Manas Mandir Temple, Karad, Maharashtra, IndiaIn 2019, JAINA released their Declaration on the Climate Crisis, which makes clear and direct connections between the Jain principles of Ahimsa (non-violence to living beings) and our current global climate crisis. This document built on the 1990 Declaration on Nature by LM Singhvi, which stated that “waste and creating pollution are acts of violence.” Now, groups like the Young Jains of America and the JAINA Eco-vegan Committee are starting to bring these issues into the contemporary Jain conversation.
Most of the resources below are organized chronologically, with the most recent at the top.
JAINA Ahimsak Eco-Vegan Committee, though much of their work is about protection of non-human species, they also address the impact of meat production on the global climate crisis
Fergusson, Lee, Geoffrey Wells, and David Kettle. “The personal, social and environmental sustainability of Jainism in light of Maharishi Vedic Science.” Environment, Development, and Sustainability (2018): 20, 20, 1627–1649.
Cort, John E. “Green Jainism? Notes and Queries toward a Possible Jain Environmental Ethic.” In Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life, edited by Christopher Key Chapple, 63-94. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Jaini, Padmanabh S. “Ecology, Economics, and Development in Jainism.” In Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life, edited by Christopher Key Chapple, 141-156. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Shilapi, Sadhvi. “The Environmental and Ecological Teachings of Tirthankara Mahavira.” In Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life, edited by Christopher Key Chapple, 159-167. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
Header photo: Jain nuns during the Chaturmas festival, Digambara Temple, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India; Shutterstock/Daniel J. Rao
