Selected stories, quotes and ideas from Summit of Conscience July 2015
July 22, 2015:
Please note this page is still being built
Swami Amritasvarupananda, representing Amma, or India’s “hugging saint”
“For the climate to change we must each change.”
Nigel Savage, founder of Jewish environmental NGO Hazon
“What if you spent a trillion dollars in the next seven years, half going to combat climate change and half to end poverty? It sounds like a crazy idea but it turns out that if you divide a trillion dollars by the world’s richest billion people it works out at $3 a week for seven years. Some of those would pay a bit more, some a bit less, but for the price of a coffee a week the world governments meeting in Paris could make all the difference.”
Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad Yunus
Mohammad Yunus suggested “ a goal of achieving three zeros.” Zero poverty, zero unemployment (through helping people be entrepreneurs and employ themselves) and zero carbon emission. “When we achieve this we will live like human beings.”
French President Francois Hollande
The Summit of Conscience departs from the place that the climate crisis … cannot be reduced to scientific, technological, economic and political dimensions, however important those are... It is in fact a crisis of meaning.
Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and PeaceIn the
"In the past we have talked about “stewardship” but now we must talk about care...When we care it is with passion and commitment and attachment. Commitment to embrace with passion not just with thoughts and ideas but with the heart….What kind of world do we want to bequeath? An environment will not be able to sustain life after us unless we embrace commitment – we received a garden as our home and we may not turn it into wilderness. The garden we received must be passed on and bequeathed,”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
"I have to admit that I wasn't always on my best behaviour when my parents brought me to church - I hope that you can forgive me for that - but any time the priest talked about Noah's Ark, I hung onto every word, I loved the story of Noah building a ship large enough to save every species on Earth. That epic mission captured every fibre of my imagination. And today we have an epic mission of our own." Link here for full video link.
Vandana Shiva
I care because caring is what makes us human. Compassion is the true test of our humanity. While there is often talk of people dying "in future" in parts of the world, people are dying today.... in India recently 200 farmers committed suicide because of no clean water... in the Ganges basin! What we need is more living carbon. The soil can pull out 10 gigatonnes if we do organic farming. [My challenge to you in Paris is at the time of the COP] is to plant a garden of hope and peace. “We receive the garden as a home don’t leave it as a desert”.
|
