Health and Environment: Facing a Climate Emergency
NOTE: Earth Day Community Day on Zoom, April 24
Contemplative responses to Climate Emergency
10.30-2.00
Recent voices from UN leaders and environmental
scientists call on us to focus on the urgency of addressing climate change
issues to prevent dramatic worsening impacts on our health and lives.
Climate change is now a health emergency
and a great threat to public health. History is no guide to its impacts and
approaches to public health. We now need to listen to the experts and science.
A healthy humanity depends on a healthy planet and the need is great to recognize
the indivisibility of nature and human well-being. (How human behaviour impacts
on the health of the earth and how an unhealthy earth impacts on human health)
The relation between environmental health and
individual health is often indirect, complex-may be long term, not easily
quantifiable; localised; and relates to risks and vulnerabilities which may
affect physical and mental health. Many diseases of the our time are attributable to environmental factors…eg new pathogens,
malaria; covid19, dengue and many
illnesses are attributable to environmental degradation from pesticides,
deforestation; use of fossil fuels; air pollution, etc
Living as we are in a world of distractions, the
prevalence of social media which amplifies disinformation, with news coming to
us in brief sound bites, it is hard to
live in awareness of and to act
out of the attentiveness of this reality- that of a sacred interconnected
universe to which our actions are causing critical imbalances.
The need for a new integrated
consciousness is urgent- to integrate our own inner being and to see with
contemplative eyes.
Fth Laurence has said…”contemplative prayer
awakens our sense of connection and responsibility for and to the wondrous
creation we are part of. Because meditation heals the excessive individualism
of our culture and restrains its inherent self centred ness we can truly see
the relevance of a deep spirituality to the healing of our wounded environment”
Generally
we see a news item of yet another catastrophic weather event in a part of our world.
Generally we don’t fully take, or act from the reality the interconnected
nature of what is unfolding from changes already locked in by our misuse of the
planet and their consequences. We have become exploiters rather than caretakers
of our common home. This requires action individually, to create an inner
spaciousness and responsiveness to the needed outer challenges ,individual,
social and political.
Fr.Laurence
has suggested a recent graphic resource “Climate Emergency: Feedback Loops,”
could be considered a forum for discussion in the context of a
contemplative approach to the health of the planet, in the light of this
year as the WCCM Year of Health.
It gives a sharp focus on the
accelerating changes happening in the underlying climate .This short
series gives a a valuable insight into
the feedback loops already
occurring and locking in changes to the
balance which maintains all life supporting systems. Many risks are
simultaneous and overlapping….eg deforestation and flooding; drought and fires
“Because many climate impacts are already locked-in,
we must learn to live in a new era of drought, floods, and megafires. It’s
equally clear that far greater dangers lie ahead if we fail to act with the
urgency and determination that the science demands,” said Dr Glasser. (Dr Glasser was until recently the Special
Representative of the Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Assistant
Secretary General and Head of the United Nations Office of Disaster Risk
Reduction (UNISDR).
What is a contemplative view re environment?
Based on experience which meditation gives of a deeper,
interconnected sense of self, a
grounding in the reality of our being, it helps transform our relationship with
all of creation and to live with more responsibility and attentiveness to the
beauty and wonder of creation.We, humanity , are part of the evolving planet.
In this disruption we are the cause of the changing conditions and feedback
loops and face an urgent need to take a contemplative view—-one which can
encompass the many interlocking changes and our role in the disruption and well
as the challenges we face in our actions
towards healing the earth. How are we to change? We are called to be more. The series awakens
us to the invisible energies impacting our lives and reminds us of of the fundamental
spiritual energy asked us us…that of love for each other, the creator and
creation.Over time we have used different lens through which we see and act
in our world. We may have been focused
on our our individual self, our society, our nation, evolution, planet,
spiritual values and now are being
called to embrace an all-encompassing lens focusing on the interconnected web of life on our
planet and spiritual values we bring. We
need to see with new eyes our place in the web
of life, our connections with all beings through space and time, and the kind of power and attention that is ours for creating a
sustainable civilization.’
Health and Environment; Health or wealth? A crisis of
values
What do we value? Our economic model is focused on financial values but does not attribute monetary ‘value to ‘externalities” (environmental costs) as
economies call such effects as CO2 emissions from use of coal, land
degredation, etc. We distort human values with monetary values. The roots of
the crisis are a crisis of values…what
climate change , induced by the pressures and stresses placed on the
environment by our excessive consumerism, destroys has not been not formally
valued.
Returning to our deepest common human values on our common home with learnings from the
pandemic…our shared vulnerability;
the focus from national
sovereignty to a shared home’ ; from ‘ separate self’ to collective
‘we’; reliant on health of the planet;
recognising indivisibility of nature and human well-being. (How human
behaviour impacts on the health of the earth and how an unhealthy earth impacts
on human health)
In the past we have seen ourselves as separate from
nature…..???
What are our deepest values? How do our scriptures
guide us?
Health experts are saying that climate change will be
the major impact on public health in our future.
2021 is a critical year for collective action towards promises made at Paris
Conference 5 years ago and global
leaders are seeking new commitments to
implement these agreements at COP26 in
the face of failure of action to date to
limit the rise in temperature.
Mark Carney .Now UN Special Envoy for Climate at COP26
Recent BBC series ……Reith Lectures Dec 2020
The Reith Lectures, 2020: Mark Carney - How ... - BBC Radio 4
“HOW WE GET WHAT
WE VALUE”
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