Daedalus Planning Conference
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Cambridge, MA
October 28–30, 1999

The Daedalus Planning Conference was held at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts from October 28–30, 1999. A series of papers were delivered and discussed that will contribute to the understanding of current research on the topic of the world’s religions and ecology. Additional information regarding the conference can be gained from the following planning document and conference schedule. These papers were preparation for a special issue of Daedalus entitled, Religion and Ecology: Can the Climate Change? (vol. 130, no. 4 [fall 2001]).

Planning Document
Daedalus Conference

Assumptions of the Conference
Certain distinctions need to be made between the particularized expressions of religion identified with institutional or denominational forms of religion and those broader worldviews which animate such expressions. By worldviews we mean those ways of knowing, embedded in symbols and stories, which find lived expressions, consciously and unconsciously in the life of particular cultures. In this sense, worldviews arise from and are formed by human interaction with natural systems or ecology. Consequently, one of the major concerns of religions in many communities is how to describe, in story form, the emergence of the local geography as a realm of the sacred. This worldview generates ethics, or ways of acting, which guide human behavior in personal, communal, and ecological exchanges. The exploration of worldviews as they are both constructed and lived by religious communities is critical to this project because it is here that we discover formative habits regarding attitudes toward nature and our place in the world. To resituate human-earth relations in a more balanced mode will require both a reevaluation of worldviews and a formulation of viable environmental ethics.

Religious rituals and symbols are grounded in the dynamics of nature. Human experience of local natural systems is the most immediate connection to the wider cosmos. Cosmologies describe the experience of change in relation to the natural world and provide rich resources for inspiring such transformation in human life. The death-rebirth cycle of nature serves as a mirror for human life. Religions translate this cycle into rich tapestries of interpretive meanings that inspire culture, art, music, and life orientations beyond tragedy, suffering, and despair. By linking human life and the patterns of nature, religions have provided a meaningful orientation to life. Moreover, they have been significant catalysts in motivating human action. A key component that has been missing in much environmental discourse is how to identify and tap into these motivating elements which inspire change of attitudes and action. It is here that religions may be most helpful.

Clearly religions have a central role in the formulation of worldviews that orient humans to the natural world and the articulation of ethics which guide human behavior. The traditional religions of the world, however, can no longer do this alone. The size and complexity of the problems we face require collaborative efforts both among the religions and in dialogue with other key domains of human endeavor. As the scientist Brian Swimme has indicated, we are making macrophase changes to the planet with microphase wisdom. Moreover, while technological responses will be necessary they alone will not be sufficient, nor are they an adequate end in themselves.

Converging Perspectives
Religions, thus, need to be in conversation with sectors which have addressed environmental issues, such as science, economics, education, and public policy, and the values embedded in these disciplines also need to be more carefully understood. Environmental changes will be motivated by these disciplines in very specific ways: namely, economic incentives will be central to adequate distribution of resources, scientific analysis will be critical to understanding nature’s economy, educational awareness will be indispensable to creating modes of sustainable life, public policy recommendations will be invaluable in shaping national and international priorities, and moral and spiritual values will be crucial for the interior transformations required for life in an ecological age. All of these are needed. In this way, the various values, incentives, and knowledge that motivate human activity can be more effectively channeled toward long-term sustainable life on the planet.

In short, drawing on all of these disciplines, a comprehensive reevaluation of long-term priorities is called for to envision ecology and economics as part of one earth process. We need to examine the tensions between efficiency and equity, between profit and preservation, and between private and public good. We need to make distinctions between human need and greed, between the use and abuse of nature, and between the intrinsic value and instrumental value of nature. We need to move from destructive modes of production to constructive ones and from the accumulation of goods to appreciation of the good.

As Thomas Berry has observed: “The ethical does not simply apply to human beings but to the total community of existence as well. The integral economic community includes not only its human components but also its natural components. To assist the human by deteriorating the natural cannot lead to a sustainable community. The only sustainable community is one that fits the human economy into the ever-renewing economy of the planet. The human system, in its every aspect, is a subsystem of the Earth’s system, whether we are speaking of economics or physical well-being or rules of law. In no instance can the subsystem flourish by devastating the base system.” In essence, human flourishing and planetary prosperity are intimately linked.

One of the overall objectives of this conference was the establishment of common ground between disciplines for long-term solutions to environmental problems. Religions come as partners to these discussions, not as definitive agents of moral authority. They seek to engage in critical and interpretive exchange, aiming not for consensus but for inquiry between communities of common discourse. To create a broader context for reformulating effective public policies on environmental issues, it will be helpful to set in motion three ongoing strategies which will serve to integrate environmental values into the discussion.

