How to Build Green Theology
“If the last tree has been cut down, the last fish has been caught, the last river has dried up, People just realized that money cannot be eaten”. (Indian tribes)
The above statement is a reflective overview for us as human beings as an integral part of ecosystems, and we are required to be sensitive to environmental conditions. Our behavior to the environment tends to be apathetic and do not care to the quality of environmental degradation that leads to instability of the natural ecosystem.
According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr, in fact our earth being bloodied by the suffered injuries because of human activities that are not friendly to the environment. Secular outlook and science along with technology that is pulled out from the roots of spirituality and religion, made our earth increasingly in critical condition and almost reached the point of destruction. Therefore, the role of religion is a final and much needed. Religious values need to be built to take care of the natural balance of the already in chaotic situation.
Emil Salim, former Environment Minister delivered said, as a result of the industrial revolution more than 200 years, countries in the world to build the earth with ruin. Because the energy used to build is oil and coal and they produce greenhouse gases (GHG) with density rising concentration of 280 parts per million (ppm) to 380 ppm, the density of GHGs is a blanket that wraps the earth, the thicker the blanket the temperature of the earth is getting hotter.
The result of the high concentration of GHGs is bringing impact on climate change and rising sea levels that threaten the sinking of the small islands in the world. The real example is the State of Nepal and Maldives. Maldives is threatened to be drowned if there is no commitment of States in the world to reduce the emissions released and Nepal suffered from melting snowball Mount Everest if the release of greenhouse gases not controlled globally that was one of the nature’s anger caused by actions of humans that are not friendly to the environment and tend to be exploitative.
Environmental Ethics
Humans are the base of all environmental damage. And it happened because of patterns of human behavior itself is not sensitive to the environment, therefore environmental problems is not necessarily just to make regulations and punish but also build mental character that could shape the ethical base as tool to view nature as an integral part of the human.
Therefore, it’s not an overstatement if Sony Keraf said “Environmental issues are moral issues and human behavior” According to him the environment is not merely technical issues, as well as the global ecological crisis that we are experiencing today is a moral issue. It is necessary to address them by ethics and morality.
Thus, ethics must be able to give a rational explanation and accountability on the values, principles and moral norms for human attitudes towards the environment, without involving humans will be difficult because the man is the main actor.
Humans who interact directly with nature is having a big hand for the existence of the environmental sustainability of the earth. The destruction of the Earth’s activity is increasing from year to year, the real examples are exploitative mining, air pollution due to uncontrolled industrial activity and modernization, and others exploitive activities that lead to potential threat to the human species itself to life on earth. Therefore sooner or later if the humans’ behavior is still exploitative on the environment, the sustainability of life on Earth will be threatened.
Green Theology
Theology is a term that is often mentioned in religious discourse. It’s relation to the environmental problems is its potential to drive his follower (ummat) behave wisely on the environment by reading and interpreting text (qur’an and hadist) on environmental perspective. The effort to build an environmental religious interpretation is to make close relation between religion and environment. This environmental religious interpretation we called as green theology, a step to build public understanding through religion to sound how the importance of protecting the environment.
The concept of green theology is a formula of constructive theology that examines the interrelation between religion and nature, especially in facing environmental problems. Generally, theology departs from the premise that he was there because of the relationship between human religious world view and environmental degradation. He reveals interactions of ecological values as well as environment. The emerge of green theology is expected to sound environmental religious movements, in order to maintain the sustainability of life on earth.
