Living Lightly, Living Faithfully

302 Pages·2013·4.84 MB·English

The challenge of sustainability

Living Lightly,
Living Faithfully
Religious faiths and the future of sustainability

Edited by Colin Bell,
Jonathan Chaplin and Robert White
First published in Great Britain in 2013
The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St Edmund’s College,
Cambridge CB3 0BN; and the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE),
36 Selwyn Gardens, Cambridge CB3 9BA
Copyright © The Faraday Institute and KLICE
The Authors have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
The Editors have made every effort to ensure that the external website and email
addresses included in this book are correct and up-to-date at the time of going to
press. The Editors and Publisher are not responsible for the content, quality or
continuing accessibility of the sites.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 13: 978-0-9559074-3-2 (Paperback edition)
ISBN 13: 978-0-9559074-4-9 (Electronic edition)
Printed in Great Britain by Imprint Digital Printers, Upton Pyne, Devon.
Cover image: Stephen Lown.
Book design and copy editing: Mary Davis.
Produced on recycled paper.
Generously funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation,
the Kirby Laing Foundation and the Hinchley Trust.
.
Contents
Editor and author profiles .............................................................................. 5
Introduction—Faith in sustainability? ........................................................ 11
COLIN BELL, JONATHAN CHAPLIN & ROBERT WHITE
Preface—The challenge of sustainability ..................................................... 21
BILL MCKIBBEN
Part 1—Sustainable growth
1 Is economic growth compatible with environmental sustainability? .. 33
PAUL EKINS
2 The role of credit and debt in our economic crises ............................... 49
ANN PETTIFOR
3 Environmental economics of Islam ....................................................... 65
MAWIL IZZI DIEN
4 Sustainable growth or right livelihood? A Buddhist approach to
economic development ........................................................................ 77
LASZLO ZSOLNAI
Part 2—Sustainable consumption
5 Growth, sustainability and behaviour change: a Christian
perspective ............................................................................................ 95
TIM COOPER
6 Values and the role of charities ............................................................ 107
TOM CROMPTON
Part 3—Sustainable production
7 A critique of sustainability in the business world from a Christian
perspective ........................................................................................... 121
CAL BAILEY
8 Sustainable energy ................................................................................ 133
JULIET DAVENPORT
9 Sustainable production—insights from Islam ..................................... 151
HARFIYAH HALEEM
Part 4—Governance for sustainability
10 Governing for sustainability—winning battles but losing the war ..... 173
PAUL CHAMBERS
11 Campaigning for sustainability ........................................................... 187
ANDY ATKINS
12 Sustainability and food ........................................................................ 203
PETER MELCHETT
13 The moral landscape of decisions in sustainability and climate
change .................................................................................................. 211
DOUGLAS CRAWFORD-BROWN
Part 5—Sustainability potential
14 The environment and sustainability—an Islamic perspective ............ 221
FAZLUN KHALID
15 Religion and sustainability in global perspective ............................... 245
ELAINE STORKEY
Part 6—Spirituality and sustainability
16 Hopeful virtue: living in response to a world in crisis ........................ 265
RUTH VALERIO
17 The role of the church in the coming ‘crisis of sustainability’ ........... 275
COLIN BELL
18 Spirituality and sustainability .............................................................. 285
SATISH KUMAR
19 Sustainable production ........................................................................ 293
HARFIYAH HALEEM
Reading list ................................................................................................. 295
Editor and author profiles
ANDY ATKINS is Executive Director of Friends of the Earth and heads up the
organisation’s focus on tackling climate change and the loss of our planet’s
natural diversity. He has worked in a wide range of international development
charities and has a strong track record of campaigning on environmental and
social justice issues.
CAL BAILEY is the Sustainability Director of NG Bailey, responsible for the
implementation of sustainable practices both for the organisation and for its
clients. NG Bailey is a major family business in the construction sector,
employing some 3,000 people. Before joining NG Bailey, he worked in
positions across the manufacturing, construction, development and
consultancy sectors. He is affiliated with many industry bodies and is a
founder of Buildoffsite and the UK Green Building Council, as well as a
member of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers and the
Institute for Family Business. Cal is a Reader at his local parish church in
Leeds and is particularly interested in how business can better serve the
kingdom of God.
COLIN BELL is a Research Associate at the Faraday Institute in Cambridge and
writer on faith and sustainability issues. His background includes degrees in
mathematics and theology, and research in scientific and high-tech industry.
His various roles focus around trying to help people understand likely or
possible sustainability challenges in the decades ahead. This involves
speaking and writing resources aimed at young people and the UK church,
including work with Christian Ecology Link and the John Ray Initiative.
PAUL CHAMBERS graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in
Natural Sciences, followed by a doctorate in ecology from Oxford University.
