COMMENT: In love with Lovelock —Nasir Abbas Mirza

“Do not kill women, elders, children, civilians and trees.” Yes, this too is the Holy Quran, if you look for it. Perhaps in Indonesia they see and read the holy book differently because religion is not big business there and they do not use Islam — and the holy book — as a tool for power and pelf

It is hard to go through a day and not come across something to do with the environment. Ecology and biology are the most in-your-face words being used these days. It is fashionable to appear concerned and headlines like ‘World heads for climate abyss: UN’ are everywhere. So, here in our Islamic Republic, what are we doing about it? Nothing, I guess.

There are many reasons for it but the chief among them is our attitude towards the environment. Like everything else in our lives, this attitude too is shaped by religion. Consider these random sentences: God granted man dominion over nature. Use and discard. Man is the purpose and pivot of the universe. Humans are special with manifest destiny as the chosen species. Humans are free to use the natural world as they see fit, and so on. The message is clear.

What makes matters worse is the wrong interpretation of the afterlife. Nietzsche argued that, “To talk of an afterlife is to do dirt on, to denigrate and besmirch this life. Far from making this life meaningful, the doctrine of an afterlife makes this life meaningless.” If the end of the world is around the corner, why care about this world? Extend this doctrine a little and it will give you a resigned populace, great military value, suicide bombers and a devastated environment.

History tells us that it was not always like this. Animistic religions gave divinity to various aspects of nature. It was the anthropocentrism of monotheistic religions that split man and environment. Human beings are conceited and dream-driven. First Copernicus, then Darwin dethroned human beings from their exalted place. These great scientists taught us humility. They showed us that we emerge from the natural world and remain subject to its laws and limitations. Looking around us, it seems we still have a very long way to go.

Ever notice the complete apathy and disregard of our ulema on the matter of caring for this world? Has anyone of them ever even planted a tree? Practising is hard; preaching is easy. Making this world a jannat is hard work; promising a readymade one in the afterlife works perfectly for a lazy disposition.

But Nasruddin Anshory is not lazy. Mr Anshory is an Indonesian and, at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali in 2007, he became a star — some newspapers called him a hero. In 2003, Mr Anshory set up Ilmu Giri Pesantren — an Islamic boarding school devoted to environmentalism. Today, young and old students from all over Indonesia flock to this school to hear its founder preach about Muslims’ ordained responsibility to protect the environment.

Nasruddin Anshory quotes from the Holy Quran, “Do not do destruction upon this earth”, and he teaches that in one verse the Holy Quran equates the value of human life to a tree. He quotes, “Do not kill women, elders, children, civilians or trees.” Yes, this too is the Holy Quran, if you look for it. Perhaps in Indonesia they see and read the holy book differently because religion is not big business there and they do not use Islam — and the holy book — as a tool for power and pelf.

In a similar vein, if you want to quote verses from the Holy Quran to promote peace, you will find them. But if you are hell-bent upon justifying qital and enforcing a misinterpreted jihad, then that, too, is in the holy book. Ditto the Bible and other scriptures. So what really matters is who is reading the book.

Coming back to the environment, it is hard not to fall in love with James Lovelock, a brilliant climate scientist, who has been at it since the middle of the last century. In 1965 executives at Shell wanted to know what the world would look like in the year 2000. They consulted a range of experts, who speculated about fusion-powered hovercraft and all sorts of fanciful technological stuff. When the oil company asked the scientist James Lovelock, he predicted that the main problem in 2000 would be the environment. “It will be worsening to such an extent that it will seriously affect their business.” That is almost exactly what has happened.

James Lovelock is well known for his Gaia hypothesis, a revolutionary theory that the earth is a self-regulating super organism. What it means is that this planet has existed for billions of years and it will continue to exist for billions of years to come with or without human beings. Human beings cannot destroy this planet no matter what they do. It may become too cold or too hot or too whatever, exist it will.

Initially, this theory was ridiculed by many scientists as new age nonsense, today that theory forms the basis of almost all climate science. For obvious reasons, the theory was also disapproved by all humans-are-the-chosen-species lobbies. If climate change eliminates 70 percent of the human population by the end of this century, we know what the extremists of the world would say: We told you so. It had been foretold. Doomsday, Armageddon, Qiyamat. We knew it all along. It was written.

In case you are interested, Google ‘Daisyworld Flash Simulation’ and click on the first result. In simplest terms, it demonstrates the Gaian principle of a planet being regulated by its organisms, and its organisms being regulated by the planet — or the planet’s temperature.

Mr Lovelock believes that global warming is now irreversible and that nothing can prevent large parts of the planet becoming too hot to inhabit, or sinking underwater, resulting in famine and epidemics. Global warming has passed the tipping point and catastrophe is unstoppable. He terms a change is lifestyles, to save the planet, “a deluded fantasy”. To the current efforts called ‘carbon offsetting’, ‘green living’, ‘cool earth’, ‘recycling’, ‘ethical consumption’, he regards all as “merely more rearrangement of the Titanic deckchairs”.

At the end of one of his recent interviews, Mr Lovelock was asked by the interviewer, “What would Lovelock do now, if he were me?” He smiled and said, “Enjoy life while you can. Because if you are lucky, it is going to be 20 years before it hits the fan.”

Back here in the Islamic Republic, what are we going to do about it? Nothing, I guess.

The writer is a freelance columnist