In addition to this sampling, you can view our full YouTube playlist of Baha’i Faith and Ecology videos here.
Compassionate Era: Bahá’í Teachings on the Animal Kingdom; Carole Flood
Wilmette Institute
April 16, 2023
Animals of all kinds co-exist with us, from pets to farm animals to wildlife and microscopic organisms. We know more than ever now about animal sentience and capabilities, even as we impact the animal kingdom more than ever before—from extinction and species decline due to climate change and habitat loss, farming practices, pet ownership, and more. What do the Bahá’í teachings say about animals? How can those teachings help guide us in our daily lives and as a society? What does it mean to be kind to animals? What is our vision of animals in the future? Come and join us to explore these questions and many more with Guest speaker Carole Flood.
URI MENA
December 17, 2022
Tahani Ruhi Helmy, a Journalist, social media consultant, Interfaith Activist and the coordinator of Naya CC (URI Cooperation Circle) and Sameeh Qumi, from Naya CC delivered a session on “Baha'i perspective on protecting the environment” during the ''Role of Faith in Protecting the Earth'' workshop which was organized by the URI MENA under the UNEP Faith for Earth initiative in Amman on 17 December 2022.
Christine Muller
Baháʼí Faith Modern Perspectives
November 12, 2022
Christine Muller graduated from the Music Academy Basel, Switzerland, with degrees in piano teaching and early music education. She has been a lifelong student of the Baha'i Faith and of the environment. She created an Interfaith Study Course on Climate Change and co-produced the Story of Stuff: A Baha'i-inspired Program for Youth. Since 2011, she has served as faculty for the Wilmette Institute courses on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Christine is a board member of RI Interfaith Power&Light and serves as secretary for the Baha'i-inspired International Environment Forum.
“Recasting humanity’s relationship with natural world”
Bahá’í International Community
June 15, 2022
“Will humanity act on the truth that its own destiny and that of the planet are irrevocably intertwined? Or will still greater calamities be required to move it to action?” asks the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) in a statement it recently released on the occasion of Stockholm+50.
Baha’i-inspired International Environment Forum at Stockholm+50
June 1-5, 2022
The recordings as well as brief reports about the conference are available here.
Follow link to view videos
Wilmette Institute
April 7, 2022
The science says that the affluent are the most responsible for the existential challenges of climate change, the biodiversity crisis and pollution threats and that we must turn the corner in this decade before these crises lead to catastrophe. Governments have already, in the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and other texts, mapped out what needs to be done. The failure is in implementation due to the power of vested interests, corruption, materialist ideologies and the lack of political will faced with the necessary material sacrifices. Only a just transition motivated by ethical and spiritual values at the grass roots can lay the foundations for a more meaningful and sustainable social order offering a positive way forward through the turmoil of the inevitably difficult transition.
Nature and Environment based on the Baha'i Writings
“Environmental Justice”
Northern Virginia Baha’i Center Sunday Programs
October 2, 2020
Dr. Sohrab Kourosh speaks on a new vision of environmentalism through the lens of current environmental disasters and a Baha’i spiritual understanding of environmental justice.
Follow link to view video
Episode 59: The Spirituality of Climate Change
Baha'i Blogcast with Rainn Wilson
December 2, 2020
In this podcast episode, Rainn Wilson talks about climate change and issues relating to the environment with Arthur Dahl, Christine Muller, and Afsaneh Angelina Rafii. These three Baha'is have been passionately involved in environmentalism in some way, shape, or form, and discuss a range of issues relating to the environment including both practical, and spiritual themes that need to be addressed.
Wilmette Institute
October 31, 2020
Climate change is already adversely affecting people in many parts of the world and seriously threatens the survival of human civilization. The present-day world order is disintegrating before our eyes, and increasing climate change impacts are compounding social problems. At the same time, we can see the integrative forces in youth climate action, interfaith collaboration, and constructive high-level discourse at the United Nations. Discourse starting at the family level, to neighborhoods, to groups, to friends, even at work will catalyze the groundswell needed to initiate change, and mitigate the catastrophic events that we see on the horizon. We’ll consult together about how we can change the trend, from disintegrative to integrative!
Hope in the Face of Dire Scientific Projections- Climate Change with Christine Muller
Wilmette Institute
June 16, 2020
What are the scientific projections for our future on a warming Earth? How quickly do we need to reduce carbon emissions to lower widespread human suffering and to keep the Earth livable for humans and other life? How can we cope with the dire scientific projections and their spiritual challenge? How can this situation provide the opportunity for individual spiritual growth and for social transformation?
How Can Spiritual Principles Save the Climate? Christine Muller
Wilmette Institute
June 11, 2020
The Bahá'í teachings provide the spiritual foundation for humans to live in harmony with each other and with the Earth, but how can we apply specific Bahá'í teachings to climate change? Among the teachings that will be discussed are justice, truthfulness, the roles of science and religion, gender equality, the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty, moderation, the oneness of humankind, and the importance of spiritual development.
