth plenary meeting of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly Summit in New York on 25-27 September 2015, the programme is articulated in 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) aiming at eradicating poverty in all its forms and creating a safer, healthier and more sustainable world for everyone, everywhere by the year 2030 (UN 2015).
The more recent and unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and the current environmental crisis, especially global climate fluxes, have again emphasised the need to work towards a more sustainable future across national borders, diverse cultural backgrounds and even generations.
To this end, a reflection on the future of people and the planet needs to identify and involve all actors alongside international institutions to fully deploy the power of science in addressing significant global challenges. However, different religious beliefs and values could also play a significant role in tackling global challenges, particularly the environment. Science needs religion to deal with environmental challenges in an integrated way, and a 'Platinum Society' 1 requires religion to be comprehensive (Komiyama & Yamada 2018:263). According to The Oxford Handbook 1. 'The vision in the twenty-first century must be one of a high-quality society. To be precise, it must be a society where people can maintain quantitative affluence, enhance it if necessary and enjoy a better-quality life and living situation. Or in other words, a society where they can enjoy a better quality of life (QOL). Let's define such a society as a platinum society .… The image of a global community that we should aim for is one in which everyone, and not just those in developed countries on this Earth, is living in a platinum society. As declared in the SDGs, we should "leave no one behind"' (Komiyama 2018:22).
For most people on our planet, spiritual values are vital in driving communitarian behaviour. It is becoming increasingly clear that a lasting and effective social commitment must consider cultural, sociological and religious dimensions. In particular, the current environmental crisis has demonstrated how effectively religious communities have mobilised to respond to climate change. With their emphasis on wisdom, social cohesion and interrelationships, religions can be a strategic player in ensuring effective integral human development.  Wilson (2006) supported this and suggested that we should set aside differences to save the planet: If religion and science could be united on the common ground of biological conservation, the problem would soon be solved. If there is any moral precept shared by people of all beliefs, it is that we owe ourselves and future generations a beautiful, rich, and healthful environment. (p. 5) At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, on 12 May 2020, UN Secretary-General António Guterres specifically addressed the world's religious leaders on the role of faith communities in the pandemic: 'we are all vulnerable, and that shared vulnerability reveals our common humanity' (Guterres 2020:n.p.). He added that the current crisis 'lays bare our responsibility to promote solidarity as the foundation of our response' (Guterres 2020:n.p faith-based organisations' investments and assets to support the implementation of SDGs and to provide them with knowledge and networks to enable their leaders to communicate with decision-makers and the public effectively. 5. A MFAC 6 was also launched in 2018, consisting of more than 40 religious leaders of faith-based organisations.
The MFAC, which serves as a unique space for convening faith-based partners as advisors to the UN in their human rights, peace and security and sustainable development efforts, is committed to upholding multilateralism and international human rights through multifaith collaboration.
These initiatives aim to strengthen a global strategy to mobilise the various religions towards coherently implementing the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda.
The question, however, is not just whether but to what extent are specific 7 faith communities relevant nowadays in the discourse about the future of our planet and modern societies? What is the current state of affairs? This article intends to address the question by selecting appropriate recent literature (with the result of many -obviously reliable, primarily from the UN -Internet resources) and the subsequent interpretation and application.
However, this article has neither a comparative nor a phenomenological objective regarding religion(s). 8 As alluded to in the title, its venture point is a mere faith-based approach to our interconnectedness to the Earth.

Environmental protection and spirituality
Long before environmental protection became a priority for the international community, people worldwide had been taking care of their environment as an expression of their spiritual and cultural beliefs and values. For instance, this has remained embedded in the lives and practices of indigenous people, who, although they constitute only around 5% of the world population, play a vital role in nature conservation. Traditional indigenous territories are estimated to cover up to 22% of the world's land surface and host 80% of the planet's biodiversity (FAO 2017).
