Pathways to Equity in Addressing Climate Change:
A Bahá'í Perspective

by Robert Sinclair Sarracino and Margery Dixon

Abstract According to current scientific consensus, anthropogenic climate change has become one of the most serious existential threats to human civilization. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Bahá’u’lláh warned of the dangers inherent in the unbridled advancement of material civilization if a parallel advance in the moral and spiritual dimensions of civilization were neglected.

This article outlines a framework with three components for dealing with the crisis of anthropogenic climate change. The first component is to embrace justice and equity, rooted in an awareness of the essential oneness and wholeness of the human race. The second is the full embrace of sound science. The third is consultation at all levels of society regarding the technological and social measures to be taken, in which all have a voice and participate in forging solutions.

It then outlines Bahá’í approaches to climate change in light of this framework. It first profiles the worldwide Bahá’í community, then discusses the concept of the three protagonists in the civilization-building process, and finally outlines the framework for action, which characterizes Bahá’í work at the neighborhood and community level.