OPINION: A ‘Crisis of Worldview’ Is the Chief Environmental Threat
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Interfaith Leaders Need to Unite to Create a Global Consensus on Ecological Morality
For decades now, humanity has possessed enough scientific evidence to know that our current relationship with the Earth is unsustainable. We know what is happening to our climate. We know what is happening to biodiversity, and we know what is happening to our soils, forests, rivers, and oceans.
And yet despite unprecedented scientific knowledge, environmental degradation continues.
This raises an uncomfortable question. If science has already told us what is happening, why are we still unable to change course? After more than four decades working at the intersection of environment, policy, and faith, I have come to believe that the answer lies not in a lack of information but in a crisis of worldview or what I have been calling a crisis of “moral responsibility.”
The environmental crisis is not only an ecological crisis. It is a crisis of values, a crisis of meaning, and a crisis of our understanding of who we are and our place in the web of life.
The environmental crisis is not only an ecological crisis. It is a crisis of values, a crisis of meaning, and a crisis of our understanding of who we are and our place in the web of life.
Commodifying the Natural World
For centuries, modern civilization has been largely shaped by a materialist worldview that measures success primarily through economic growth, consumption, production, and accumulation. This worldview has generated extraordinary achievements.
Yes, it has advanced science, technology, medicine, and human prosperity. But it has also carried a hidden assumption that nature exists primarily as a resource for human use. Forests become timber. Rivers become water supplies. Animals become commodities. Land becomes an asset. And the Earth, therefore, becomes a warehouse.
When viewed through this lens, exploitation becomes normal, protection becomes secondary, and stewardship becomes optional. Today, however, we are witnessing the limits of this paradigm. The ecological crises facing humanity are forcing us to ask deeper questions. What if the Earth is more than a collection of resources? What if value cannot be measured only in monetary terms? What if human flourishing depends not only on domination of nature but on harmony with it?
These questions invite us toward what many scholars describe as a postmaterialist worldview. A worldview that recognizes that meaning, ethics, spirituality, relationships, compassion, and responsibility are not secondary to human development but are central to it.
Science can tell us how ecosystems function. Faith can help us understand why they matter.
And this is where faith traditions have an indispensable contribution to make. Not because faith replaces science, not because faith provides technical solutions, but because faith speaks to the dimensions of a human existence that science alone cannot address. Science can tell us how ecosystems function. Faith can help us understand why they matter. Science can measure the concentration of carbon dioxide. Faith can inspire the moral courage to reduce it. Science can explain interdependence, but faith can transform interdependence into responsibility.
Throughout my career at the UN Environment Programme, I have witnessed this transformative power firsthand. When I first began engaging faith communities on environmental issues, many people—even within the UN—questioned whether religion had any role to play in sustainability. Environmental policy was viewed as the domain of scientists, economists, and governments. Faith communities were largely absent from the global environmental conversation.
Yet, I had seen something others often overlooked. Faith traditions reached into the hearts of people in ways that institutions and policies alone cannot. They shape values. They influence behavior. They create moral communities, and they answer the question not only of what we should do but why we should do it.
Bridging Science and Religion
This understanding led us to build bridges between environmental science and religious wisdom. One of the most inspiring examples was the Confluence of Conscience summit that I organized in Abu Dhabi in 2023. At that conference, faith leaders from diverse traditions came together not to debate theology but to affirm a shared moral responsibility toward the Earth.
What struck me most was how quickly differences dissolved when the conversation shifted from doctrine to responsibility. Different religions used different languages. Some spoke of stewardship, others of trusteeship, others of sacred interconnectedness, but the message was remarkably similar: The Earth is not ours to exploit. It is ours to protect.
Humility, compassion, justice, moderation, responsibility, gratitude, care for future generations. All of these are not merely religious values. These are ecological necessities.
This experience reinforced a profound lesson. The world’s faith traditions may differ in belief, but they converge around ethical principles that can guide humanity toward a more sustainable future: humility, compassion, justice, moderation, responsibility, gratitude, care for future generations. All of these are not merely religious values. These are ecological necessities.
In my work on the role of ethics in environmental governance, I argued that environmental challenges cannot be solved solely through laws, regulations, or economic incentives. Yes, policies are essential, science is essential, technology is essential, but without ethical foundations, they remain insufficient because every environmental decision ultimately reflects a moral choice. Who benefits? Who bears the cost? What responsibilities do we owe future generations? And what obligations do we have toward other living beings?
Ethics provides the compass that allows policy to move in the right direction. Without ethics, governance can become efficient but directionless. With ethics, governance gains purpose.
Ecology, Spirituality, and Policy
Perhaps the most important environmental frontier is not external but internal. The greatest transformation we need may not be technological. It may be psychological and spiritual. This realization became particularly clear through my work with the University of Connecticut on mindfulness for the Earth. The project explored a simple but profound idea: The environmental crisis is connected to the way we perceive ourselves. When we see ourselves as separate from nature, exploitation becomes easier.
When we experience ourselves as part of an interconnected living system, care emerges naturally. Mindfulness cultivates awareness. Awareness nurtures empathy. Empathy strengthens responsibility, and responsibility inspires action. This is not abstract philosophy. It has practical implications because many of the behaviors driving environmental degradation are rooted in unconscious habits of consumption, competition, and disconnection. Inner transformation and outer transformation are therefore inseparable.
The environmental movement has often focused on changing systems. Faith traditions remind us that lasting change also requires changing hearts. Today, I believe humanity stands at an important threshold. We possess remarkable scientific knowledge. We have sophisticated technologies. We understand environmental risks more clearly than ever before. What we need is now wisdom. Wisdom to align knowledge with values. Wisdom to align power with responsibility. And wisdom to align progress with purpose.
This is where the nexus of ethics, science, and policy becomes so important. Science tells us what it is. Ethics helps us to determine what ought to be, and policy translates both into collective action.
Science without ethics can become detached from human values. Ethics without science can become disconnected from reality.
None of these dimensions can succeed alone. Science without ethics can become detached from human values. Ethics without science can become disconnected from reality. And policy without either can become ineffective. But when these three work together, they become transformative.
This integration represents one of the greatest opportunities of our time, and faith communities have a unique role to play in this process—not as observers, not as critics, but as partners, partners in cultivating ecological consciousness, partners in nurturing moral leadership, and partners in reminding humanity that the Earth is not merely an economic asset but a sacred trust.
The transition from exploitation to protection is ultimately not about changing our relationship with nature. It is about changing our understanding of ourselves. When we recognize that we are part of a larger living community, protection ceases to be a sacrifice. It becomes an expression of who we are. Faith traditions have preserved this wisdom for centuries. Science increasingly now confirms it. The challenge before us is to translate it into policy or institutions and to our daily life.
Ecological Upsurge among Faith Communities
My hope comes from witnessing something remarkable over the past three decades. When I started this journey, faith communities were largely absent from environmental discussions. Today, they are among the most dynamic and influential voices calling for ecological responsibility. Around the world, churches, mosques, temples, monasteries, Indigenous communities, and faith-based organizations are mobilizing millions of people to care for creation.
This gives me hope because it suggests that humanity is beginning to understand that environmental crisis is not merely about carbon or biodiversity or pollution. It is about consciousness. It is about values. It is about the kind of civilization we wish to become.
And if we can draw upon the moral wisdom of our faith traditions, the insights of science, and the tools of good governance, then I believe we can help shape a future where humanity no longer sees itself as the owner of the Earth but as its caretaker. A future where exploitation gives way to protection. A future where material progress is balanced by moral progress. A future where development is measured not only by what we accumulate but by what we preserve and, perhaps most importantly, a future where we rediscover that caring for the Earth is not merely an environmental obligation but a sacred responsibility.
*Dr. Iyad Abumoghli is founder and chair of Al Mizan, an organization that connects pro-environmental values with Islamic teachings, urging all people to value and protect nature. He is also former director of the UN Environmental Programme's Faith for Earth Coalition, and a member of the Advisory Council of the United Religions Initiative. The text presented here was an address by Dr. Abumoghli at an International Media Association for Peace webinar in June 2026.
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