Peak Oil is You
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An ethical approach to global challenges
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What has the power of faith to do with environmental action? A lot, these days more than ever. Think about it: if your community or political representative suggested planting a tree, versus your faith leader, which one would you more likely follow? Chances are, a representative of your faith would outdo the elected official. Increasingly, faith-based organizations (FBOs) worldwide are gaining a seat at environmental conferences and are becoming major players in advocating environmental stewardship.
Actions have consequences, and when an estimated 80 per cent of the world’s population associate themselves with a faith, an environmental message from their faith leaders is more likely to bring about change. This, we believe at UN Environment, is a values-based trend environmental groups need to leverage in order to be most effective. Working in silos hasn’t gotten the job done – by integrating economic, social and environmental issues, coupled with ethics, beliefs and individual responsibility, the UN is seeking maximum impact.
In August of 2017, UN Environment has taken the initiative to reach out to faith-based organizations and faith leaders worldwide and involve them more holistically in the UN’s collaborative process. Hence, the Faith for Earth Initiative was born. “I personally believe that leadership empowerment and partnership with spiritual leaders is important,” says Iyad Abumoghli, Lead Principal Advisor on Engaging with Faith-Based Organizations at UN Environment. “The words of faith leaders often get to the hearts and minds faster than any other word, because they are considered to be the words of sacred scripts and represent what God has asked us to do.”
High stakes, deep faith
With an estimated US$3 trillion invested by religious institutions around the world in various financial instruments and stocks, the purchasing and investment power of these institutions become apparent. When the spiritual influencers are themselves inspired by holy texts, the message can translate from the divine to the everyday. Take care of nature. Recycle. Plant a tree. Conserve water. Invest in environmentally coherent funds and companies that match your values. “When we talk about greening, we are not just supporting environmental projects, but also how we do charity work and provide for the eradication of poverty – while at the same time sustainably thinking of these actions and resources. The integrated approach is part and parcel of everything we do,” says Abumoghli.
The 2030 Global Agenda and goal 17, Partnership and the means of implementation, lie at the heart of this initiative. Not a single country or group of countries can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) alone. All stakeholders, including faith organizations, must be part of the solution. “The essence of the work of UN Environment is to integrate faith perceptions into the initiatives and strategies of whatever we do in the organization – whether on ecosystems, environmental laws or when tackling diverse environmental issues,” says Abumoghli.
Three goals of Faith for Earth
Faith for Earth has three main goals. The first is to inspire and empower faith organizations and their leaders to actively promote the relationship between environment and faith. Wherever you go in any neighborhood, you find an imam, priest, rabbi or temple leader. Their words are best heard by the people.
The second goal is to work with faith organizations on their investments (such as bonds), banking and assets to finance sustainable development. They are the third largest group of global investors in the world and “greening them” is literally God’s work. Many, such as the Church of England and the World Council of Churches, have divested from oil and gas investments, or industries that generate carbon. The Islamic Development Bank, for one, is investing US$6 billion in renewable energy. Together with its partners, UN Environment is trying to establish norms for faith-based investments – or faith-consistent investments – that integrate environmental sustainability into investment criteria. These norms historically concerned negative aspects, to avoid financing industries such as alcohol or arms dealing. By integrating environmental sustainability into investments, the goal is to introduce positive criteria that benefit people and society.
The third goal is to provide faith leaders with knowledge, networking opportunities and scientific evidence to help them connect issues of faith and the environment. The starting point might be sacred scripts, all the way to current scientific research on the impacts of climate change, pollution or lifestyles. A lot of the work that UN Environment comes up with provides evidence that current human behaviour and economic development are unsustainable. Pope Francis has been very vocal on climate change issues, criticizing the current financial system and calling for a paradigm shift in how we address economic development.
Acknowledging environmental priorities
The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) published by UN environment highlights priorities and identifies key areas for local, regional and global action. The GEO process can integrate priorities identified by faith groups and engage them in finding local solutions based on these priorities. Faith leaders were already discussing climate change as being on their mind. This included sustainable consumption and production, and resource efficiency. Faith leaders play a major role in influencing the behaviour of their followers and lead them to sustainably consume natural resources. UN Environment is working with them to integrate their perspectives into the GEO process.
