A Bahá’í-inspired community garden in the UAE (Image Credit: A. R., International Environment Forum)
by Christine Muller
The Bahá’í efforts around the world to build community can bring spiritual, social, and material benefits to society and can serve as the foundation for a spiritual civilization. One aspect not so often talked about yet is how to build community resilience for hard times, which is becoming increasingly important because of the worsening impacts of climate change, such as more severe storms, flooding, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires. This article briefly highlights a few such experiences and reflects on their relevance for action in our communities.
Brazil experienced the worst flood in its history last year. Bahá’í friends reported(1) how their community-building efforts contributed to the relief efforts: “A collective sense of belonging, a deeper understanding of the connections between individual and collective well-being, an active approach to problem-solving, close ties between neighboring families and a habit of visiting each other allowed for rapid assessments of a very dynamic situation, identification of needs, dissemination of accurate information, and harboring a sense of hope.”
A recent Bahá’í World News Article—Community-building in Spain enhances resilience to floods—reports about last year’s catastrophic floods in Spain, and how young people who have been engaged in Bahá’í community-building endeavors “assisted with clearing debris and supporting affected neighborhoods”, how a local Baha’i Center was offered to security personnel responding to the disaster, and how the devastating impacts of loss of life and material possessions have opened human hearts to the essential matters of life.
Of course, communities face different threats. We can assess our local reality and consult about what we can do to prevent or lower the risks. A junior youth group in Tanna, Vanuatu, has done just that. They became aware of the decline of fish and large shells and then proposed to the chiefs a marine protected area. This 13-minute uplifting video explains their successful project: Tanna: A Study in Leadership and Action.
How can we make our own community more resilient to climate change and other environmental and social problems? There seem to be two major areas of action:
- Build communities with a strong spiritual foundation and capacity for service, so that when disaster hits, all members of the community can respond with unity and effectiveness. The first two stories above, from Brazil and Spain, are examples of that.
- Read the reality of the locality and evaluate the risks, then take precautionary measures. What may be the specific threats to your community? River flooding? Extreme heat? Water scarcity? Food shortage? What can we do now to reduce the threat? The actions of the Tanna community (see previous paragraph) can serve as an example.
Here is a resource to stimulate our thinking along these lines: Community Conversations for Global Solidarity, Part 1: Assessment of Reality – Questions for Local Community Assessment. It is not suggested to consult about the numerous questions. They are intended to stimulate our thoughts to think more broadly and to find the specific vulnerabilities of our own community.
Reference:
(1) Effects of Community Building on the Approach to A Climate Disaster in Rio Grande Du Sul, Brazil, by Lucas Umpierre Conter, Louisa Yazdani, and André Akhavan