After a period of post-doctoral research and teaching, he joined the UK
Government’s environment department in 1997. He has worked on a number
of energy and environmental policies including transboundary air pollution,
greenhouse gas emissions trading, climate change communications, energy
efficiency and, until last year, international energy and climate policy. He is
currently the energy adviser at the British Embassy in Jakarta, working with
the Government of Indonesia to support their effort to promote low carbon
energy
JONATHAN CHAPLIN is Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian
Ethics, based in Cambridge, a member of the Cambridge University Divinity
Faculty, and a Senior Fellow of the Canadian public policy think tank Cardus.
6 Editor and author profiles
He is a specialist in Christian political thought and is co-editor of God and
Global Order (Baylor, 2009) and God and Government (SPCK, 2009) and
author of Talking God: The Legitimacy of Religious Public Reasoning (Theos,
2008).
TIM COOPER is Professor of Sustainable Design and Consumption at
Nottingham Trent University. He specialises in research relating to the
lifespan of consumer durables and was contributing editor of Longer Lasting
Products (Gower, 2010). He has long taken an active interest in Christianity
and the environment and is a trustee of Christian Ecology Link, which he
helped to set up in 1982. His book Green Christianity (Hodder & Stoughton,
1990) was one of the first attempts to explore sustainability from a Christian
perspective.
DOUGLAS CRAWFORD-BROWN is Executive Director of the Cambridge
Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research at the University of
Cambridge; Emeritus Professor in Environmental Sciences and Policy; and
Director Emeritus of the Institute for the Environment at the University of
North Carolina in the United States. He has participated in many government
bodies and advised governments and businesses on climate change,
sustainability and environmental protection—mainly in the USA and UK, but
also in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Thailand, Abu Dhabi, Mexico
and France.
TOM CROMPTON has worked for a range of third sector organisations,
including Greenpeace, NSPCC, RSPB and WWF. His reports, among them
Weathercocks and Signposts: The Environment Movement at a Crossroads,
and Common Cause: The Case for Working with our Cultural Values, have
generated extensive international debate—the Common Cause Network now
has groups in more than ten countries. His work has been reported widely,
including by The Guardian, The Times and the BBC. He is a regular speaker at
conferences on ‘behaviour change’ (a phrase he dislikes!) and social change,
and was a nominee for Climate Change Communicator of the Year 2011. He
holds a first degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge and
a PhD on the evolution of altruism, from the University of Leicester.
JULIET DAVENPORT is founder and Chief Executive of Good Energy. Since
Good Energy was founded ten years ago, it has been a catalyst for change in
the energy market, supplying energy to 34,000 homes and businesses, and
supporting 52,000 independent renewable generators. Its goal is to help the
UK to a 100% renewable future by 2050. Juliet has won several accolades for
her work, including PLUS Markets CEO of the Year three times, Business
Editor and author profiles 7
Green Leader of the Year Award 2012, PEA Business Award CEO of the Year
2012 and First Woman Award (Retail and Consumer) 2011. Good Energy has
won a Sunday Times Best Green Company Award twice, an Observer Ethical
Award and was ranked by Which as the top UK energy provider for customer
satisfaction in 2010, 2012 and 2013.
PAUL EKINS is Professor of Resources and Environment Policy at, and
Director of, the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, University College
London. His other roles include Senior Consultant to Cambridge
Econometrics, Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, and an adviser
to the Energy Efficiency Deployment Office of the Department for Energy &
Climate Change. He has served as an adviser to numerous governmental
bodies in the areas of sustainable energy policy, sustainable development,
environment and business. In 1994, he received a Global 500 Award for
‘outstanding environmental achievement’ from the United Nations
Environment Programme. His academic work focuses on the conditions and
policies for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy, and he is an
authority on a number of areas of energy-environment-economy interaction
and environmental policy.
HARFIYAH HALEEM has been a trustee of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology
and Environmental Sciences (IFEES) since 2003. She is a regular speaker and
writer on various aspects of Islam and the environment, and has edited or co-
edited the books, Islam and the Environment (Ta-Ha, 1998), The Muslim
Green Guide (IFEES, 2008) and Sharing Eden (Kube Publishing, 2012). She also
runs various environmental awareness activities and practical initiatives,
including workshops for Muslim scouts, and projects among Muslim
communities across London. She was a contributor to two seminars at
Lambeth Palace: Climate Change 2009 and Sustainability 2011.
MAWIL IZZI DIEN is Professor in Islamic Studies at the University of Wales,
Trinity St David. He has researched and written on many aspects of Islamic
theology, but has particular interests in law, faith and the environment,
interfaith engagement and Islamic economics. He is currently co-editing a
book on Islamic Economics in the Contemporary World. Since 1991, he has
acted as an adviser and contributor on Islam to the Alliance of Religion and
Conservation Organisation (ARC).
