Successful climate solutions and leadership share a common ground of humility. In the climate edicts released by religious groups in the past year - Christain, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist - there is a universal underpinning of reinvention, changing the way we interact with our ecosystem. Moreover, they collectively call for a correction to the way we think and live, a shared standard of successful leadership.
In Jim Collins' Harvard Business Review article, Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve, he identifies humility as a key element of successful business leadership. Every leader must admit when the process in which they operate isn't working, a move that enables them to change for the better. Similarly, global religious leaders have called on us to lead with humility; a change that will not only reverse the impact of fossil fuels but make our country stronger and more resilient than ever before.
Conservative Religions Propose Radical Solutions for Climate Change
Carol Pierson Holding | Huffington Post: Green
In the recently released "Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change," Muslim scholars from twenty countries joined Pope Francis in calling for action on climate change, in effect adding 1.6 billion Muslims to the 1.2 billion Catholics now called on to support the climate change movement. Acknowledging there will be climate deniers within that group -- Presidential candidate Rick Santorum tried to make the argument just this week on Bill Maher's Real Time -- that's more than a third of the world's population. A statement from Hindu leaders is expected soon; Buddhist are planning to update their 2009 climate statement; and a week ago, 409 Rabbis signed a Rabbinic letter on the Climate Crisis.
Another tipping point is reached, and so I believe that just like other climate issues that hit their breaking point -- the hole in the ozone, acid rain in the U.S., air pollution in Los Angeles -- global warming can be mitigated, if not reversed.
But there is a growing recognition that global warming or climate change is only one symptom of a much bigger mess. With the Catholic and Islamic declarations, what was once a radical demand for solutions to environmental woes has become a mainstream, clarion call for a reinvention of society. Pope Francis in his August Encyclical on "Care for Our Common Home" names this "the ethical, cultural and spiritual crisis of modernity" caused by an inaccurate world view:
