The Overview Effect and One Beautiful World

 

Here's the reflection I shared at today's music event in Spring of Hope Church for the One Beautiful World Arts Festival:

The main publicity image for the One Beautiful World Arts Festival is a painting of the world as seen from space by Jackie Burns, whose inspirational exhibition of space art is currently at St Andrew’s Wickford.

The first time that astronauts were able to photograph the whole Earth from space came with the first manned mission to the moon on Apollo 8. On December 24, 1968, astronauts Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders entered lunar orbit. William Anders captured an iconic picture of the Earth that day which came to be known as Earthrise. Anders said, “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.”

What Anders experienced is called The Overview Effect; a shift in awareness by astronauts seeing Earth from outer space as a “tiny, fragile ball of life.” The term was coined by author Frank White in 1987 in his book, The Overview Effect — Space Exploration and Human Evolution.

Apollo 8 astronaut Jim Lovell said: “The vast loneliness up here of the Moon is awe inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth. The Earth from here is a grand oasis to the big vastness of space.”

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins said: “The thing that really surprised me was that it [Earth] projected an air of fragility. And why, I don’t know. I don’t know to this day. I had a feeling it’s tiny, it’s shiny, it’s beautiful, it’s home, and it’s fragile.”

Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong said: “It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin said: “From the distance of the moon, Earth was four times the size of a full moon seen from Earth. It was a brilliant jewel in the black velvet sky.”

Songwriter Julie Gold wrote a song called ‘From a distance’:

“From a distance, the world looks blue and green
And the snow-capped mountains white
From a distance, the ocean meets the stream
And the eagle takes to flight
From a distance, there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It's the voice of hope
It's the voice of peace
It's the voice of every man”

The Overview Effect has inspired hope as it ‘has been turning astronauts into environmental advocates ever since the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin, marvelled at the planet from orbit in 1961. “People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it,” the Soviet cosmonaut said upon his return. A half-century later, ex-NASA astronaut José Hernández said that the view aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2009 turned him into “an instant treehugger.” As a result, in recent years, astronauts, including the former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, have spoken at international climate negotiations, bringing their big-picture perspective with them.

Paintings like those of Jacqui Burns or photos like Earthrise can give us a sense of the Overview Effect and grow in us a greater concern for the one beautiful world we inhabit. For those of us who are religious, our concern for the planet should be heightened by our understanding that it was wonderfully created by God and that human beings have been given the task of caring for it by our Creator. As Julie Gold puts it in her song God is watching us from a distance and, therefore, watching how we care for the world he has made. 

But regardless of whether God’s creation of the world features on our radar or not, the Overview Effect – that sense of the beauty and fragility of our wonderful world – should compel us, as has been the case for so many astronauts, to want to address the climate emergency and save our one beautiful world from the jeopardy into which our human exploitation of resources has placed it.

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Ayo-Ayo: Kabiyesi.

No room for complacency

Daniel Trilling has an excellent article in today's Guardian where he lists 10 dangerous misconceptions about the far right.

The British far-right should be having a ball. With the economy faltering, austerity biting and economic pessimism growing, the conditions for racism and racist scapegoating could hardly be better. But, as Nick Lowles and Matthew Collins report in their essay on the current state of the British far right, racist groups are contracting and morale is dropping.

Their essay concludes: “The British far right is fragmented and bitterly divided and in the short term this will continue. While we might enjoy the short-term respite there is no room for complacency. Sooner or later the traditional far-right, in the guise of the BNP or EDL, or the Radical Right, in the guise of UKIP, will re-emerge as a major political threat. In the meantime, we should brace ourselves for an upsurge in organised and unorganised racist and political violence.”

They have written this essay to help HOPE not hate decide a strategy for the next couple of years. Over the next few weeks their website will host a discussion on the future of the far right and to help shape their response. They would appreciate our views.

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Ben Harper - Like A King.

Faith & Climate Change (3)

Dr. Mark Collins, Director, Commonwealth Foundation

Dr. Mark Collins, Omar Faruk (Founder Director, Eco-Muslims), Baroness Uddin

Omar Faruk & Baroness Uddin

The Faith and Climate Change conference ran alongside the Young Commonwealth Climate change Summit and both shared an opening session addressed by Ransford Smith, Deputy-Secretary General of the Commonwealth and Dr Fatiha Serour, Director of the Commonwealth Youth Programme, among others.

Dr Cyrus Rustomjee, Director of the Commonwealth Economic Affairs Division, argued that the ideas and innovation of young people was needed to break the current deadlock in global negotiations on climate change. Dr Mark Collins, Director of the Commonwealth Foundation said that partnerships were required for a more equitable and sustainable future and so it was a powerful act to bring young people and faith communities together at the beginning of their respective events. Dr Farah Faizal, High Commissioner of the Maldives, spoke of countries such as the Maldives being in the frontline of the battle against climate change and suggested that the frontline is a good source of intelligence for the battle. She spoke of the involvement of young people in the 350 campaign and argued that the key to change was the move from plight to potential in the switch from old energy sources to renewables.

In response, youth delegates from India, Canada, Sierra Leone, Singapore, and the Caribbean Region spoke of difficulties in motivating their governments to engage with the issues and laid down a challenge to rich countries to pay the price for the pollution which has caused the crisis and which predominantly affects poorer countries. In a Youth Programme film, young people said that they would not remain silent while their future is threatened.

