Islam and Climate Engineering

PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING A GreenFaith Report PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING A GreenFaith Report Editors: Forrest Clingerman (Ohio Northern University) and Gary Gardner (Consultant to GreenFaith) Contributing Authors: Arianne van Andel, Saffet Abid Catovic, Forrest Clingerman, Celia DeaneDrummond, Çağdaş Dedeoğlu, Gary Gardner, Fletcher Harper, Laura M. Hartman, Mat McDermott, Duncan McLaren, Kevin J. O’Brien, Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Ven. Bhikkhu Vivekānanda, Adinarayanan Venkatachalam, Smrithi Rekha Venkatasubramanian, Kyle Whyte Project Director: Rev. Fletcher Harper (Executive Director, GreenFaith) This project was funded by the Christopher Reynolds Foundation Published by GreenFaith Highland Park, NJ USA Copyright: GreenFaith and contributing authors, 2018 Citation: Forrest Clingerman, Gary Gardner, Fletcher Harper, Arianne van Andel, Saffet Abid Catovic, Celia Deane-Drummond, Çağdaş Dedeoğlu, Laura M. Hartman, Mat McDermott, Duncan McLaren, Kevin J. O’Brien, Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Ven. Bhikkhu Vivekānanda, Adinarayanan Venkatachalam, Smrithi Rekha Venkatasubramanian, and Kyle Whyte, Playing God? Multi-faith Responses to the Prospect of Climate Engineering (Highland Park, NJ: GreenFaith, 2018), www.greenfaith.org/geoengineering. PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 2 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING Table of Contents Foreword page 4 Acknowledgements page 6 Report Introduction page 7 Part I: A Primer on Geoengineering The Context: This Moment in Climate History page 12 Evolving Responses to Warming page 14 Geoengineering 101 page 16 Evaluating the Challenges page 20 Emerging Ethical Questions page 21 Climate, Geoengineering, and Development page 24 The Interests Behind Geoengineering page 26 Conclusion page 27 Part II: Recommendations: An Urgent Need for Governance page 30 Part III: Essays on Religion and Climate Engineering Introduction to Essays page 34 How Hindu Ethics Can Help Weigh the Potential Risks or Benefits of Climate Engineering Methods page 37 Geoengineering, Sacrifice, and the Scale of Love page 43 Redemptive Activism: Judaism, Climate Change, and Climate Engineering page 49 Taking the Earth into Our Own Hands: Practical Wisdom in an Age of Climate Engineering page 58 Islam and Climate Engineering page 63 Geoengineering: Playing God—Again! page 70 A Buddhist Perspective on Climate Engineering page 75 Good God! Care, Reverence and the Ethics of Climate Engineering page 81 Climate Privilege and Climate Engineering: Lessons from the Story of Zacchaeus page 88 Annex: Possible Impacts of Climate Engineering on Development page 96 Glossary page 97 Further Reading page 98 Contributors page 99 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 3 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING Islam and Climate Engineering Author Çağdaş Dedeoğlu is Research Associate at the Center for Critical Research in Religion. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science & International Relations. Introduction When reading about solar geoengineering techniques, it is easy to be reminded of the Laki volcanic eruption of 1783 in Iceland and its impacts on different geographies of the 18th century. In the last chapter of Alan Mikhail’s book, Under Osman’s Tree,1 focusing on Ottoman environmental history through the themes of climate, energy, and plague, the author discusses the Laki eruption and its climate implications for the rest of the world, including Ottoman Egypt. Sulfur dioxide spread from the Laki fissure, covering the sky in a vast area ranging from Iceland to Mongolia. These particulates caused the reflection of sunlight back to space for more than five months. As a result, extreme weather struck the Northern Hemisphere in the summer of 1783 and the winter of 1784. In the same period, the new climate conditions affected the Nile system in Egypt, which eventually proved troublesome for the Ottoman socio-economic system given its heavy dependence on crops produced in Egypt and distributed to other provinces. If the Ottoman administration had been able to oversee this climate event and counteract comprehensively, the outcome might have been different. Our age is mostly defined with the concept of Anthropocene—a new era that started with the Industrial Revolution and is characterized by the nearly all-encompassing human influence on nature. The influence of the Anthropocene finds its reflection in the potential for nuclear calamity, ongoing chemical and biological pollution, the creation of genetically modified organisms, and needless to say, the unintended climatic changes caused by modern use of fossil fuels. However, it is also argued that humanity can oversee and counteract climate change by using technology and science to intentionally respond to anthropogenic global warming. Policy