Wilmette Institute
May 12, 2020
Climate change is a complex issue, and it is often misinterpreted. The presentation provides a basic introduction to the causes of global warming and what we can do to bring the Earth's climate system back into balance. Knowledge of the causes of climate change will also make us think more deeply about the meaning of justice, the “best beloved of all things”. The discussion will focus on the many ways we can all become part of the solution.
Wilmette Institute
May 6, 2020
Why does climate change matter? How does it affect us? What are its impacts on human health and well-being? The presentation will take us on a journey around the world and explain the impacts of climate change on people and nature. Increasing our knowledge about the impacts of climate change makes our belief in the oneness of humankind relevant on a deeper level. The concern and love for humankind will motivate us for meaningful action.
Wilmette Institute
April 25, 2020
As COVID-19 sweeps the world, fear and panic are natural responses. The world was already in a mess, and now mass suffering is impacting everyone. For young people, their future already overshadowed by the climate catastrophe, hope may seem impossible. Yet this cloud does have a silver lining giving hope, which we can explore together. Dahl’s recent book In Pursuit of Hope suggests ways to arm ourselves for the environmental, social and economic challenges we are now facing and those still to come. At the individual level, all the great spiritual traditions speak of trial and suffering as paths to spiritual growth and refinement of character as we fight our inner battles. From the perspective of systems science, in a globalized world in which human organization has to adapt to a new scale of functioning, a process of rapid and often chaotic change is necessary to sweep away old institutions no longer adapted to the new reality, allowing a new and better system to emerge bringing justice and sustainability.
Bahá'í Perspectives on Global Risks with Christine Muller
Wilmette Institute
April 4, 2020
What are the major risks for humankind today? What are the conclusions of the Global Risk Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum? What do the Baha'i teachings say about potential future risks? What does this mean for us living in these critical times? This is the first in a series of interactive “Bahá'í Conversations on Climate Change.”
Baha'i Blogcast with Rainn Wilson
Episode 41, Halldor Thorgeirsson
January 16, 2020
In this episode, Rainn Wilson speaks with Halldor Thorgeirsson, the Chair of Iceland’s Climate Council and retired Senior Director of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC).
Mary Hansen: Seeking justice and oneness in environmental issues
Baha’is of the United States
April 26, 2019
Mary Hansen shares her thoughts on how the Baha’i Faith sustains and inspires her in the face of environmental advocacy challenges, as well as suggestions for ways individuals, families, and communities can help.
Navigating the Storm: The Transition to Sustainability with Arthur Lyon Dahl
Wilmette Institute
September 6, 2015
This Baha'i web talk explores the issue of living sustainably and why the Baha'i community supports sustainability.
The Baha'i International Community's Approach to Sustainable Development
Baha’is of the United States
2014
Representatives of the Baha'i International Community's United Nations Office, Daniel Perell, Ming Hwee Chong and Julia Berger, discuss how their work to advance sustainable development relies upon the identification and application of spiritual principles (e.g. trusteeship, generosity, trustworthiness, love, empathy, compassion) and the fostering of genuine consultation (a process of collective, non-adversarial decision making), among diverse players on key contemporary issues. Reaching consensus at the international level can directly influence progress at the local level.
Perspectives: One Common Homeland
Some people subscribe to the notion that societal change needs to be radical, revolutionary, or even violent. But change may require only a shift in world view. Carl Murell, Baha’i Representative to the United Nations, discusses the increasing acceptance of the once controversial idea that the earth is one common homeland.
15th Annual International Environment Forum (IEF) Conference
Bahá'í Centre of Learning
Tasmania, Australia
The 15th International Environment Forum (IEF) Conference took a deeper look at the ethics and science needed to cope with adverse climate change. It explored creative responses that individuals, communities and institutions can make to preserve our planet while living the principle of the oneness of humankind to save our world. The conference was held in the Bahá'í Centre of Learning for Tasmania. This location was selected because the building is a model of environmental sustainability.
Perspectives: Spiritual Responses to Climate Change
Baha’is of the United States
2014
International Society of Doctors for the Environment Representative to the UN, Elizabeth Bowen, and retired Official for the UN Environment Program, Arthur Dahl, discuss the importance to finding spiritual responses to the problems we encounter with Climate Change.
Tanna After Cyclone Pam
International Environment Forum
2015
The island of Tanna in Vanuatu was hit by cyclone Pam in March 2015, causing great destruction. This video about the Baha’i communities on Tanna includes sequences made 3 days after the cyclone describing what they experienced and how they responded. The efforts of the Bahai’s to build local capacity and responsibility increased the community’s resilience in the face of a disaster that was certainly aggravated by climate change. It provided the starting point for the International Environment Forum side event at COP21 on 5 December 2015 on the topic “Community resilience in the face of climate-driven extreme events, a Vanuatu case study.”
Baha’i International Community to the United Nations
November 11, 2011
Ming Hwee Chong, a Representative of the Bahá'í International Community to the United Nations, presents on the intersection of spirituality, environmental justice, and human rights, through the lens of water equity in his native Singapore and how water shows up in Baha’i scriptures.
Header photo: Top of the dome of the Chicago Baha'i House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois