- So, a rabbi, a reverend and an imam walk into
a coffee shop.
There's no joke there, we're just going to
talk to them about faith and the environment.
Let's go figure out if there's a punch line.
(upbeat music)
- This is a little strange for me.
I've never been surrounded by so much holiness before.
I feel a little out of place.
So how does each of you feel about the environment
and how does your faith influence that?
- The scripture of the Islamic faith is the Koran,
describes human beings in historic creation
not as human beings, but as stewards of the earth.
- There's actually multiple instances in the
Old Testament where we see regard for our
environment as a key part of how we're supposed
to relate to the earth and it's an important part
of Jewish faith to not deify nature.
- So when people are going up and literally
hugging trees, you're like, "Hey!"
- Oh, no, I hug trees.
- Oh, okay.
- When you go to Sequoia National Park and you
look at a tree that's been there since the time of --
- Moses.
- 2000 years ago,
3000 years, - Moses.
- Right, you know, it really builds your faith.
- Yeah, they said it very well.
And actually our faith traditions, we're talking trees,
they're different branches but with a
very similar, with the same root.
All living things belong to God and are
here together and sometimes humans tend
to think there are people and we're separate
from animals and the rest of nature, but
it's an understanding that we're a part of nature.
- I totally agree with that, except I will share
nothing with a possum.
- You can learn something from every animal.
- Well, I'm not willing to take the time
for possum school.
But can faith and science coexist or do you guys
just turn off the TV when you see Bill Nye talking?
- I turn off the TV when I see Bill Nye.
It's more because of the bow tie.
- See, only certain people can rock a bow tie,
and I think he's one of them.
- Well, that's subjective.
But I have gotten a lot from science.
I feel that we want to balance the best of
the innovation that we have with the best
of the ancient wisdom that we're preserving.
- I don't see a contradiction between science
and religion.
In fact, science helps us to understand God's world
in profound ways.
- There's a passage in Genesis that often comes up
as possibly being in conflict with the idea that
humans can change the environment.
Can you talk a little bit about Genesis 9:11?
- God might have promised that God's not going
to bring another flood, but we're fully capable
of bringing on our own flood and destroying the
world on our own.
God placed us here and gave us this opportunity,
but we also can blow it.
- Well what the Koran says about it is
that God doesn't change the circumstances for
people unless they initiate the change.
So if we are headed down a wrong path and we
make the effort to rectify our misdeeds,
then God will step in and help us.
But he's not going to make that improvement
for us without any effort on our behalf.
- And I will say, I don't believe that humans
can destroy planet earth.
I do believe that humans can make planet earth
unlivable for humans and that's not exactly
the same thing.
- Reverend Pickens, what are you skeptical about,
because that's why we want to open up
this conversation.
- I have seen websites where you can pay to offset
your carbon footprint.
So I went to the website and I told them I went
from LAX to Dulles round trip and they told me
to offset my carbon footprint it would cost $11.90
payable to this website.
But I'm skeptical.
- I'm inclined to go along with our friend
the reverend here.
I don't think you can sin and then pay to get
out of your sins.
I can't speak about other religions.
But you can't be like, "Okay, I feel guilty.
"I burned all these carbon things.
"So now I'm gonna go pay 11 bucks and
"have a guilt-free conscience."
- Yeah, and I feel so much better.
In the Christian tradition, we call that cheap grace.
- We really have to make the shift from
burning fossil fuels to something that's more
sustainable, wind, solar, whatever it may be.
And something that's more credible rather
than just gimicky.
- If I could solve all of my sins with 11 bucks,
I would go for it.
- What a deal, right?
- So, how do you distill the immensity of a problem
down to something that humans can even understand?
- It tell us in Pirkei Avot which is in the Talmud
that you are not required to finish the work.
You're not going to.
That doesn't mean can desist from doing the work.
You're not off the hook.
So while the challenges might be enormous,
everybody has to be involved in doing something
to solve the problems at hand.
- Jesus put it this way in teaching us how to pray.
"Give us this day our daily bread."
So yes, that is about God providing, but also,
we can only do so much in a day.
And it can all be completely overwhelming
but if we just take it, kind of a slice at a time,
one bite at a time, what can we do today,
that has been the will to keep going forward.
- And I think that the first step is just
not being exploitative of the natural environment.
- How do you also look to the future?
- In the Jewish community, we believe that
the world is imperfect.
God could have made the perfect world.
God could have made everything work perfectly.
But God didn't.
So this is our God-given task of repairing
those things which need fixing.
- Responsibilities of leadership is
to have a vision, you know, to maintain hope.
- I would actually add to that, that the
antithesis of faith is not disbelief, but despair.
To be faithful is to be hopeful and to trust
in God's power and ability.
- That's a great message for all of us, I think.
Approach the future with hope.
No matter what your take on faith and religion,
I think we can all agree that there are some
pretty amazing things about this planet
that we need to hang onto.
So talking to Seth, Jihad and Yonah,
I actually expected there to be more conflict.
But it seems like everyone agrees that we should
all be good stewards to the earth and play our
part in leaving the world better than we found it.
(buzzing)
Ah, a bee!
Bees feel a little first-drafty to me, Lord.
I'm puttin' bees right on my list next to possums.
Don't you come near me, bees.
♫ Soul pancake
I would love to know if faith plays a role
in your relationship with the planet.
Let me know in the comments using the
hashtag #EarthIt