Communicating Sustainability within Britain’s Hindu Community

Abstract

Abstract:Focusing on the UK's Hindu community, this explores some modes for the communication of pro-sustainability messages and their affective strength. These campaigns employ the community-center role of many UK Hindu temples to connect Hindu congregations to the cause of environmental sustainability through the medium of Hindu scripture and tradition. The international Hindu Bhumi Project (and its larger -Many Heavens, One Earth‖ interfaith initiative) provide an umbrella for such pedagogic initiatives. Two are described. First is the festival-ground-based Karma to Climate Change (K2CC) campaign, which encourages pilgrims to pledge pro-sustainability lifestyle changes as part of their religious practice. The second, the Ahimsa Project, is devoted to the popularization and production of ethically pure, cruelty/slaughter free milk, which encourages people to develop greater empathy for the wellbeing of their fellow creatures and, ultimately, to abhor the casual slaughter of animals for meat. These projects are driven by the enthusiasm and concern of a younger generation of British-born Hindu people and their impacts are felt both through the campaigns themselves and the family structures of the volunteers who participate.

Emissions and Environmental Surveys With Faith Actors: A Pilot Project With the Episcopal Church in the Philippines

“…These studies demonstrate the diversity of religious buildings, their often unique patterns of use, and the potential sources of emissions. Other studies have extended the scope of faith actors' assets beyond their land and buildings by tracking the delivery of environmental activities, researching the role that both faith leaders and communities play in sustainability, and discussing the extent to which religious beliefs and values may (or may not) translate into action on climate change (McKay et al 2014;Das et al 2014;Bomberg and Hague 2018;Stork and Öhlmann 2021;Caldwell et al 2022). While this study primarily focuses on measuring the emissions of faith actors' land and buildings, it is also important to consider the role that these less tangible assets play in promoting environmental sustainability.…”

Connecting sufficiency, materialism and the good life? Christian, Muslim and Hindu-based perspectives on EU-level

“…We can find analysis of the concept of dharma and environmental practices, but this research is restricted to very particular Indian communities like the Swadhyaya or the Bishnoi (Jain, 2011). In a global perspective, there has been research on the increasingly consumerist religious practices such as Diwali (Porter, 2013) and some literature has questioned the sustainable activism in Hindu communities in Europe (Das et al, 2014). This European activism focuses on sustainable lifestyles, such as vegetarianism, to some extent but it does not focus exclusively on sufficient lifestyles and, most importantly, still seems to be reliant on a small number of activists.…”