Faith organizations and UN Environment share common objectives – those of the SDGs and Agenda 2030. As the custodian of 26 SDG indicators, UN Environment has a global obligation to keep monitoring and reporting on them. To do so, we must be able to involve all sectors of society. Faith for Earth is one way to reach this objective, by connecting with over than 400 organizations and building on ethics and faith-consistent values that positively impact the daily lives of people and protect our planet.
For more information about UN Environment’s Faith for Earth Initiative, please contact Iyad Abumoghli: iyad.abumoghli[at]un.org.
23 Comments on "An ethical approach to global challenges"
George Straight on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 8:27 am
But these are EThics and there are Busine$$ ethics…
Now or Later on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 9:16 am
I think we may be at a point where the actual change needed is so radical that embarking on it will plunge us into a sea of chaos.
onlooker on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 9:34 am
Those faith based organizations that still refuse to cite overpopulation as a key defining obstacle to sustainable living have zero credibility
Chico on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 11:28 am
“Ethics” and the “Rule of Law” are an absolute joke in today’s society.
Look at what’s going on around you.
GregT on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 11:45 am
“The second goal is to work with faith organizations on their investments (such as bonds), banking and assets to finance sustainable development. They are the third largest group of global investors in the world and “greening them” is literally God’s work.”
Usury
“Some of the earliest known condemnations of usury come from the Vedic texts of India. Similar condemnations are found in religious texts from Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury
Free Speech Forum on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 1:09 pm
Maybe the elites are planning to print
so much money that they just inflate the debt away.
What will you do when your
$1 million retirement savings only buys
a loaf of bread?
https://www.businessinsider.com/worst-hyperinflation-episodes-in-history-2013-9
Cloggie on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 1:52 pm
Usury
“Some of the earliest known condemnations of usury come from the Vedic texts of India. Similar condemnations are found in religious texts from Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury
Judaism only rejects usury for loan contracts between Jews.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loans_and_interest_in_Judaism
“The Torah and Talmud encourage lending money without interest. But the halakha (Jewish law) that prescribes interest-free loans applies only to loans made to other Jews. Jewish law allows making loans with interest to persons who are not Jewish.“
onlooker on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 1:54 pm
Or maybe just burst the Debt bubble by raising interest rates a great deal, then swoop in and buy all the deflated assets for pennies on the dollar. While nominal commodity prices continue their inexorable rise making people ever poorer.
fmr-paultard on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 2:22 pm
dhimmitude is here to stay. just checked flights on 9/11 and it’s very cheap.
MASTERMIND on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 2:45 pm
onlooker
when oil shortage and shock hit it will be game over for the global economy..Global GDP will have to decline with oil production..Which means a permanent depression..
https://imgur.com/a/pYxKa
Davy on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 3:17 pm
“China: Why We Should Be Even More Worried After The Devaluation”
https://tinyurl.com/y6w6k96s
“I find it amusing to read some analysts stating that the Chinese government’s stealth yuan devaluation has offset the impact of tariffs. A 10% tariff hurts a small part of the economy. However, a 10% devaluation hurts all Chinese citizens equally and massively. The yuan devaluation is not a tool for exports. Devaluations are a form of price control and a disguised reduction of salaries. As such, they hurt more than what they aim to protect. However, with rising household and corporate debt the yuan devaluation is a shot in the foot of the economy, as purchasing power is being diminished and loan repayment capacity is falling. It is wrong to believe that a devaluation does not pose a problem for debt incurred in yuan. Margins are falling because the yuan is devalued, but costs are not falling in tandem.70% of corporate costs do not fall with the yuan, they rise -energy, fixed costs, imported goods and services- and working capital requirements have been rising”
“China money supply growth exceeds the US one, while a significant part of fixed investment and credit goes to low productivity sectors or returns below cost of capital. The idea that the yuan is “gold-backed” clearly disappears when we look at the total gold reserves compared to money supply. Gold reserves are less than 0.25% of China’s money supply. Unfortunately, China’s stealth devaluation is not making the country more competitive, it is making household and corporate debt riskier as the purchasing power of the yuan is diminished. Meanwhile, foreign exchange reserves remain almost 20% below the peak level and the PBOC has abandoned its objective of fighting against excess debt. The yuan devaluation is not solving the economy’s problems.”