decisions are necessitated by the development and implementation of such capacities. According to the American Meteorological Society, climate change policy consists of four dimensions: mitigation, adaptation, climate engineering, and knowledge base expansion.2 In Part 1 of the present report there an overview of climate policy, which shows a similar continuum of policy options. In these discussions, it is apparent that different climate policy options are being pushed by different actors in scientific communities and business circles. Climate engineering has recently become more prominent in the policy discussion. Big names and some newcomers, separately or in collaboration, have initiated startups to seek “techno-fix solutions” for climate change, such as direct air capture of carbon dioxide or injecting particles into the stratosphere (in effect mimicking a volcano like the Laki) to reflect sunlight to space. Some consider this as an opportunity to make money for good purposes. Others accuse PART III: ESSAYS ON FAITH AND CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 63 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING geoengineers of “playing God” and unbalancing nature. This debate also corresponds to an expansion of the knowledge base on climate change from a different angle. That is to say, since there are different ways of knowing, there also are different systems of knowledge that can potentially contribute to the debate on climate change and climate engineering policy. This essay assumes that there is a relationship between ontology (how individuals “perceive” their existence) and epistemology (what they “know” about the reality), as well as between ethics and climate change policy options. The ontological and epistemological pillars ground the character of humans (following the discussion of Clingerman, O’Brien, and Ackerman about character and climate engineering3) and religious traditions play an important role in shaping the character of both individuals and systems. This role of religion holds true for the Islamic culture. Islam is a monotheistic, global faith with over 1.5 billion adherents worldwide. In general, Islam refers both to peace and submission, meaning the absence of conflict complemented by absolute harmony. Moreover, din, the Arabic word for religion, stands for the integrated codes of behavior ranging from personal hygiene to natural order to keep the world in harmony.4 This essay attempts to discuss the integrated codes of Islamic behavior—and their ontological and epistemological background—regarding climate policy and engineering. If being Muslim is the second most popular religious identity today, and will most likely rank number one in only a few decades, the ideas Islam brings to a discussion of climate engineering are important for policy discussions and should be considered. A Brief History of Islam-Nature Interaction Witnessing the side effects of modernist growth attempts, researchers introduced the ecological crisis as a new societal concern in the intellectual atmosphere of the 1960s. Triggered by historian Lynn White Jr.’s 1967 critique of Christianity’s role on the rise of the ecological crisis,5 various subsequent efforts have tried to understand the link between religion and nature. Almost in the same period, philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr introduced an Islamic critique of modern individual and modern comprehension of the natural order. In the mid-1980s, Fazlun M. Khalid took a similar approach when he founded the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science in Birmingham, UK. Reflecting these attempts, the original Assisi Declarations gave voice to a religious discourse on humans’ interaction with their environments. Named after St. Francis of Assisi, the meeting hosted Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim leaders in the Italian city of Assisi, in 1986. The debate on religion and nature continued in the 1990s among academic and non-academic circles. For example, the Religions of the World and Ecology conference series was organized starting in 1998 after a three-year research project by the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) at Harvard Divinity School. From these conferences, Harvard University Press published a series of ten books with a theme of “World Religions and Ecology.” Following this, a book called Faith in Conservation 6 was published by the World Bank in 2003, in which the Assisi vision was enriched by the contribution of Baha’iyyat, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism. The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature 7 was edited in 2005 and this collaboration led to the establishment of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture in 2006. All of these attempts welcomed Islamic intellectuals and helped the Islamic dimension to become part of the debate on religion and nature. Meanwhile, the main focus