Faith in Nature: A Call for Environmental Virtue

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk urges religious leaders to condemn environmental harm as sinful and promote nature protection as virtuous. He advocates for an educational overhaul focusing on sustainability, warning that current lifestyles are reversing natural processes. Wangchuk calls for stricter actions against major polluters to combat air pollution.

Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has called on religious leaders to acknowledge environmental harm as a sin and to declare that protecting nature is an act of virtue.

Speaking at an event by the Centre for Science and Environment, Wangchuk emphasized the need to reform educational systems that disproportionately focus on production and consumption, rather than sustainability. Highlighting Delhi's air pollution, he claimed that the unsustainable lifestyles we lead are silently harming our environment and health, asking, 'Isn't this a sin?' According to Wangchuk, religious leaders have more influence over the public than scientists and engineers.

Wangchuk also urged for harsher penalties for those responsible for severe air pollution, citing the historical importance of photosynthesis in sustaining life on Earth. He warns humanity is undoing this natural balance by releasing excessive carbon into the atmosphere. An overhaul of education, he argues, is necessary to shift focus from consumption to sustainable living.

(With inputs from agencies.)