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Editorial
Religious Environment
 It was the late
American writer Michael Crichton who had said that environmentalism
is a religion, with its own creed and its own versions of paradise
and hell. Well, that may be a long shot, but the fact that the
religious leadership is coming closer to adopt the environmental
movement, and to even lead it from the front, is deeply heartening.
At a
faith-and-ecology celebration in
Windsor
Castle
recently, one of the residences of the British royal family, the
well known saintly persona of Baba Sewa Singh ji of Khadoor Sahib
and Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal of Kali Bein cleansing fame walked
the royal grounds with aplomb. They are doing their bit to make our
planet better, and it is only fitting that the world leaders are
turning to religious leadership to lend a hand in saving the only
planet we know where humanity can live and thrive.
Even UN sec-gen
Ban Ki-moon conceded that religious leaders "have the largest,
widest and deepest reach” when warning people about climate change.
Baba Sewa Singh
and Baba Seechewal made the point that global warming needed a
humane response that can only be a changed individual behaviour and
a simpler style of living.
Now, the issue
is whether the global market in which profit is the leitmotif of
survival, the high values preached by the Sikhism representatives
will hold any direction marker for the rest of the world. But before
you rush to answer in the negative, ponder over the simpler
question: What other option does the world have?
It is time that
the Sikh sangat networked with the green movement and strikes a
force multiplying effect that transcends ethnic and theological
obstacles in saving our planet. As a community wedded to the ideal
of Sarbat Da Bhala, we must take the lead to underline that
we mean business.
But mere
tokenism will not do. Joining the green movement should, of course,
mean that we make all langar and other practices at our religious
places conform to green ideals, but it also means more. Much more.
It means that we
question the paradigm and models of development being pursued by
forces of globalization that have only profit at their core value
structure. It means that we question the increasing marginalization
of tribals in India. It means that the Sikh view on scrapping of
Schedule V of the Indian Constitution should be thrashed out and
enunciated clearly to the world. It means that we must engage with
the ideas and battles for ending marginalization of vast sections of
the populace, that we take a clear stand on the so-called war on
Naxalism that New Delhi is pursuing relentlessly and which is
clearly a war of the Rich against the Poor.
It is time that
our respected Green Men like Baba Sewa Singh ji and Baba Seechewal
ji – and we have great respect for them – also make others
understand that environment is not just about planting fruit
saplings or cleaning a holy river, but making it a better world for
all. Environment cannot be allowed to be reduced to a social issue;
it is very much a political issue and we need to underline how it is
about who will own the resources.
Environmentalism
is also a fight against disempowerment of the poor and the landless.
It is a fight for resources like water and minerals, for nature, for
our hills and cliffs, glades and moors.
Encounters
between religion and environment, as depicted in our coverage titled
"The Babas at the Castle" are not just a curiosity. In the US,
Rajwant Singh is leading the movement for environment friendly
practices in gurdwaras. In Delhi, H.S. Phoolka is leading a sapling
plantation drive in memory of the 1984 victims. For a world
frustrated by the reluctance of politicians to stake political
capital in next month’s Copenhagen meeting, the work of men like
Baba Sewa Singh and Baba Seechewal can be a new hope.
18
November 2009
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