Green Diwali Webinar: Lighting the Way to Protect Mother Earth

Last updated on: November 1, 2017 at 11:28 am by Padma Kuppa

Green Diwali Webinar: Lighting the Way to Protect Mother Earth 2017-11-01T11:28:38-04:00 Padma Kuppa

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Deepavali or Diwali is often called the Festival of Lights; the holiday is rooted in the story of Lord Rama and his return from exile. The rows of diyas lit in celebration of Rama’s return represent light in its most basic form: providing knowledge, dispelling ignorance. This explanation ignores the complexity of its message about transcendence to a higher unitary consciousness which David Frawley has clearly explained. But I was at least able to to do something concrete this week, by participating in the Bhumi Project’s Green Diwali Webinar: honoring the sacredness of our planet, and discussing ways to protect Mother Earth.

As a panelist representing the Hindu American Foundation, I spoke alongside two amazing women, Shyla Raghavan and Keya Chaterjee for an hour and could have gone longer as the Q&A went on. The webinar was moderated by Gopal Patel, the Director of the Oxford, UK-based Bhumi Project, and a GreenFaith partner. I came across Gopal and Bhumi Project years ago when I was seeking a Hindu version of the several organizations pursuing climate change awareness and action based in Christian theology, such as Evangelical Environmental Network and CreationCare.org. Gopal and my fellow panelists have made careers focused on concern about and care of the planet: they serve as an inspiration about how we can put our (Hindu) faith into action.

Keya Chatterjee, the first panelist, is Executive Director of US Climate Action Network and author of the book The Zero Footprint Baby: How to Save the Planet While Raising a Healthy Baby. Keya’s commentary on climate change policy and sustainability issues has been quoted in dozens of media outlets such as USA Today, the New York Times and NBC Nightly News. Her work focuses on building an inclusive movement in support of climate action. She has a wide range of prior experience: Senior Director for Renewable Energy and Footprint Outreach at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF); a Climate Change Specialist at USAID; at NASA; in the Peace Corps. Her approach to protecting Bhumi Devi is a very practical one – she and her husband have reduced their carbon footprint starting with getting rid of their cars (an option not easily available to metro-Detroiters), and only get on an airplane once a year. It was obvious that so much of her passion comes from wanting to save the planet for her young child – the same maternal drive that is the underlying energy for my activism.

The next speaker was Shyla Raghav, who leads Conservation International’s climate strategy to build and support the development and implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation action globally. With a master’s in environmental management from Yale University, the young woman offers me hope that the next generation of Hindu Americans are pursuing careers to make a difference in this international movement. Shyla and her global team engage with key partners to amplify CI’s successful climate change strategies, to demonstrate that ecosystem-based mitigation and adaptation offer tremendous opportunities for meeting the climate challenge. Having participated for almost a decade in United Nations climate change initiatives, she has worked on multiple projects in the field, addressing water scarcity and food security with organizations such as the Adaptation Fund, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center, the UNFCCC, and the UNDP country office in Bangkok. Her work has been instrumental in developing tools to help developing countries adapt to climate change by integrating ecosystems into their climate policies.

Shyla’s locally-focused efforts resonated with my own local and regional efforts to develop inter-cultural and -religious understanding and cooperation. I spoke about how I came to advocacy at the Hindu American Foundation, a national organization that promotes mutual understanding and pluralism, focusing on the three pillars, of education, policy and community engagement. Being excluded from a city-sponsored National Day of Prayer event in 2005 spawned my activism into new arenas – including my current efforts to evangelize not only on religious freedom and inclusion, but also on vegetarianism – a really simple way to reduce one’s carbon footprint and impact climate change at a personal level. I highlighted HAF’s participation in the 2015 Climate Conference and contribution to the Hindu Declaration on Climate Change, grassroots efforts at local chapters around the country, and our partnership with the Bhumi Project to support the Bhumi Pledge on college campuses.

I was able to point out how human rights and climate change are inextricably connected, with major studies providing sobering evidence that a hotter, increasingly unstable climate is fueling more conflict and human rights violations. Prof. Solomon Hsiang from the University of California, Berkeley and other researchers echo what I see in my own backyard. It is vulnerable populations that lose the most when we don’t protect our environment, be it in Detroit or around the world. In highlighting this, I found myself transcending to a higher consciousness, recognizing our oneness and the one planet we all must protect.

Bhumi Project

Climate Change

Hindu

Hindu American Foundation

hindu american foundation

Previous Post

October 17, 2017

Watching Marshall, Lighting the Diwali Lamp for Dharma

Next Post

November 1, 2017 Hindus in America: Acting on Our Values, Alleviating Hunger

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category acttochange Advocacy african american American Apocalyspse Autism Belief bhagavad gita Bhumi Project Bullying caste caste report Catholic Climate Change conversion Creation Story development dfn Dharma Diversity and Inclusion Divine Feminine Draupadi Education Environment EquityInEducation ethics evangelism Evil faith in the public square genocide God Goddess guru Hijab Hindu Hindu American Hindu American Foundation Hindu practices Holidays Holocaust human rights human trafficking identity India Indian American interfaith Internship Jewish Justice Kashmiri Hindus LGBT LGBT Rights Mahabharata Martin Luther King Jr Celebration meditation MLK Muslim National Day of Prayer NoDAPL Pakistani Hindu Peace Advocacy pluralism Prayer predatory proselytization Religious Freedom SacredSites Sari science self-realization Social Action spock Telugu Truth TSOG Uncategorized Urban monk Vegetarian Vote

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I am three that testify on earth and agree as one. The Spirit, the water, and what completes our trio?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The blood The word The church The truth