FAZLUN KHALID has a worldwide reputation as an indefatigable advocate of
environmental protection rooted in religious traditions and is now recognised
as one of 15 leading eco-theologians in the world. He appeared on the
Independent on Sunday list of the Top 100 Environmentalists in the UK in
8 Editor and author profiles
2008 and is also listed among the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World
by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan. He founded the
Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences which is now
established as the world's leading Islamic environmental NGO.
SATISH KUMAR teaches, lectures and runs workshops internationally on
reverential ecology, holistic education, and voluntary simplicity. As a young
man, he became a monk and peace campaigner and undertook an 8,000-mile
peace pilgrimage from India to America. In 1973, he settled in England, taking
the Editorship of Resurgence magazine. He has been the editor ever since: 30+
years! He is the guiding spirit and/or founder of a number of ecological,
spiritual and educational ventures in Britain, including the Small School in
Hartland, a pioneering secondary school; and Schumacher College, a
residential international centre for the study of ecological and spiritual
values. He has written four books, including No Destination (Resurgence,
1992), his autobiography, which has sold 50,000 copies—and presented a
highly acclaimed BBC documentary that mixed eastern philosophy with the
western landscape of Dartmoor.
BILL MCKIBBEN is an American environmentalist, writer and advocate on
global warming, alternative energy, and localisation issues. Since 2006, he has
organised a number of large-scale demonstrations on climate change,
including 350.org, which coordinated 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in
181 countries. MSN named him one of the dozen most influential men of
2009. His first book, The End of Nature, was published in 1989 by Random
House after being serialised in the New Yorker. It is regarded as the first book
for a general audience about climate change, and has been translated into
more than 20 languages. Subsequent books include Deep Economy: the
Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (Times Books, 2007), and
Eaarth (Times Books, 2010).
PETER MELCHETT has been Policy Director of the Soil Association—the UK’s
main organic food and farming organisation—since 2001. He runs an 890-acre
organic farm in Norfolk, with pigs, beef cattle and arable crops. His many
roles have included being a member of the BBC’s Rural Affairs Committee,
and the Department of Education’s School Lunches Review Panel, an
environmental consultant to businesses, a Special Lecturer at Nottingham
University, President or Chair of various NGOs, including the Ramblers
Association and Greenpeace UK, and a Labour Government minister in the
House of Lords.
Editor and author profiles 9
ANN PETTIFOR is a fellow of the New Economics Foundation (nef) and
Director of Advocacy International Ltd. Her particular interests include the
architecture of the international financial system and its impact on sovereign
debt and domestic monetary and fiscal policy; and the challenges posed to
economic policy by the twin threats of Peak Oil and climate change. She
works in the area of sovereign debt around the world, and regularly attends
World Bank and IMF meetings. Among her publications is The Coming First
World Debt Crisis (Palgrave, 2006) which warned that rich countries were
heading for a debt crisis that would overshadow anything seen in the
developing world. She also co-authored nef’s A Green New Deal (New
Economics Foundation, 2008).
ELAINE STORKEY, President of Tearfund, is a well-known academic and
broadcaster, and was named one of the 100 women public intellectuals by The
Guardian. She is also Director of Education for the Church of England Church
Army, and speaks at public events in many countries. Author of eight books,
she has also written hundreds of articles for journals and newspapers. She has
a number of academic degrees, including a Doctorate of Divinity, and has
lectured at King’s College, Birkbeck College, and Oxford University. She is
passionate about justice and transformation, and has been connected with
Tearfund for a number of years, visiting Tearfund projects in numerous
countries.
RUTH VALERIO is a writer and speaker with a passion for the world that we
live in and all its inhabitants, and a desire to motivate others also to live in
ways that respect and look after this earth. Ruth is an academic, community
activist, eco-warrior, author, practitioner, vegetable grower and pig keeper
rolled into one. She has recently completed a PhD in Theology, looking at
simplicity as a Christian response to consumerism. She is the author of “L” is
for Lifestyle: Christian Living That Doesn't Cost the Earth (IVP, 2004), as well
as a number of Bible study guides. Ruth is Theology Director for A Rocha UK
and is involved in leading the major Christian event, Spring Harvest. She is
also a director of Cred Jewellery, which has pioneered Fairtrade Gold.
ROBERT (BOB) WHITE is Professor of Geophysics at Cambridge University
and Director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. His research
focus is on volcanoes, earthquakes and processes accompanying rifting and
breakup of continents. His books include Christianity, Climate Change and
Sustainable Living (SPCK, 2007); Creation in Crisis: Christian Perspectives on
Sustainability (SPCK, 2009); and Hope in an Age of Despair: The Gospel and
the Future of Life on Earth (IVP, 2013).