The writer invites us this month to observe World Environment Day and consider the urgent need for ethical responses to climate change and the sustainable use of our planet's resources.
We will be observing World Environment Day on 5 June, and marking World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on 17 June. This period calls for renewed action to protect our natural world, remembering that the future prosperity and the peaceful co-existence of peoples will greatly depend on how wisely we conserve, protect, and responsibly use Earth’s precious natural resources.
Climate change – a change directly or indirectly related to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere – as well as deforestation, soil erosion, water shortages, and plastic pollution, are serious matters of concern. The impact of climate change, for example, can now be seen through increasingly severe weather patterns. Furthermore, climate change-induced sea-level rise is a direct threat to millions around world putting them in the path of expanding floodplains.
According to a statement of the Bahá'í International Community: “The rapid progress in science and technology that has united the world physically has also greatly accelerated destruction of the biological diversity and rich natural heritage with which the planet has been endowed. Material civilization, driven by the dogmas of consumerism and aggressive individualism and disoriented by the weakening of moral standards and spiritual values, has been carried to excess. Only a comprehensive vision of a global society, supported by universal values and principles, can inspire individuals to take responsibility for the long-term care and protection of the natural environment”.