MASTERMIND on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 4:38 pm
Davy
Enough with the spamming of click bait from zerohedge..I hate to break it to you pal, but articles written by a fake movie actor aren’t credible you dumb hilly billy..
MASTERMIND on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 4:45 pm
As The Wealthy Flock To The Major Cities On Both Coasts, Poverty And Suicide Soar In Rural Areas
America’s wealthy households are increasingly moving to coastal cities on both sides of the country, but those with more modest incomes are either relocating to or being pushed into the nation’s Rust Belt, according to a new study.
According to estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly a quarter of children growing up in rural America were poor in 2016, compared to slightly more than 20 percent in urban areas.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the report found the highest concentrations of child poverty, overall, in the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia and on Native American reservations.
The suicide rate in rural America is 45% greater than in large urban areas, according to a study released last fall by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A more recent CDC report said Montana’s suicide rate leads the nation, coming in at nearly twice the national average. A third long-touted CDC study, currently under review, listed farming in the occupational group, along with fishing and forestry, with the highest rate of suicide deaths.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/as-the-wealthy-flock-to-the-major-cities-on-both-coasts-poverty-and-suicide-soar-in-rural-areas
Die Whitey! You fat ugly evil shits! Pay back is a mother fucker!
MASTERMIND on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 4:57 pm
“the only anxiety I have about white extinction is that it’s not happening faster”
LMFAO!
makati1 on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 6:33 pm
Onlooker, it appears that the Us Debt collapse will happen long before oil is a real problem. Oil will be pumped and used by governments/commerce as long as it is available, even at $1,000/bbl.. It just will not be available to the common folk.
That is why I don’t pay attention to oily articles about ‘peaks’ or cost fluctuations. I have no investments there to worry about. When it gets to the point where commerce cannot happen, I will be ready for it.
MASTERMIND on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 6:39 pm
Mak
When oil production goes into decline so does global GDP permanently..Which will collapse the entire global economy and then nobody will have any oil..
makati1 on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 7:24 pm
Mm, poor logic on your part. You keep saying the same bullshit over and over, but that does not make it true.
NET energy is already in decline. But BAU continues. Oil will not disappear overnight, barring a nuclear war. It will dribble away, being rationed by price. Gas will cost $5/gal. then $10. Then $15. Then…
It will be available but you will not be able to afford to use it unless you are wealthy, a business that can pass that cost on to their customers or are military/government.
Financial collapse will start in the Us and then spread, in various degrees, to the other 190+ countries. The Western countries will hurt the most, the rest, some or not at all. It does not mean the end of the world, just the pain of adjustment as you come down the the level of most of the rest of the world.
MASTERMIND on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 7:30 pm
Mak
Net energy might be declining, but global oil production and GDP are still increasing..And when global oil production goes into decline, so will global GDP..And without growth debts can never be paid back and credit will freeze up..And that will cause a global economic collapse, which will cause a global societal collapse..
No nation will be spared..
https://imgur.com/a/pYxKa
MASTERMIND on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 7:30 pm
Mak
You better stock on false teeth and diapers..
LMFAO!
makati1 on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 7:58 pm
MM, you regress to that 12 year old when you cannot defend your ideas. You lose ALL credibility every time the child pops up. I have no need for either but I am well stocked with necessities, trade goods and useful skills.
BTW: NET oil energy is NOT increasing, only the number of barrels the oily industry claims to produce. A barrel of sweet crude is not equal to a barrel of condensate. Like comparing a barrel of Chivas Regal Scotch whiskey to a barrel of cheap beer.
And GDP growth is only a positive because the East is still growing and making up for the declining West.
MASTERMIND on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 8:23 pm
Mak
You think that global oil production can go down while global GDP can go up? LOL
Why even increase global oil production every year if we don’t need to?
lol
makati1 on Fri, 24th Aug 2018 9:16 pm
MM, do you comprehend English? I don’t see any signs of that ability in your comment. I never said what you claim I said. Read it again and try to formulate a better reply.
Dredd on Sat, 25th Aug 2018 7:39 am
Good on all who do not want to fiddle while “Rome” burns.
Throw some water on the fire.