Religion and Ethics Focused on Sustainability

• Author: Dieter T. Hessel
• Pages: 129-142

Chapter 9

Religion and Ethics Focused on

Sustainability

Dieter T. Hessel

Patterns of maldevelopment—unsustainable human production,

consumption, and reproduction—threaten to undermine human de-

velopment and the prospects for sustainable living. In fact, the prob-

lems resulting from maldevelopment portend massive species extinc-

tion, affecting the course of evolution itself. This perilous situation ex-

poses a profound spiritual crisis and raises ethical questions that re-

quire urgent response from people of faith, especially those in the

United States, during the next decade.

After presenting some examples of local and national faith-based

engagement in “Earthkeeping,” or eco-justice action, this chapter de-

scribes how religious responses to environmental dangers such as cli-

mate change have been more focused on lifestyle change than on pol-

icy reform. The ethics of a just and sustainable global commu-

nity—featuring the four basic eco-justice norms of solidarity, sus-

tainability, sufficiency, and participation that United Nations confer-

ences anticipated and the Earth Charter articulated—have yet to be

widely appreciated and applied.

The next steps for religious communities include teaching eco-jus-

tice ethics, emphasizing sustainable sufficiency in daily living, be-

coming energetic advocates for public policies and economic prac-

tices that build a just and sustainable community,acting in partnership

with others who would also be responsible citizens of Earth, and nur-

turing members spiritually to journey with reverential gratitude and

disciplined care for diverse creation.

Ethical and Religious Foundations of Sustainability

The overarching moral assignment of our time is to act personally,

institutionally,and politically in ways that are both ecologically fitting

and socially just. Earth community’s health now depends on humans

relating to the natural world so as to maintain its ecological health and

aesthetic quality,or as Aldo Leopold wrote in The Sand County Alma-

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