has shifted from the ecological crisis to climate crisis, and the 1992 dated United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) became the first institutional effort to address the climate change issue. This updated vision has also triggered various attempts to raise ecological awareness among adherents of different religions. Like other faith communities, Muslim communities started to act against climate change. For instance, Muslim Associations for Climate Change Action (MACCA) was established in 2009 within the Muslim Seven Year Climate Change Action Plan 2010-2017, a plan initiated by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation and United Nations PART III: ESSAYS ON FAITH AND CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 64 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING Development Programme. More recently, the Islamic Declaration on Climate Change was publicized.8 Launched in Istanbul in 2015, this declaration aimed at giving an environmental point of view to Muslims. Islam, Nature, and Climate In their assessment report of the 2017 CEC conference session, “God(s) and Greenhouse Gases: Religion and Climate Engineering,” Thomas Bruhn, Forrest Clingerman, and Laura Hartman sort ten groups of questions.9 Based on these questions, I wish to offer a new set of questions to scrutinize the links between Islam, nature, and climate. 1. Climate engineering as a humanitarian ideal—Can climate engineering be interpreted as a humane idea for the Muslim communities? 2. Who speaks for nature?—Does the Islamic tradition enable Muslims to speak for nonhuman creation? 3. Problems of power and justice—How should the climate engineering community deal with issues of power and justice, and what does the Islamic tradition provide us to understand these issues better? 4. Science and spiritual values—How might Islamic spirituality affect the policy options of the scientific community and business circles? 5. Sustainability and climate engineering—Can Islamic codes of behavior be considered sustainable? Do these codes offer a model for sustainability and climate engineering? 6. Compassion and mindfulness—How might the ideas of compassion and mindfulness be integrated into the climate engineering debate from an Islamic point of view? 7. Models and metaphors—What models and metaphors might be derived from an Islamic epistemology? 8. Emotion and reflection—How might Islam provide ways to understand emotional responses to climate engineering? 9. Responsibility—How might the idea of responsibility for the climate be interpreted within Islamic tradition? 10. Religious authority—Is there a potential for spiritual leadership and influence within Muslim communities regarding climate engineering? As these questions make clear, religion involves, but is not limited to, ethics. Religion also includes ontological and epistemological aspects. Some might say that it is a strained interpretation to assert that there is a clear Islamic vision specifically related to climate change, but it seems reasonable to say a Muslim can follow the Qur’an and hadiths as a manifestation of environmental ethics. The Qur’an, the ultimate word of God for Muslims, and the hadiths, or the recorded sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, can guide Muslims to find answers to the questions above. First and foremost, Islamic ontology assumes a close relationship with the ideas of God and creation, because there is not an existential distinction between spiritual and natural environments. It is accepted that the Qur’an consists of 114 surahs (chapters) and 6666 ayats (verses, composing the chapters). Indeed, the concept of ayat, meaning “sign” in Qur’anic vocabulary, allows a Muslim to interpret nature as the sign of God. The Qur’an holistically approaches cosmos and relates it to the amr (order) of God. Although the human being is placed at the center of the Universe, they have God-ordered responsibilities within it. The concept of khalifa (steward) is mostly interpreted in this way. Moreover, the concept of mizan (balance) takes a central place in performing these responsibilities. PART III: ESSAYS ON FAITH AND CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 65 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING Islamic epistemology also leads to certain methods that define how Muslims seek natural knowledge. The way Muslims understand nature, and their obligations toward it, become reinforced through religious teachings and required behaviors. For instance, the saying “even a leaf does not move without God’s permission” forms an epistemological extension, because it underscores the level of obligation for which humans steward creation in even the smallest details. In an interpretation of such an epistemology, khalq might be one of the keywords. Creation (met by the trilateral root khā lām qāf, in Arabic) is mentioned in 261 ayats. God has the name al-Khalid (creator), which is found