Ram Singh Dhesi is passionate about trees. He and his colleagues from the Punjab have planted hundreds of thousands of trees to enhance the environment and to combat global warming. A member of the Leicester Sikh community, he spoke about his tree-planting at an inter-faith consultation facilitated by the Eden Project for the Carnegie UK Trust as part of the work of their Commission on ‘The Future of Civil Society in Britain and Ireland’ of which I am a member. I was struck by what Ram Singh Dhesi had to say, not just because it was an impressive personal commitment to our global future, but because in so many ways he summed up the contribution that the faith communities, the Christian Church included, can bring to the environmental agenda; especially action that is inspired by faith in the creator, that is global in its vision, and that has the potential for shared response. It was striking how a diverse group of people from all the major faiths gathered at that consultation found a common concern.
The significance of this is all the most obvious when one reads the conclusions of a report by Tony Kendle, the Foundation Director of the Eden Project, which he wrote following this consultation and one other that brought together representatives of wider civil society associations. He lists six ‘key ideas’ which he believes are not receiving sufficient attention, although some of them were considered, for instance, in the General Synod discussion on the report, Climate Change and Human Security – A Challenging Environment of Injustice, which was debated last summer; among them the potential for conflict as a result of resource scarcity, the potential threat to civil liberties under the guise of a response to the threats of climate change, and the challenge of migration.
In response to these threats Tony Kendle lists the need for ‘understanding of the scope for collective action’ that he believes is totally missing from this discourse; the importance of addressing ‘uncertainty and long time frames’; and the need to ‘address the values of society as much as the functioning’.
And yet all of these are part of our tradition – the Christian commitment to working together for the common good; our desire to understand the long-term actions and plans of the God of history and eternity; and most of all the riches of Christian values rooted in the God of love who in particular offers us through the cross the way to self-sacrifice and self-giving that will be so crucial in a world that must learn to live differently; insights shared by many of our faith partners.
Not for the first time in the life of this Commission I was left both frustrated and praying that somehow there would be recognition of where the key for this agenda might lie, and for wisdom on how to share its fruits. Although in the end I suspect it is the passion of those like Ram Singh Dhesi with his commitment to planting trees that not only make a practical difference but also witness to the reality of what the faith communities can offer to the future of our world. I came away from that consultation yet more determined to work with our faith partners in Leicester on this agenda.
Ven. Richard Atkinson
