Hongsok Lee
The topic of the Wednesday Forum on May 15, 2024, was the long-standing role of religion in environmental stewardship. June Cahyaningtyas, a lecturer at the Department of International Relations at Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” University in Yogyakarta, argues that religion is sometimes seen as contributing to environmental exploitation through its teaching of the primacy of humans over nature, but on the other hand, religion is also seen as providing a framework that leads humans to become environmental protectors. She focuses on the gender aspect in particular, arguing that women have always done most of the environmental work without being recognized for it. She attempts to present the experiences of urban women in Java who have been actively involved in environmental activities in their daily lives.
According to the lecturer, two streams of everyday sustainability campaigns emerged before the pandemic: the first was associated with environmental non-governmental organizations or startups on sustainable living, and the second was not associated with religious authorities, environmental organizations, educational institutions, or for-profit pursuits and was led mostly by women. Her research focused on women in the second group: they were ordinary women who did not represent any particular organization, and she found three distinctive features of their environmental activism: (i) home-based practices, (ii) use of social media, and (ⅲ) use of religious terms in their rhetoric. Her research questions were: 1. What kind of environmental issues do these women address? 2. How does their daily practice of sustainable living inform how religion is experienced by these women? 3. How and in what ways can religion contribute to everyday environmental stewardship, and what are the educational and political implications? She explored answers to the above research questions through methods of offline participation, online participation, and interviews (semi-structured and unstructured). The goal of her research is to determine the extent to which religion plays a role in environmental care work in everyday life, focusing on the experience of (practicing) sustainable living.
Sustainable Living Practices in the Household
The results for the first research question were about sustainable living practices in the household. The environmental practices of the informants started as a way to address household waste but evolved into daily problem-solving practices and led to active participation. It did not start as a grand narrative or religious slogan that led to action, but rather as a way to solve simple life problems such as household waste. Continuing to practice sustainable living is not easy. It can be boring, tiring, and lonely, and informants report that offline and online engagement has played an important role in addressing these challenges. According to the researcher, it’s noteworthy that the informants were being influenced by environmental activists on social media and that they were being influenced and motivated to take action by the information they were getting online.
Sustainable Living Practice as a Religious Experience
The second research question presented at the forum connects these sustainable living practices to religious experiences. A characteristic that the lecturer noted was the frequent use of religious terms among the informants. Hijrah leads to a change in attitude (turning to moderate living and realizing that by sacrificing one’s comfort, one is adversely affecting others). Istiqomah continues to improve action. Amanah is often used as a reminder for each person to remind themselves of their role. Informants also engage in self-reflection through religious experiences with environmental activities, and these practices lead to potential change. According to the statements provided by each informant, men and women have the same responsibility for the environment as servants of God. All humans, regardless of gender, are Khalifas (stewards of the earth) who have been given the same Amanah to care for the planet.
The contribution of religion to environmentalism in everyday life
Finally, how and in what ways can religion contribute to everyday environmental stewardship, and what are the educational and political implications of this? Religion has both positive and negative possibilities for environmentalism. She emphasizes the positive aspects of religion for environmentalism, focusing on everyday sustainable practices, mostly practiced by women. Religion plays an important role in environmentalism, both educationally and politically, in the following areas: reorienting purpose, criticizing and self-correcting the modern lifestyle, providing an ecological framework, promoting ethical cultivation, and stimulating the creation of the public.
Citing Ingold, the presenter argues in her conclusion that religion is based on a “grammar of participation,” which is demonstrated through the commitment and passion with which individuals engage with the world. This engagement is not dependent on a particular set of beliefs or ideas about the world but rather stems from an awareness of one’s responsibility to the world based on one’s being and ability to act.
