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	February 2003
		New study says religions can boost environmentalism by Jan Nunley
			(ENS) A new Worldwatch Institute study published in December 2002, says religious institutions can provide a boost to environmental protection and sustainable development advocates--if both groups can overcome what the report called 'mutual misperceptions and divergent worldviews.' Author Gary Gardner, director of research at environmental think tank Worldwatch, in Washington D.C., said a close collaboration of religious institutions and environmentalists 'could change the world. These groups have different but complementary strengths.' 'Environmentalists have a strong grounding in science. Religious institutions enjoy moral authority and a grassroots presence that shape the worldviews and lifestyles of billions of people,' Gardner said. 'It's a powerful combination that until recently remained virtually unexplored.' Shared interests According to Gardner, environmentalists and people of faith share important interests. 'Each looks at the world from a moral perspective; views nature as having value that surpasses economics; and each opposes excessive consumption,' the report stated. Religions, he said, possess one or more of five sources of power,: the ability to shape people's worldviews and wield moral authority; have the ear of multitudes of adherents; possess strong financial and institutional assets; and generate so-called 'social capital', an asset in community building. 'All of these assets can help build a socially just and environmentally sustainable world,' Gardner wrote. Curbing the culture What gets in the way are concerns by environmentalists over the 'checkered history' of religious groups with regard to 'the role of women, the nature of truth, and the moral status of humanity in the natural order,' Gardner said. Similarly, for people of faith, environmentalists may represent a secularist 'narrow-minded righteousness' that refuses to recognize the importance of the spiritual. Gardner observed with approval that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has already made 'curbing the culture of consumption' a major focus of his ministry. But, he noted gloomily, 'despite centuries of experience preaching against the illusion of satisfaction provided by earthly wealth, religion in industrial countries is struggling in its efforts to counter the consumerist tide.' Episcopalian energy Gardner's report showed examples of cooperation among advocates of religious and environmental concerns. California's Regeneration Project, an initiative of the Episcopal Church, includes Episcopal Power and Light (EP&L), started in 1996 when the Rev. Sally Bingham realized that she might capitalize on the state's deregulation of energy to persuade the state's Episcopalians to choose energy generated from renewable sources such as wind, geothermal, and biomass.