alongside the names of al-Wali (manager), Malik al-Mulk (real owner), ar-Razzaq (assuring), al-Muqit (nourishing) and al-Hafiz (protector). Here, a potential interpretation might be that the existence of nature follows God’s order in a teleological way, referring to the Aristotelian idea of purposeful design. This divine, teleological order is a personal existential principle assuming a relationship between everything in nature. Interestingly, the pronunciation of English word “calculator” reminds us of the Arabic word for creation. Although there is a reference to abundance in the Qur’an as the mercy of God, Muslims should calculate the pros and cons of their activities. In this calculation, human knowledge, with the Divine guidance, goes beyond the intrinsic boundaries of human experience. In light of these concerns, Islamic climate ethics seems to have four pillars: tawhid, khalifat, shari’a, and ‘adl and i’tidal. Tawhid stands for the oneness of God and posits respect for God’s creation in Islamic climate ethics. In a similar vein, the human being is the steward of God (khalifat) in the world. Therefore, an honest, conservationist attribute is a fundamental part of a human’s moral being. Shari’a, or Islamic canonical law, can be considered as the ethics of action. The halal-haram (lawful-forbidden) distinction of shari’a might be considered to have a sanction power for the implementation of Islamic climate ethics. Shari’a’s ethical approach relies on “to do the right” instead of “to be good.” This reliance corresponds to an absolute ethical stance. Finally, the concepts of ‘adl and i’tidal, originated from the same root, support such an ethical understanding. While the former means justice, the latter means moderation.10 Without a moderate approach, justice among God’s creations cannot be maintained. Together the two concepts of ‘adl and i’tidal point out a balance between God, nature, and history. There is no word that corresponds to the modern, conceptual understanding of nature in the Qur’an. Instead, bi’a (meaning habitat or surrounding) is the closest word to “natural environment” in modern Arabic. Out of 114 surahs, 31 refer to nature, natural powers, natural phenomena, and natural assets. Also, there is special attention to the theme of water. Although there is no consensus on this, out of more than 6000 ayats, 900 deals with the conservation of water resources, 1400 refers to economic problems, and the rest focus on nature and the problems caused by human beings.11 The seventh chapter of the Qur’an, Surah al-A’raf, rests on a creation story, but still ethically holds individuals responsible. According to this story, human superiority over other members of nature is deeply dependent on their responsibilities. Therefore, the human domination of nature cannot be seen as limitless. Besides, the idea of cosmic justice is very much related to zulm an-nafs, that is, the wrongdoing of harming oneself. This relationship implies that individuals will always face the results of their actions. The Qur’an (42:30) is very clear on this, even though the same ayat also indicates that God “pardons much.” So, individuals should learn lessons from the past and work for a better future. The hadiths are crucial from the perspective of the fiqh (the philosophy of Islamic law), since knowledge production has been historically affected by the interpretations of hadiths. Sahih (accurate) hadith writing started in the 9th century. The following century witnessed the writing of more hadith books reflecting the views of Sunni and Shia branches of Islam. These hadiths include various themes, such as general composition and meaning of nature, land-seeding and agriculture, construction of buildings, animals and husbandry, water resources, birds, and plants. Discussion of these themes are built upon the hima-haram (private pasture vs. inviolate zone) doctrinal distinction. Such a difference helps decide on the planning of rural and urban settings, for instance. This makes hima is an ecological issue, as well as an issue of distributive justice and law. According PART III: ESSAYS ON FAITH AND CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 66 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING to the Maliki School of Fiqh, the environmental aspect of hima comprises four principles all of which have legal outcomes: necessity and justice, moderate approach to the size of hima site, environmental harmlessness and societal welfare. On the other hand, the Hanefi School of Fiqh has an additional perspective on mawat, or the issue of wastelands, with special rules related to wasteland management. In a nutshell, ethical and environmental concerns are hand-in-hand in these early writings. As indicated in Sahih Al-Bukhari, one of the hadith books, Prophet Muhammad said: “The earth has been created for me as a mosque and as a means of purification.” This statement has direct links to an ethical perspective. The hadiths of “even if the end of time is upon you and you have a seedling in your hand, plant it” or “Muslims have a common share in three [things]: grass, water and fire” are also mentioned within nature-related Islamic ethics. Moreover, there include many hadiths about the fair treatment of animals—for instance, horses. It is important to note that the concerns towards animals even existed during the military affairs and wars. This understanding treats animals as separate individuals born out of distinct existential causes. The ecological vision of Abu Bakr the Caliph also seems to follow the Qur’anic foundations and Prophet Muhammad’s philosophy. In this respect, they ordered their armies not to harm women, children and weak as well as animals, damage crops or cut trees.12 This vision does not seem to treat human condition distinctly. Discussion: Climate Engineering and Islam It is evident that the Islamic tradition has a vital role in shaping ontologies, epistemologies, and ethics of the believers related to their environments. Although religion and theology scholars emphasize the individual aspect of this role, that is the belief aspect, and one should also consider its sociopolitical aspect. This dual character of religion increases Islam’s potential influence within the climate engineering debate. Drawing on the discussion of the Islamic tradition above, I would like to revisit each group of questions given in the previous section. 1. Climate engineering as a humanitarian ideal—A Muslim might support climate technologies, but Islamic climate ethics urge them to act with ‘adl and i’tidal. Therefore, there will always be a need for a comprehensive understanding of reality in climate engineering proposals, which balances both justice and moderation. 2. Who speaks for nature?—Although Islam belongs to the Abrahamic tradition, which is known for anthropocentrism, being God’s supreme creation and being held responsible for God’s creation, human beings should speak for nature as a whole. This is important for assessments of particular climate engineering proposals. 3. Problems of power and justice—The idea of shari’a, together with tawhid, requires “doing right,” a principle that guides issues of power and justice among human and nonhuman members of nature. Also, the idea of hima, which points toward the intertwining of ethics and nature, might help shape an eco-justice perspective to be used in determining the appropriateness of climate engineering. 4. Science and spiritual values—The ontological dimension of Islam, which situates humans in a larger cosmos of diverse ways of knowing, might help investigate and perhaps even combine different kinds of knowledge in ways that would be beneficial for both the scientist and the general audience. Islam has a holistic understanding that is there is no distinction between sacred and profane or between the human world and the natural one. Insofar as climate engineering neglects this holistic understanding, it will be critiqued by an Islamic understanding. 5. Sustainability and climate engineering—As can be seen from the hadiths, Prophet Muhammad emphasized sustainability on various occasions. Notably, water sustainability is at stake in an Islamic ethical perspective. Indeed, Islam emerges as PART III: ESSAYS ON FAITH AND CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 67 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING a lifestyle, not “only” a religion. Therefore, a Muslim’s integrated codes of behavior might enable or disable some practices of climate engineering. It will be important for the Islamic community to identify what forms of climate engineering will hinder the forms of sustainability emphasized in the hadiths, especially those proposals that affect regional hydrology and water quality. 6. Compassion and mindfulness—Considering the hadiths and the principles such as himaharam distinction, Muslims might infer that sympathy for the creation lies at the heart of the philosophy of Islamic law. This idea of compassion aims at the continuation of peaceful conditions for all. Thus, the question that Islam raises for climate engineering projects is whether a project fosters or, conversely, lacks harmony with(in) nature. 7. Models and metaphors—Islam is more than ethics, and Muslims still employ models and metaphors to help their framing of reality. Linking the emergence of ecological catastrophe with the desacralization of nature13 is an example of how the ecological crisis is framed from an Islamic perspective. This perspective offers, therefore, resacralization of the nature based on harmony between al-’amal (action) and al-’ilm (knowledge). In other words, the Islamic community sees the importance of determining whether a climate engineering proposal is an avenue for the desacralization or resacralization of nature. 