A Climate of Change

In President Obama’s recent television announcement, climate change was presented as established fact. The United States government therefore wishes to reduce the carbon emissions that the country produces. As America has already legislated on certain pollutants, and has reduced the polluting level of its cars – sorry, automobiles – it seems that the target for reduction now is coal-fired power stations. Similar power stations have been closing in Europe, for the same reason.

But people will still need electricity to power their homes and their places of work, so alternative methods of power generation have to be promoted. Apart from the natural reserves of coal, oil and gas which the planet holds, there are the renewable sources, which are essentially replenishing themselves at all times. Some renewable energy sources have unwanted side effects. Wind turbines, for example, are known to cause many bird deaths, including large birds such as eagles. Solar “farms” displace wildlife, and tidal barrages cause ecological damage where they are installed. However, there are other methods which have less impact: using small-scale solar and hydro-electric schemes, ground heat pumps, etc.

Doing nothing about the increasing change in the planet’s climate risks potential disaster. One scenario involves a melting of the ice caps, accompanied by flooding, due to a rise in sea levels. Others include potential food and water shortages, as the rain ceases to fall in some areas, contrasting with disastrous floods elsewhere. Despite the years of collecting evidence of how things *have* changed, there is still no certainty about how things *will* change, even in the near future. It could be argued that while only some countries are reducing their emission levels, there is no real chance of avoiding further climate change. It needs to be every country making an effort at the same time. We do, after all, inhabit just one earth, with just one atmosphere. China’s carbon output is approximately double that of the United States, but, due to its much larger population, emissions per head are much lower. If it reached the same levels as the USA it would be catastrophic! Luckily, China has finally started to replace its “dirty” technology because of its awful internal pollution problems.

So many people seem to just look at their own (supposed) interests, and fail to regard this earth as one immense planetary system, in which the atmosphere, the seas, tectonic and volcanic processes, animals, plants and humans endlessly interact with one another. “The structure of the physical world is like unto a single being whose limbs and members are inseparably linked together.”  The Earth itself is, of course, part of a much wider system, and could not exist without the Sun, for example, “for every part of the universe is connected with every other part by ties that are very powerful and admit of no imbalance”. If we push these relationships too far, we may cause just such an imbalance, and bring about a catastrophe.

In the Bahá’í view, “We need a change of heart, …a new orientation of our activities. The inward life of man as well as his outward environment have to be reshaped.” To do this, there needs to be a climate of change. The change of heart needed can be categorised by the word “spiritual”, conveying a feeling for the world based on a sense of oneness with the world and respect for the world rather than a sense of ownership and exploitation. This would mean less materialism and therefore less need for energy from whatever source.

(Quotations in italics are from the Bahá’í writings)