Wisdom Tree...

Today is COP 28 has come to an end and this is also the last session of our Climate Wisdom series. The moderator Sonja Ohlsson, coordinator of Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiatives shared that they are still negotiating, and everyone is waiting for the final outcomes of the COP.

The panel of experts for today’s session were Charles Ian McNeill, Senior Advisor, Forests & Climate Interfaith Rainforest initiative UNEP, Lydia Machaka, Energy and Extractivism officer at CIDSE (International family of catholic social justice organizations) and Golo Pilz– Adviser Renewable Energy Brahma Kumaris.

Charles shared that without protecting rain forests especially Amazon, climate crisis cannot be addressed. Tropical forests protect our food systems and provide fresh water. We are the source of deforestation due to our food practices, products we buy, mining that we support.  We must take responsibility for climate change. Shifting our diet to plant-based diet would be a major step of the responsibility that we humans can take. What is good for our own body is also good for the planet. Our food habits are putting a lot of pressure on environment while also causing a crisis of health.

Lydia brought to attention how unsustainable the current economic systems fueled by exploitation of natural resources was.  She quoted that the Pope in 2015 appealed to every individual on the plant to appreciate the gift of life and the planet that we have been blessed with and the need to respect and care for the common earth which is priceless. The nature is not only important for addressing emission but also is plays and important restorative role for our well-being. More industrialized we become, we must take care that we balance technological growth and care for nature.

Golo shared his journey of setting up renewable energy units for the Brahma Kumaris. He also spoke about the idea behind setting up of this studio to bring people from various disciplines together to have meaningful conversation which could be transformative and lead to change. He opined that there has to be a paradigm shift for the addressing the Climate change problem. From spiritual point of view, we understand that the change must first happen from within.  It is important that we connect to our true self and that our actions are based on ethical and moral foundations. That’s where humanity has deviated from the path. We need to focus on the inner dimension allowing people to connect to inner goodness. When everyone does that, collective goodness will prevail.

Golo lead a short, guided mediation at the end of the session.