3rd Day — Climate Change Conference – Wednesday 1st December

The theme again was the Inner Dimensions of Climate Change. A panel of spiritual and religious leaders of which Sister Jayanti is a part, discussed the understanding that the environmental crisis is a moral and spiritual crisis and explored ways to shift the consciousness needed to change behaviors and lifestyles that reduce the waste and degradation that modern life entails.

Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, spoke of a deeply spiritual crisis in which we have become so separate from each other that we no longer relate to each other as being part of the whole. We have forgotten what it means to be unified. "Everything relates to every thing, and everything relates to everyone" she said. The greatest call for people of faith is unity. We need to care beyond ourselves, beyond our families, beyond our professions, beyond our politics, beyond our nation, beyond what separates us. We have lost the capacity to care for what is beyond us.

Sister Jayanti. We have separated our selves from the living system of nature. We exploit everything for our own purposes and have forgotten that we are part of the living system of life.

The power of thought, which is also a living system, has a huge impact on mater. The human mind and vibrations created from thoughts influence everything on the physical level. We have lost contact with the core qualities inside each of us; our real treasures of peace, happiness, simplicity, love and care which create a naturally sustainable world. The attitude and vision of the world that arise from these qualities are being lost, because we have forgotten who we are – spiritual beings filled with these qualities When we lose ourselves in this way, greed arrives to acquire physical things to fill this huge gap we feel inside and we lose the capacity to care for each other, nature, and the animal kingdom.

Ven. Chang Ji Dharma Drum, Buddhist: Our lives are moving so fast that we only do what we must and not what we should. We are experiencing the collective destiny of what we have created. We need to think about what we are doing – right now. Be present and aware of what is happening. Think about what we are doing – live a sustainable life and be Mindful.

Mr. Richard Cizik, founder of New Evangelicals USA. Believes this is a defining moment. Our vision needs to move from human centered to cosmic centered. We need to change from 'Take, Make and Waste' to 'Borrow, Use and Return'. A vision of sustainability is heavenly. Religion and science need to come together because religion is the 'why' and science is the 'how'. We need to care more deeply and act more boldly. The defining moment needs to be our best moment and we need a conversion of the habits of the heart.

Sraddhalu Ranade, Scientist, Teacher at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India. Everything is in a grid-lock of human policies and practices. This is a fundamental crisis of spirituality, a consciousness crisis and there are six errors that have lead us to this crisis.

1. Self interest. Self interest is fine but it needs to expand to include everything.
2. Lifestyle – Increasing greed and unlimited desires have led us to this crisis. We have to learn to be satisfied with what we have. We need to recover our spiritual values.
3. Short term vision. We need to look at the long-term vision of quality of life and sustainable living.
4. We have forgotten that we are part of nature
5. We have lost the sense of who we are – we have been taught that we are a biological structure, but first of all we are spiritual beings
6. Why we are here. We are not here by chance but as spiritual beings we have a purpose.

Sister Joan Chittister, Benedictine Nun and renowned author asked: Where do we get our ideas from and how do we change them? She suggested that we are not at the point of seeing differently, we are not at the point of seeing at all! We are not just separated from nature or distinct from nature but we exploit it. We need to come into relationship with nature and not dominate it. The creation story which we are taught in the Judo Christian tradition is one of dominance over matter but there is the other creations story which shows us to be in relationship with matter and so the quality of caring is present in that relationship.

Finally, after questions from the audience, the panel agreed that they had all learnt from each others perspectives and that they need to come together to learn how to join together to speak about how to get this message out to the world.

KlimaForum (NGO)

BK Renaud Russeil from France gave his presentation of 'Livestocks Long Shadow', speaking about the impact of the meat industry on the environment. He included some facts that the small audience didn't have any idea about, for example: breeding livestock (not processing the meat, only breeding) is the second largest industry to produce greenhouse gases – 18 % of them. The largest producer is the home, and third is transport which produces 13.5 %. 1 kg meat produces 36,4 kg CO2.

Our day at KlimaForum again finished with the circular dance, which is by far the most popular activity with the young people who inhabit this forum.