Nowadays, it is estimated that more than 80% of the world's population is somehow religiously affiliated (Hackett et al. 2012). This bears enormous consequences for addressing significant social challenges, particularly environmental protection. Many of the most important cultural heritage sites worldwide are deeply rooted in local spiritual and cultural traditions, within which they are considered holy places (eds. Verschuuren et al. 2010). Religious institutions own more than 7% of the Earth's land surface, and a further 8% has religious connections (Hillmann & Barkmann 2009). As John Allen Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker, founders of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology (FORE), 9 point out: 'Sacred places also manifest these intimate relationships of a people to the land' (Grim & Tucker 2014:36).
Within religious ecologies, people can orientate and ground their relationships locally and globally. Moreover, a recent report by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) (2020) has observed in a footnote of their statute that: [W]hile no specific figure has been estimated for total assets held by faith-based investors, there is strong evidence that illustrates vast accumulation of wealth by faith organizations. Prominent religions have been tremendous powerhouses of ancient spiritual wisdom for millennia, guiding humanity through profound crises. Today, they remain amongst the most significant stakeholders for the planet, often securing educational, medical, welfare and compassion work in the most challenging environments.
We have seen several official statements and declarations from all the major faiths in the last few decades emphasising their commitments to a sustainable future. Such declarations show great respect for science teaching whilst appealing to sacred texts and spiritual practices to motivate ecological action. After an assessment of the different Christian confessions on the environment (e.g. Laudato Si', 10 the Orthodox Churches' Statement on the Environment, 11 the Accra Declaration 12 and the Earth Charter 13 ), Corneliu Simut (2020) concluded that: [R]egardless of whether they are Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic or mainline Protestant, confessional theologies about the state of nature and the environment have three main aspects in common: education, economy and politics. When these three are put together in a theological discourse, the result is a public theology of nature which is essentially ecodomic in nature. (p. Indonesia, the largest Muslim country worldwide, has been at the forefront of environmental protection. In 2014, the Indonesian Council of Ulama, the most influential Muslim organisation in the country, took the unprecedented step of issuing an Islamic fatwa, or edict, requiring the country's 200 million Muslims to take an active role in protecting threatened species, including tigers, rhinos, elephants and orangutans as a part of their religious duty (MUI 2014). The fatwa, which was widely acclaimed in the world's media that week, is one of the first of its kind in the world, and it will be accompanied by an education programme to help communities put it into practice. However: [C]enturies of rapacious exploitation of the planet have caught up with us, and a radical change in our relationship with nature is no longer an option. It is a matter of survival. (n.p.) These Declarations call upon Hindus to: [T]ake the lead in Earth-friendly living, personal frugality, lower power consumption, alternative energy, sustainable food production and vegetarianism, as well as in evolving technologies that positively address our shared plight. (n.p.) It invokes (predictably, we might say) the cherished Hindu notion of vasudhaiva kutumbakam, 17 'the whole world is one family' (Hindu 2009:n.p., 2015:n.p.).
Cambodia has one of the highest rates of forest loss in the world. However, the Buddhist monks there have proved themselves powerful forces for conservation, acquiring legal protection of a 20 000-hectare forest, leading community patrol teams, raising environmental awareness and significantly reducing forest crime. Wrapping their saffron robes around tree trunks, the monks bless the trees and even ordain them as monks (Rick 2018 (Stanley et al. 2009:165), and: [O]ur ecological emergency is a larger version of the perennial human predicament. Both as individuals and as a species, we suffer from a sense of self that feels disconnected not only from other people but from the Earth itself. (p. 9) 17.See: https://vedicglobal.org/vasudhaiva-kutumbakam/ Buddhist teachings emphasise that the overall health of the individual and society are intertwined with inner well-being and not just upon economic indicators, indicating the personal and social changes we must make. As the Vietnamese Thiền (i.e. Zen) Buddhist monk and activist Thich Nhat Hanh has said, 'we are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness' (Stanley et al. 2009:9): We need to wake up and realise that the Earth is our mother as well as our home -and in this case the umbilical cord binding us to her cannot be severed. When the Earth becomes sick, we become sick, because we are part of her. (p. 10) Exploiting the environment is harming us too. In 2012, Jewish organisational leaders signed a declaration setting a community-wide goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 14% by 2014. The Jewish Environmental and Energy Imperative, signed by 50 Jewish leaders 'across the political and religious spectrum', also establishes a goal of reducing Jewish community greenhouse gases by 83% of 2005 levels by 2050 -the national goal was announced by President Obama in Copenhagen -and it encourages a communitywide approach to greening synagogues, homes and buildings. The Jewish concept of bal tashḥit -a prohibition against wastefulness and destruction -is applicable in this debate. Against this backdrop, Tanhum Yoreh even draws an analogy between biocide and suicide (Yoreh 2019:33).
