Athanasia Safitri
Religion and Global Society in collaboration with the London School of Economic and Political Sciences (LSE) and the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (ICRS), held a workshop event entitled “Agama Menghadapi Perubahan Lingkungan” (Religion Dealing with Climate Change). It was supported by the British Embassy in Jakarta and held in Solo on March 18, 2024. Twenty-two participants come either from religious communities or environment-based organizations in the Yogyakarta and Surakarta regions.
The workshop aims to bring together religious leaders and environmental practitioners to explore the contribution of religion in mitigation and adaptation to the impacts of climate change in Indonesia. It also seeks to learn from the participants through discussions to communicate recent environmental issues, especially from various cases that occurred in the mentioned areas. This feedback will later be used both within and between religious communities to tackle environmental problems developing in Indonesia with related actors at the national and international levels.
Dr. Chris Chaplin and Kristian Noll from LSE shared their insights based on the experiences they had from the previous workshop in Rome a week before. The same activity was also held in Jakarta and Cairo last year but with a slightly different approach. They looked forward to collaborating on issues related to religion and the environment at the grass-roots level to affect environmental policy. By involving religious leaders, LSE designates new methods to confront environmental issues with the participation of the British Embassy in giving feedback for future programs initiated by the UK and Indonesian governments on environmental issues, both bilaterally and internationally.
The workshop was divided into three sessions where discussion took place on concerns about: 1). society living in vulnerability due to climate change and other environmental problems; 2). exploration of religious teachings to remind people to care for nature and the environment; and 3). highlighting concrete actions people can take to deal with environmental issues. The participants gathered in four groups, and the sharing of experiences and ideas was led by moderators; Dr. Samsul Maarif, Dicky Sofjan, MPP., M.A., Ph.D., Dr. Leonard Chrysostomos Epafras, and Dr. Dewi Candraningrum. The discussion of each session was concluded by the group presentation to ensure all participants learned from one another.
Living in vulnerability
The first session provided an understanding of natural disasters and how people realize their vulnerability by doing self-exercise, reflecting on religious texts and teachings, and then preparing for disasters. People’s ignorance of disasters and the dangers of climate change may be rooted in the global narrative, which focuses on the colonial approach. The literacy distracts attention from the fact that the issues may be prevented by technology. However, there have been findings that show climate change is not only caused by physical matter or biophysics but mostly by sociocultural and religious backgrounds. LSE research learns that motivation to react to climate change is not only based on physical science but can also be influenced by the afterlife reward people are drawn into.
Examples from Christian and Islamic teachings display the reflection that even through disasters and other trials of life, God gives us purpose and will be with us until the end of the day. Another text shows that people need to consider themselves as Musafir, a stranger on Earth who always does well while he is still on Earth. People tend not to be bothered if they’re not affected directly by climate change and other environmental problems. Religious teachings put people back to awareness at the grassroots level, from individual to family and later to society.
More teachings, both from world and indigenous religions, extend from people’s duty to maintain nature, such as water ecosystems, fruits, and plantations, up to religious traditions for the sake of body, mind, and earth purification. Different practices include self-acceptance that disaster is a sign for nature to regenerate, recognition of the process, and concrete ways of conducting Laudato Si (Pope Francis’ call to care for the environment) and Hasta Laku (eight attitudes in the local cultural values of Kejawen).
Mostly in all religions, there are commonalities with other human beings and always have respect for nature. Many cultural traditions also apply to the religious teachings, and the familiarization can be conducted in religious groups, societal groups, and above. Education and training therefore must be included in the system of perseverance of nature in all religious groups, even in the regular sermons, to ensure nature is maintained and remains everlasting for future generations.
Why do we care?
Participants were invited to determine particular religious teachings that encourage relations between human beings and nature, especially in terms of concerns for environmental change. Through the discussion, participants learned that the Confucians believe in the existence of the holy path—of God, humans, and nature—and that disaster may occur when the path is violated. In addition to that, one who wants to go ahead in nature also needs to think about others; he or she should not think only about themselves. The Buddhists take an example from the bees, which never damage the flowers, and that all beings must persevere with nature, whereas the Hindus understand that to reach happiness in life, one must have harmony with the Creator, with human beings, and with nature. The Christians later state that the story of God’s creation in Genesis always reminds them to balance the use and preservation of nature for today and the next generation.
From the perspective of indigenous religion, participants also shared that people need to remember their roots and where they head at the end of life; therefore, karma must be acknowledged and nature must be treated right. Traditional farmers also believe that people need to protect Mother Earth, so they should only eat what they plant and plant only what they eat to preserve the land. Other concerns raised are the mutual relation and dependency between nature and human beings, and nature should be under care since all beings have the same level. All members of society must participate in taking care of the earth, and it can be applied as an everyday tradition.
From the group presentations, it is understood that various religious teachings encourage active participation from religious people in caring for the environment. The stewardship concept of religious people toward nature, cleanliness of the surroundings, and ethics in religion play a significant role in taking care of nature. The awareness needs to be supported with sustainable projects at the local and national level, as well as in religious groups, in society, and between the state and community.
Concrete strategies to implement
Each group presented concrete strategies that were already implemented in their organizations. They cover actions that are conducted in three different spaces: within the religious community, at the national level, and in collaboration with the state.
In the religious community, strategy includes the ceremony of releasing pigeons, Quran reading, organic packaging that is made from natural and plant-based materials, the minimum use of plastic, local traditional ceremonies based on particular religious teaching, formation programs about the environment within the group or in praying houses, Green Ramadan, clean river program, and a culinary festival.
At the national level, there is a dance or cultural festival, an event of distributing fertilizer to the farmers, eco-enzyme training, youth live-in, especially in the area affected by industrial pollution or climate change, a social media campaign, a green campaign in the praying houses and education institutions, a program of green building, trading garbage with clothes in certain areas, raising donations, skill training for the community living in the waste dump area, a waste management familiarization program, and a religion forum of the G20.
In collaboration with the state: initiating the program of lorong sayur (vegetable gardening in the neighborhood), collaborating with Bank Sampah (a community-based organization to manage waste and garbage) with the Ministry of Trade, having discussions with other related state departments, having audiences with state representatives, giving away plant seeds, the familiarization of tanam pola asuh (plantation of vegetables with women group in the area as the caregivers), advocacy and land conservation (hutan wakaf), a consortium about the environment, and conducting policy briefing to recommend the G20.
These concrete actions will and should be discussed at an international level so everyone can learn from each other. Local context in the areas of Yogyakarta and Surakarta will bring richness to the programming process to involve religious groups in caring for nature and the environment. It is evidence that there is an urgency to reach out to the community at the grass-roots level to take practical and concrete action. People need to work more on collaborations with related parties based either on religion or environmental views.
Issues about the environment from a religious perspective are indeed eye-opening; therefore, more discussion touching on these two aspects need to be encouraged. Where strategy brought up in this event is more in practice already, ideas to create new initiatives must be stimulated through intense workshops participated by young people and the government. The most common problem with workshops is that there are not enough follow-up projects afterward to act on the issues listed. Hopefully, involvement from many parties can emanate concrete actions based on the feedback strategies discussed during the workshop, seen from a religious perspective.