Strategies
The first strategy is to place disciplines in dialogue with one another, respecting the different approaches and examining the values embedded in each discipline. The second strategy is to create grounds for disciplines to work in partnership toward common environmental concerns by recognizing the need for interdisciplinary cooperation on issues of sustainability. The third strategy is to form alliances for future collaborative projects that will mobilize both the ethical transformations and practical policies needed for reinventing industrial society on a sustainable basis. This will require major reorientations from wantonly destructive environmental practices to constructive practices which take future generations into consideration. In other words, we need to form alliances focused on how to move from unsustainable extractive processes to renewable and regenerative processes. This will require identifying key ethical principles. The questions that follow may be useful for our discussions. They are intended to be suggestive (but clearly not exhaustive) of the types of questions that may be beneficial to a dialogue on religion and ecology.

“Religion, Ethics, and the Environment: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue”

Assumptions of the Conference

1. Religions are necessary but not sufficient contributors to stemming the environmental crisis.
2. Religions have had their problematic dimensions throughout history.
3. Yet there is moral potential within religions for:
   • establishing common grounds for revaluing nature and for creating an environmental ethics
   • providing a sense of meaning and motivation for individuals and for communities
   • inspiring a view of humans as related to nature and to the larger cosmos
     

General Questions for Scholars of Religious Traditions

1. How does this tradition and its sacred texts support or challenge the idea of nature as simply a utilitarian resource?
2. What are the core values from this tradition that can lead to the creation of an effective environmental ethics?
3. From within this religious tradition, what are responsible practices of humans toward natural systems, future generations, sustainable communities?
4. What cosmological dimensions in this tradition help to relate humans to nature?

General Questions for Scholars from Science, Economics, Education, and
Public Policy

1. How can the understanding of nature from some of the religious traditions assist or support concerns in your field about the environment?
2. What are the obstacles to this kind of approach?
3. What perspectives can be gained from your field to support conservation efforts?
4. What are the barriers to moral advocacy within your discipline?

Questions for Science

1. How can non-quantifiable data (values) be factored into scientific methods?
2. How can science help to further the appreciation of nature that will contribute to conservation efforts?
3. How can the scientific understanding of the interdependence within and among ecosystems and species be utilized to value and protect those ecosystems and species?
4. In what manner can scientists be advocates for environmental preservation without compromising their sense of “objectivity” and detached observation?

Questions for Economics

1. What kind of long-term and short-term concessions will people have to make for sustainability?
2. What kind of economic models (e.g., ecosystems analysis, steady state economy) will help to ensure the valuing of nature?
3. What kind of non-quantifiable data can be factored into economic models?

Questions for Education

1. Can educators evoke a deeper sense of respect for nature by understanding its complexity and interdependence?
2. Can the teachings of world religions assist in this process?
3. How can interdisciplinary programs on the environment provide an effective context where religion and ecology can be included?
4. Does the Church/State separation in the United States foster or hinder the teaching of courses on religion and ecology?

Questions for Public Policy

1. What are the important motivational factors for implementing public policy?
   • economic incentives, government regulation, moral persuasion
2. What are the key models of policies for environmental initiatives?
   • authoritarian environmental policy versus democratic environmental policy
   • command and control model versus participatory model
3. How do varied views of nature affect sound policies?
   • intrinsic value, instrumental value, economic value
4. How do ethical arguments regarding the role of the human influence policy discussions?
   • individualism versus communitarianism
5. How can arguments of economic well-being and environmental well-being be resolved?
   • long term common good versus short term profit

Daedalus Volume Conference Schedule

October 28
6:30	Opening reception and dinner
October 29
9:00–10:00 10:00–11:00 11:00–11:15 11:15–12:15	Education Judaism Break Christianity
12:15–1:30	Lunch
1:30–2:30 2:30–3:30 3:30–4:00 4:00–5:00	Ethics Islam Break Indigenous Traditions
5:00–6:00 6:00–8:00	Reception Dinner
October 30
9:00–10:00 10:00–11:00 11:00–11:15 11:15–12:15	Science Buddhism Break Hinduism
12:15–1:30	Lunch
1:30–2:30 2:30–3:30 3:30–4:00 4:00–5:00 5:00–6:00 6:00–8:00	Jainism Confucianism Break Public Policy Reception Dinner