Baha’i Faith

Unlike the other traditions, the Baha’i Faith is relatively young but still has much to offer to the environmental discussion. As Peter Adriance and Arthur Dahl tell us in the overview essay, “the Bahá’í appreciation for nature goes far beyond its utilitarian value, to see it as a significant source of knowledge at the spiritual level.” But the spiritual is intimately and essentially interconnected with pressing, practical concerns, as “from a Bahá’í Faith perspective, the problems of ecology and the environment cannot be separated from all the other problems facing the world today, and require a holistic integrated approach, both scientific and spiritual.” Thus, any Baha’i Faith discussion of the environment is essentially cross-disciplinary and also addresses issues ofgovernance, economy and inequity, and material sustainability, all at both local and global levels.