8. Emotion and reflection—The Islamic statements and declarations prove that an Islamic discourse, like other religious discourses, would potentially appeal feelings for or against climate engineering projects. These appeals to the mind and emotion will not only impact the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, but the human community more generally. In this respect, what the resacralization of nature might mean for climate change policy should be taken seriously in climate engineering discussions. 9. Responsibility—The Qur’an encourages each Muslim to take responsibility. It is evident that the concept of khalifa, or steward, places a burden on human species for the climate change policy. This encouragement is an essential aspect of Islamic climate ethics, and provides an important ethical concept for determining how to judge one’s involvement in climate engineering research, funding, political support, and implementation. 10. Religious authority—Although there is no clergy in Islam, some institutions are governing religious affairs in Muslim societies. There are many examples of collaboration between these institutions and environmental NGOs working to increase Muslim awareness of ecological issues worldwide. These authorities should be part of discussions of climate engineering policy and ethics, and be informed on the subject. Until now, I tried to portray the relationship between Islam and climate change policy concerning the former’s potential role in shaping ontologies, epistemologies, and ethics. However, there is also a risk in the applicability of Islamic climate ethics. The Muslim community is not exempt from the modern monopolization of bits of knowledge, beliefs, and values. For this reason, a quest for Islamic climate ethics is promising; yet, seeking wealth as a sign of success in life also dominates the hegemonic Muslim ontology as a meaningful purpose (Qur’an 62:10). Material realities are still there affecting the human condition. Following this, I conclude that climate engineering, like other parts of climate change policy, has never been just about scientific knowledge and technology, but also about ontologies and epistemologies. Therefore, a Muslim ontology backed by various ideas including tawhid, khalifat, ‘adl, i’tidal, mizan, et cetera, can provide balance to a scientific and technologically-focused ontology. Here, the issue is not about any specific religion, but about how religiosity is constructed. A “dark green” religiosity,14 that is, PART III: ESSAYS ON FAITH AND CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 68 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING a greener understanding of reality and of Homo sapiens’ configuration within nature, might, therefore, translate Islam’s potential into practice. 1. Alan Mikhail, Under Osman’s Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and Environmental History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017). 2. American Meteorological Society (AMS), “Climate Policy (an American Meteorological Society Project),” accessed October 21, 2018, http://www.climatepolicy.org/climatepolicy/index.cfm/the-basics/there-are-many-possiblepolicy-responses/. It is important to note that the boundaries of these dimensions are also fuzzy. For example, there is not a consensus on whether carbon removal technologies should be considered under mitigation or climate engineering. And this fuzziness also proves the importance of the fourth pillar of knowledgebase expansion. Knowledge should be expanded in order to clarify the policy options for public. 3. Forrest Clingerman, Kevin J. O’Brien, and Thomas P. Ackerman, “Character and Religion in Climate Engineering,” Issues in Science and Technology 34, no. 1 (Fall 2017): 25-28. 4. Fazlun M. Khalin “Islam and the Environment,” in Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change, ed. Ted Munn (Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2002), 332-339. 5. Lynn White Jr, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis,” Science 155 (New Series), No. 3767 (March 10, 1967): 1203-1207. 6. Martin Palmer with Victoria Finlay, Faith in Conservation: New Approaches to Religions and the Environment (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 2003). 7. Bron Taylor (ed), The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, two volumes (New York: Continuum, 2005). 8. “Islamic Declaration on Climate Change,” http://www.ifees.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/climate_declarationmMWB.pdf, accessed November 21, 2018. 9. Thomas Bruhn, Forrest Clingerman, and Laura Hartman, “God(s) and Greenhouse Gases: Religion and Climate Engineering,” PostConference Assessment, CEC17, 9-12 October 2017, Berlin, Germany. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/321081051_ CEC17_final_report_Gods_and_Geoengineering_conference_session, accessed November 21, 2018. 10. S. Parvez Manzoor, “Environment and values: the Islamic Perspective,” in Touch of Midas: Science, Values and Environment in Islam and the West, ed. Ziauddin Sardar (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984), 155-159. 