What is needed now is a profound shift in global awareness

Climate Change and Personal Responsibility

Think globally, act locally.
For twenty years this slogan has been used to catch the world's attention. The good news is that thousands of small scale green projects have popped up all over the world: people acting locally.

This we have done. This we already do.

But we need to identify the commonly held attitudes that are the serious barriers to real sustainability. Educating people about climate change helps to build "the skills and the attitudes needed to question the way we think, the values we hold and the decisions we make..." (UNESCO). We need to understand the world as a unified whole. This is where we must make progress - and it must be soon. The legal foundation that informs our emission reduction targets will end in 2012.

Soon the eyes of the world will turn to Doha, Qatar for the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is there we need to negotiate a new protocol for 2020. The urgency of the Climate Change negotiations requires our most profound vision and our most unselfish action. "We need to have a radical change in the way we think, the way we live, and the way we make decisions." (Statement by Lebanon, COP 17)

The position paper of the Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiative states, "What is needed now is a profound shift in global awareness... we have to include the inner dimension if we want to transform the quality of the conversation and the agenda for action among stakeholders".

Brahma Kumaris events will include:

"Protecting our atmosphere: state and individual responsibilities and the rights of Mother Earth"

International Lawyers, Nord-Sud XXI, and The Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiative are convening in a panel will include: a human rights lawyer, a spiritual mentor, an anthropologist and a solar entrepreneur.

Tuesday 27 November, QNCC, Side Event Room 2, 20:15- 21:45 (COP18 accreditation is required)

"Ethical and religious insights on the climate crisis" - Panel of religious leaders

Friday, 7 December, QNCC, Side Event Room 2, 11.30 to 13.00 (COP18 accreditation is required)

Stall B12 at Sustainability Expo 2012, Doha Exhibition Center, from November 26 - December 7. "Methods to adopt state and individual responsibility, inner resilience and a shift in consciousness, as the foundation of climate change"

"Healthy Minds, Healthy Planet"
How do our minds affect the planet? Any real contributions to change must come from the inside. By filling our minds with positive thoughts based on love and respect and the interdependence of all things, we will influence each other, the environment and even ourselves in positive and powerful ways.

Speakers: Mr. Joachim Golo Pilz - Director Solar Research Institute, Germany/India, Dr. Tamasin Ramsay –Environmental Anthropologist, Australia/USA, Sister Jayanti Kirpalani – Director of the Brahma Kumaris in Europe & Middle East, and head of the Brahma Kumaris delegation to COP18, India/UK.

Thursday, 29 November, Sustainability Expo 2012 19:00 to 20:00,

For information and interviews: Ms. Jyothi Hulmani, Qatar ph: 66526582, 55568306,

or from abroad +974 66526582, +974 55568306 or e-mail environment@brahmakumaris.org

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