Initiatives

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 12 2023 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 [...]

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 9 2023 In today’s Climate Wisdom series, the moderator Golo Pilz - Adviser Renewable Energy, Brahma Kumaris, shared that the talks at COP28 are entering into their final phase. He shared that Dan Jørgensen, Denmark’s climate minister said: “We cannot negotiate with nature. The climate cannot compromise. No well-meaning words will change a single thing unless we act. This week may be our last opportunity to bring us on course to keeping 1.5C alive.” The panel of experts for this episode were Dr. Florence Colleoni, Antarctic researcher, Trieste, Italy; Priyanka Patil - Founder & Director, Golden Era Eco Services and Sister Maureen Goodman - Programme Director for the Brahma Kumaris, UK Priyanka said that they work to regenerate marginalised farmers, where education and wellbeing (of people, planet and every creature) play an important role. “We have been [...]

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 11 2023 Today is the day before COP 28 ends and the moderator Golo Pilz- Adviser Renewable Energy Brahma Kumaris started the sessions hoping that everyone involved shows flexibility, so some decisions are reached in this important global meeting. The panel of experts for this episode were Prof. Dr. Mark Lawrence, Scientific Director Research Institute for Sustainability-Helmholtz Centre Potsdam; Dr. Flavia Bustreo, Chair Governance &  Ethics Committee in Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and child health and Sister Maureen Goodman, Programme Director for the Brahma Kumaris, UK. Dr. Flavia shared that in many regions of the world, climate change is playing havoc with the human health. Women, children, and adolescents are the most vulnerable and pay the price with an increased exposure to diseases. Most of the negotiations in summits such as the COP are male driven [...]

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 10 2023 In today’s Climate Wisdom series, the moderator Golo Pilz - Adviser Renewable Energy, Brahma Kumaris, shared that COP28 is now immersed in the nitty-gritties of negotiation which will determine if Dubai was a success. He also shared a study done for the World Economic Forum which projected that the income generated in the transition towards clean technology until 2050 will be USD.43 Trillion, which is a golden opportunity for businesses. The panel of experts for this episode were Kehkashan Basu  - Founder Green Hope Foundation, Co- Lead of UN Women Generation Equality; KanikaDewan – Chair/Founder, Ka Venture, Ka Design, Atelier & Group President at Bamco Group Sister Maureen Goodman - Programme Director for the Brahma Kumaris, UK Kehkashan said that this COP has been successful in bringing more younger people to the table, although there [...]

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 8 2023 In today’s Climate Wisdom series, the moderator Sonja Ohlsson - Director, Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiative reminded us of our interconnection with nature and the possibility of feeling grief when it gets destroyed. “I remember experiencing climate grief when I noticed birch trees drying up in my home town.” The  panel  of  experts were Maureen Goodman - Programme Director for the Brahma Kumaris, UK; Bishop Marika Markovits - Link ping Diocese, Sweden and Lora Almutairi - Public Authority Of Agriculture Affairs, Kuwait Bishop Marika noted that they are having three goals, first one is to be climate neutral by 2030, the second goal is to work towards climate justice and the third one is the change of values. Her institutions wants to be a humble example to others. Initially, the community did carry the notion that humans [...]

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 6 2023 In today’s Climate Wisdom series, the moderator Golo Pilz - Adviser Renewable Energy, Brahma Kumaris, shared the prediction that airconditioner sales are bound to soar in the coming years proving a huge impact on the climate. Also there is a move, particularly in India, to move towards millets instead of wheat because of water conservation and low air pollution.The panel of experts for this episode were Sister Jayanti - Add. Admin. Head of the Brahma Kumaris; Emmanuel Sobel Seck, Director of ENDA Energie, Senegal.Vibha Dhawan, PhD, Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)Vibha noted that the impact of climate change impacts the struggling countries most, although they have had no role to play in the damage. We only have one planet to live in, let’s not leave everything to the government. Everyone must own this responsibility.  “Sustainability [...]

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 4 2023 The panel of experts for this episode of Climate Wisdom were Sister Jayanti - Add. Admin. Head of the Brahma Kumaris; Bishop Philip Huggins - Anglican Church, Diocese of Melbourne and Thomas Hirsch - Founder and Director Climate Development Advice, Germany Sonja Ohlsson, Director, Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiative was the moderator for the evening. She shared a touching experience of a five day conference in Nigeria where she witnessed the change of presidency. A courageous woman said let’s take a moment to remember why we are all her, asked everyone to stand up and remember their favorite river, forest or anything else from nature and asked everyone to contemplate on that for a minute in silence. After everyone experienced absolute stillness, she said ‘that’s why we are all here’. I met so many people and heard so [...]

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 5 2023 Before engaging the panel experts in the climate wisdom studio, Golo Pilz - Adviser Renewable Energy, Brahma Kumaris, highlighted a recent study by the world economic forum that the transition to clean technology and net zero emissions could benefit the world economy with a staggering amount of $43 Trillion.  The panel of experts for this episode were Sister Jayanti - Add. Admin. Head of the Brahma Kumaris;  Alan Bigelow - PhD, Program and Science Director, Solar Cookers and Apoorva Bose - Programme Coordinator, G20 Global Initiative on Land, UN Convention for Combating Desertification. Alan believes that awareness levels on climate change have gone up thanks to COP, besides people are having a higher sense of urgency to do something and there is ‘political will’ more than ever before. Reforestation, Alan said, is one of our focal areas; [...]

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 3 2023 The moderator for this evening’s Climate Wisdom, Golo Pilz, set the tone by updating the audience on the controversies surrounding COP28. Some believe that there is no need to phase off fossil fuel to reach 1.5 degree whilst others, mostly scientists say that there is no more time to lose. Methane gas, he added, is often overlooked which is about 80 times more powerful than carbon emissions. Our panel of experts for the evening were Hanna Soldal - Act Church of Sweden, Advocacy advisor with focus on climate justice; Shantanu Mandal - Youth representative of the Brahma Kumaris to UNEP, works with International Union Conservation of Nature and Youngo and Sister Jayanti, Additional Administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris. Hanna was always compassionate towards nature since her childhood and would yearn for White Christmas [...]

Care, Share and Inspire - Climate Wisdom from COP28 on December 2, 2023 Golo Pilz, the moderator for the evening, opened this episode of Climate Wisdom with an update on COP28. After 3 days, the heads of states are now leaving and the delegates are dealing with the details, formulations, commerce, and every other thing needed in order to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. These are tricky and interesting times as negotiators are under immense pressure. Our experts the evening were Dr. Vera Rodenhoff - Head of Division, German Ministry, Environment, Nature Conservation Building and Nuclear Safety; Carlos Zepeda - PhD, Assistant Director of Policy and Practice at the Laudato Si Research Institute and Sister Jayanti, Add. Admin. Head of the Brahma Kumaris Dr Vera reminded the audience that this climate crisis is one of the worst that humanity is facing; she likes to hike and loves [...]