Religion and Science aim at two different things. The former seeks to encourage us to develop our characters, or moral sensibilities, and to expand our relationship with the Divine Other. The latter seeks to describe the natural world and how it works. Together, they can form a powerful motivation for environmental activism.
Scientists have increasingly shown us that man's impact upon our world is devastating, to the point that we threaten the existence of life as we know it on this planet. Religions teach us that our responsibility is to be stewards of this world, to care for it as the treasure that it is, to do no harm -- to the world, and to fellow humans and animals (and depriving them of a sound environment is surely a grave harm).
Science equips us with the knowledge of what is wrong, and how to fix it. Religion, hopefully, gives us even greater motivation to take the steps needed to actually do that fixing. If environmental devastation is not motivation enough (and evidently it isn't for all but a few idealistic souls), we can hope that religious motivation will convince people to make the sacrifices that we will all have to make if we hope to reverse some of the damage humankind has done to this planet.
If priests, imams, rabbis, and other religious leaders preached responsible living on a regular basis from their pulpits, I believe that could make a major difference. So far, at least in mosques, our religious leaders have not taken up this topic seriously. I have heard general sermons about the need to be caretakers of the world, but few which delved into the specifics of what that would entail. (Recycling, for instance; carpooling; reducing electricity use; extensive access to public transportation; and so on).
Environmental activists would do well to reach out to the religious community. And religious leaders would be wise to keep abreast the latest research. Otherwise, we could be missing a golden opportunity that could, in the end, make the difference in a habitable world and one that is far less hospitable to human life.
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