Green Creation 

Sometimes 'non-greenies' think that 'us greenies' want to 'deprive' people of the 'good things' and live in a cave... but that's *not* what it's about as this new report by the UN international Labour Organisation (ILO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP):

Some interesting food for thought that I found in my inbox today on sustainable and just economy:

"In the early days, societies were made up of 'hunter-gatherers'. If a person was hungry, they would go into the jungle, the original supermarket, to get their fruits and vegetable or hunt animals for their meat. The river would 'sell' the fish they needed to survive. As time passed, people began to cultivate their own vegetables and rear their own animals. This was the beginning of agrarian society."

To read the full article, please visit the International Muslim Association of Scietists and Engineers (IMASE) website.

My main focus in this blog and life is the environment, Creation, and how my faith, Islam, teaches about living in harmony with the rest of Creation ("There is not a moving creature on earth, nor a bird that flies with its two wings, but are communities like you.", Quran 6:38; the Quran can seem quite anthropo/ human-centric as only humans have a free will and thus require guidance as to options).

Living sustainably in our environment, however, also requires having a sustainable economic system and not waging war, but focusing on peace and using your money in positive ways.

On the topic of economic system, some short answers on money were answered by representatives of several faiths in a recent article in The Times. The key points I liked: "There is a whole Islamic economic system, and Islam abhors both stinginess and wastefulness. The Arabic word for economics, iqtisad, actually means moderation. [...]. There is no problem with being wealthy. King David, one of our prophets, was extremely wealthy. We say that it is good to earn and use the money to serve God."

On the topic of peace, terrorists in the name of Islam, abuse our beautiful religion. A recent confirmation (again! if seldom acknowledged in the press) that terrorism is NOT Islamic concerns clarification of the abuse of a fatwa of Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328 CE) by a group of eminent group of scholars under the name of Mardin Declaration: "Ibn Taymiyya’s fatwa concerning Mardin can under no circumstances be appropriated and used as evidence for leveling the charge of kufr (unbelief) against fellow Muslims, rebelling against rulers, deeming game their lives and property, terrorizing those who enjoy safety and security, acting treacherously towards those who live (in harmony) with fellow Muslims or with whom fellow Muslims live (in harmony) via the bond of citizenship and peace. On the contrary, the fatwa deems all of that unlawful"

With upcoming elections: make your vote count if you can!

In peace, Rianne

In real eco-jihad mood... don't worry: no terrorism allowed (I object to it as much as you)! It seems the G20 meeting was shorter than I'd expected, but disappointment is more that in final statement, the word 'environment' is not even mentioned (oh, sorry in para 28 of 29 it says "We reaffirm our commitment to address the threat of irreversible climate change" and in para 27&28 there is a mention to make a transition to renewable energy, and cut carbon emissions, but this is such a huge challenge that I think it should be para 1 - 30!)

'Resources' is used to mean money (and we all know what making money out of nothing has led us to - this mess). It doesn't mention the limited nature of natural resources.

'Sustainable' is used to mean more of the same (economic sustainability, not sustainability of us all here on earth).

'Growth' is used to mean more of the same, including bads, pollution and environmental destruction (how's growth supposed to be able to go on forever on a planet that's not growing?).

http://www.g20.org/Documents/g20_communique_020409.pdf

My 2p.

What is the government doing that is new and additional to stimulate the economy by spending on the environment? A new report by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) shows that new funding for greening the economy amounts to just 0.6 per cent of the UK’s total stimulus package. Gordon Brown recently claimed to the House of Commons liaison committee that around 10 per cent of the UK package was directed towards "environmentally important technologies". So stimulus, or accelerating road to ruin?

Read the report.