A Call to Action on Behalf of Our Planet
Climatologists are warning that climate change is much more severe than previously predicted. Rather than green house emissions being reduced during the past decade, the output has more than tripled. As a result polar ice is melting and with it permafrost, which in addition to carbon contains methane having 25 times the potency of carbon dioxide. What this means is that trapped gasses have the potential of releasing three times the amount of CO2 than the entire industrial output in all of Earth's history to date.
People need to become very earnest and resolute. We have to retrain ourselves to get over wasteful bad habits and put conservation into action rather than continually contributing to the depletion of resources.
As Sikhs we need to step forward and take action. Our Gurus have given us an understanding of creation and divine order. We also have been given an example of taking up the sword in defense of the innocent. In this case a sword may not be a steel blade, but a matter of turning off lights when leaving a room, hanging clothes to air dry instead of using an automatic dryer, making use of fuel efficient transportation, and walking when possible. The world will survive until some distant eon when it fades from existence. Humankind is much more tenuous, our descendants are depending on our conscious efforts to maintain our planet as a habitable environment.
Guru Teg Bahadur wrote:
"Praanee kachhoo n chaetee madh maya kai andh||
The mortal does not remember the Divine, even for a moment, but is intoxicated by duality.
Kahu nanak bin har bhajan parat taa-eh jam fandh||26||
Nanak declares, without meditating on the Divine one is caught by the noose of death. ||26|| SGGS||1427
The creator has gifted us with everything needed to sustain life. All we need to do is take care of the gift responsibly. Let us not be like a careless child and treat our treasure like a toy which can be discarded when broken. Let us take our turn in the beautiful garden of Earth without using everything up and leaving nothing but trash in our wake to show for our time here. We have this one precious life. Let us live in conscientiously, remembering to give and live in thanks to our creator who has given us this opportunity of worship.
Talk About Climate Change and Environmental issues in the Sikhism Forum
An Overview of Global Warming and its Causes
Beautifully said!
We had a 350 climate action this year and had Bill McKibben in town speaking. We’re a small town but progressive.