11. Janardan Kumar, “Islam and Ecology,” in Ecology and Religion: Ecological Concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism, eds. Rajdeva Narayan and Janardan Kumar (Ramana, Institute for Socio-legal Studies; New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publications), 147-150. 12. Fazlun M. Khalin, “Islam and the Environment,” 333. 13. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Religion & the Order of Nature (New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996). 14. Bron Taylor, Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009). PART III: ESSAYS ON FAITH AND CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 69 PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING Contributors Arianne van Andel has a Master´s degree in Systematic Theology from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. Based in Chile, she has been working as a researcher and educator on gender and climate justice at the Centro Ecuménico Diego de Medellín in Santiago. She is member of GEMRIP, the Study Group on Religion and Advocacy, and is a GreenFaith Fellow. Saffet Abid Catovic is an American Muslim Environmental Leader of Bosnian-Anglo decent. He is one of the first GreenFaith Muslim Fellows and is Co-founder and Chair of the Green Muslims of New Jersey (GMNJ). He is a founding board member of the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) Green Initiatives. He was a consultant to the Drafting Committee of the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change and a founding member of the Global Muslim Climate Network (GMCN). He is also a member of the Parliament of World Religions Climate Action Task Force. He serves as the Imam and Muslim Chaplain at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. Forrest Clingerman, Ph.D., is Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Ohio Northern University. He has published theological and philosophical work on topics such as climate change, environmental aesthetics, the idea of place, and the Anthropocene. With Kevin J. O’Brien, he is co-editor of Theological and Ethical Perspectives on Climate Engineering: Calming the Storm (Lexington, 2016). Celia Deane-Drummond, Ph.D., is currently Professor in Theology at the University of Notre Dame, IN, USA. She is also Director Designate of the Laudato Si’ Research Institute, to be based at Campion Hall, Oxford University from the start of the academic year 2019-2020. Her research interests are in the engagement of theology and biological sciences. She has published over two hundred scholarly and scientific articles or book chapters, and is sole author or editor of twenty-five books, including Wisdom of the Liminal: Human Nature, Evolution and Other Animals (Eerdmans, 2014) and A Primer in Ecotheology: Theology for a Fragile Earth (Wipe and Stock, 2017). Çağdaş Dedeoğlu, Ph.D., is Research Associate at The Center for Critical Research on Religion and a member of the International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture. He completed postdoctoral research at the University of Florida Department of Religion. Dedeoğlu’s research interests include political ecology of religion and security. Gary Gardner is a researcher, writer, and speaker on global sustainability issues, with more than two decades’ experience at the Worldwatch Institute. An educator at heart, Gary translates for lay audiences the science and policy surrounding the great sustainability challenges of our time. He is currently an independent consultant on sustainability education. Rev. Fletcher Harper is Executive Director of GreenFaith, an international, interfaith environmental organization that supports leadership training for faith leaders from diverse backgrounds, activist campaigns, and advocacy on climate and environmental issues, and local multi-faith environmental organizing. He is author of GreenFaith: Mobilizing God’s People to Protect the Planet (Abingdon 2015) Laura M. Hartman, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Roanoke College. She specializes in religious and philosophical environmental ethics, transportation justice, and climate change ethics. Recent books include That All May Flourish: Comparative Religious Environmental Ethics (Oxford, 2018) and The Christian Consumer: Living Faithfully in a Fragile World (Oxford, 2011). Mat McDermott is Director of Communications for the Hindu American Foundation. He has a M.S. in Global Affairs, with a concentration in energy and environmental policy, from New York University and a B.A. in Writing & Literature from Burlington College. Mat is a former editor at TreeHugger, as well as a regular contributor to Hinduism Today and numerous other online publications. He is the lead author of the 2015 Hindu Declaration on Climate Change, a joint project of HAF and The Bhumi Project. PLAYING GOD? MULTI-FAITH RESPONSES TO THE PROSPECT OF CLIMATE ENGINEERING PAGE 100