In the spirit of Laudato Si', Pope Francis inspired more than 300 Jewish rabbis to sign a rabbinic letter on the climate crisis, 'calling for vigorous action to prevent worsening climate disruption and seek "eco-social justice"' (Shalom Centre 2015). They acknowledge 'God's creation, and we celebrate the presence of the divine hand in every earthly creature'. Drawing on the specific practices by which the Torah, in particular the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, refer to the idea of Shabbat Shabbaton -a sabbatical yearand Shmittah -a year of restful release for the Earth in which to 'set time and space aside for celebration, restfulness, reflection'. Brueggemann published an outstanding work on 'Sabbath as Resistance' as the practice ground for 'breaking the power of acquisitiveness and for creating a public will for an accent on restraint' (Brueggemann 2014:84-85).

A global religious alliance for the environment
In recent years, many religious leaders have called on their communities to care for our planet and its people. Amongst the first public contributions in environmental protection from a faith leader of particular significance has been that of His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. He has tirelessly promoted conservation care for over three decades, drawing from the Byzantine Church's rich spiritual and theological legacy. On the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on 01 September 2020, the 'Green' Patriarch clearly states how his effort is deeply rooted in the life of the Orthodox Church: We repeat that the environmental activities of the Ecumenical Patriarchate are an extension of its ecclesiological selfconsciousness and do not comprise a simple circumstantial reaction to a new phenomenon. The very life of the Church is an applied ecology. (Bartholomew 2020) The establishment of the Halki Ecological Institute is another innovative project of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, involving six representatives of the six countries bordering the Black Sea (cf. Chryssavgis 1999). The ecological crisis is not just an ethical dilemma but an ontological and theological matter that demands both a new way of thinking, a new way of being and a new way of acting. Be different and act differently!
In the 80s, as the international president of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the late Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Prince Philip, first envisaged 'a new and powerful alliance between the secular conservation organisations and faith groups'. In 1986, for the WWF 25th anniversary, he convened in Assisi leaders of Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity together with significant secular conservation and environmental groups to celebrate the respect for nature all the faiths have in common, the first-ever such meeting and a historic event (Suro 1986:36 In the past, protected management and governance have been based on scientific research. Today we realise that a combination of science and spirituality can engage and empower an array of stakeholders from different cultural and religious backgrounds. The extent of the relevancy of a faith-based approach in a comprehensive engagement with environmental issues is demonstrated in the work of the University of Zurich Centre for Sustainable Finance & Private Wealth (CSP n.d.), as well as in the University of Bern's project 22 on Ethics of a Planetary Sustainability by taking the space surrounding Earth into account when the sustainability of the planet is taken seriously. A plea for an extra goal of the United Nation's programme: 'our "space environment" is worth being integrated into the United Nations' SDGs as the 18th goal of its own, developing the Global Goals into a truly Planetary Plan' (Losch 2020:7) The Preamble of the Earth Charter (ECI 2000) provided a graphical synopsis of this Earth-based interconnectedness, pleaded and demonstrated in this article 23 (Figure 1).
An inclusivist theology of religion(s) departs from theological exclusivism in its willingness to afford revelatory value to other religious traditions and, together with the natural sciences, engages in the enterprise to mitigate environmental degradation and strive towards a sustainable life for the whole of the creation. Fundamental integral ecology leads people to more just and sustainable lives. Faith-based enterprises are very much aware of this responsibility today. The UN and many governments are increasingly recognising