ABSTRACT
Our key problem is that we view Nature as something we are a part from not a part of. From this has come an arrogance towards the rest of life on earth – an arrogance that at its worst believes that billions of years of evolution has taken place for our comfort – captured in the dreadful phrase ‘eco-system deliverables’.
We urgently need to explore other models, other stories of why we are here and what is our role within the whole of life on earth. We are a story-telling species not a fact-driven species and unless we can tell good stories we will never change why and then how people act.
The major faiths of the world are the oldest most sustainable organisations in the world. They understand human psychology better than any other group because they have managed to pass on their core beliefs and values for millennia. They are also major stakeholders in the planet in terms of investments, land, purchasing power, education and wisdom. This paper shows how working with the faiths as partners, learning from for example the wisdom of a story from 4th century China or the Jewish tradition of living with a chicken can help shape the very way we see the world. It also argues that what we need now is not some one world perspective or one model of how to tackle the environmental and social problems we face. Such monolithic thinking is what has pushed us to the edge. What we need is a celebration of the plurality of stories, beliefs and networks which working together but within their own stories might help us turn the corner away from the anthropocentric world view which is pushing us to destruction.