Delegates at the Faith and Climate Change conference then heard from a panel of faith leaders (including myself - my contribution will be a separate post) who spoke about their faith tradition and its response to the environment. Jeffrey Newman described the central teaching of Judaism as hearing, listening to, and understanding all people who struggle with God as being or existence, the wonder of what is. Ranchor Prime and Dr Atul Shah both emphasised the significance of ahimsa (the concept of non-violence to all living creatures) are fundamental to Hinduism and Jainism respectively. Dr Shah argued that the Abrahamic faiths had placed human beings at the centre of the universe but that Jainism did not do this. Barney Leith spoke of the Baha'i's teaching that the human heart cannot be segregated from the environment; that the two are interdependent and act one upon the other. The Venerable Amaranatha spoke of the simplicity of a Buddhist monk's life and suggested that as we make ourselves peaceful, the environment will be peaceful.

The conference's keynote address was given by Dr Mark Collins who began by highlighting the tendency among Commonwealth Head of Government to be reticent on faith issues due to the complex patterns of religious belief across the Commonwealth. The annual service at Westminster Abbey on the Commonwealth theme was one example of good practice in engaging with faith communities however and in 2008 had enabled faith leaders to address the theme of 'The Environment - Our Future'.

A more positive engagement with faith communities was now emerging through the need for partnerships to address climate change and helped by the Commonwealth Foundation report 'Engaging with Faith'. Faith groups are the cornerstone of civil society, forge networks of trust and united by beliefs in the human responsibility to respect one another and the earth. National partnerships, such as Stop Climate Chaos, were effective in influencing national governments but were less effective in international forums. Faith groups however can mobilise people across national boundaries and interests.

This conference was then an opportunity to send a strong message to Commonwealth Head of Government about the contribution of faith communities to the climate change crisis. This was vital because it is no longer acceptable for governments to squabble over narrow national interests when emergency plans are already in place for evacuations of islands in the Commonwealth threatened with inundation through rising sea levels.

The conference was supported by two Muslim peers (Lord Sheikh and Baroness Uddin) and was organised partly by a Muslim-led multi-faith organisation in Faith Regen Foundation, whose CEO Dr Husna Ahmad spoke on 'Faith and Community Development'. The conference was therefore a demonstration of the engagement of British Muslims with mainstream political processes and issues. This was highlighted by Omar Faruk who, in speaking of the philosophy of EcoMuslim, thanked Lord Sheikh and Baroness Uddin for their personal support and encouragement and spoke of British Muslims as a bridge between East and West.

Prior to the conference focus groups had been held with local communities in Bangladesh, Brazil, Gambia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, and the UK. The finding from these groups were summarised and highlighted significantly different patterns of climate change around the globe leading to very different approaches to the issue by governments, ranging from a lack of awareness to significant action. Often there was a lack of awareness at grassroots level and faith communities were viewed positively in terms of their knowledge and enthusiasm on the relationship between faith and climate change. There was a need to further educate faith leaders on the issue and to institutionalise the faith contribution in political and educational processes but faith communities were seen as: providing support and hope in crises; a source of unity between peoples; having perspectives on the environment; and fuelling action.

Conference delegates also heard about initiatives such as the Earth Charter (which has recently been adopted by the Episcopal Church) and Faiths' Long Term Commitments for a Living Planet, an Alliance of Religions and Conservation and United Nations initiative. Delegates were also offered the opportunity to begin contributing diaries on personal approaches to climate change to the Creative Climate project being run by The Open University and the BBC.

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Mohammed Yahya & Poetic Pilgrimage - Earth Cry.

Faith & Climate Change (2)

Dr Mark Collins (Director, Commonwealth Foundation), Brian McAndrew (Chair, Faith Regen Foundation), Omar Faruk (Founder Director, Eco-Muslim), Lord Sheikh

Committee Room 4, the setting for the reception

Omar Faruk & Lord Sheikh

Lord Sheikh & Dr. Mark Collins

The Faith & Climate Change conference was launched tonight with a House of Lords reception hosted by Lord Sheikh.

Lord Sheikh is the founder of the Conservative Muslim Forum, Chair of the Conservative Ethnic Diversity Council, founder of the Sheikh Abdullah Foundation, and Chairman of Camberford Law plc. He drew on his upbringing in Uganda, in his speech, to ground both his own lifelong love of the environment and his respect for all religions. He argued that it is people that have spoilt the environment and people that have to put it right. Faith communities are a global tool for mobilising communities and share an understanding of people as stewards of the earth. Working towards a low energy economic Britain by means of legally binding targets for cutting emissions, expansion of renewable energies, and individual actions to recycle and conserve energy was the vision that he outlined.

Dr Mark Collins (Director, Commonwealth Foundation) agreed that climate change is the greatest global environmental threat but added that its humanitarian and economic dimension had come to equal, if not, greater prominence. In the Commonwealth many livelihoods and lives are threatened by climate change and the main issue arising from it, which is the redistribution of water around the planet. In Bangladesh a 1 metre rise in the sea level could displace 17 million people while in Southern Africa the problem is the drying of the climate. The Commonwealth is unusually vulnerable due to the number of small countries and small economies.

The Commonwealth countries, he said, have been discussing respect, tolerance and equality but have had a tendency to set aside faith issues because of their diversity. The Commonwealth Heads of Government meet in Trinidad at the end of November with climate change very much on their agenda. As a result, this conference is timely and an opportunity to inject thoughts on the input of faith communities into their discussions.

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Playing For Change: Peace Through Music - One Love.