Applying Hindu teachings in caring for the Earth

Global. Environmental. Hindu. The Bhumi Project works with a diverse range of Hindu temples, organizations, and leaders to help the world’s 1 billion members of the world’s third largest faith tradition take environmental action. Through creative and exciting campaigns that bring Hindu wisdom to bear on environmental challenges, and through a combination of on-the-ground and online activity, Bhumi is a unique and unifying voice for Hindus worldwide.

An initiative of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, in partnership with GreenFaith, our work reflects a dual commitment to high academic standards and cutting-edge methods of engagement. Bhumi is faithful to Hindu teachings and able to reach Hindus from an incredible range of circumstances, from rural villages in India to younger, urban Hindus in India and the West.

Bhumi works directly with Hindus in India, the UK, Europe, US, Africa and Oceania. Our unique mission and strong track record, coupled with the hard work of Gopal Patel, Bhumi’s joint-founder and director, have enabled us to develop close ties with the United Nations and environmental thought leaders in India, the US and UK. Bhumi has also forged strong working relations with Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish and Sikh environmental organisations and is the leading Hindu voice in fast-growing the religious-environmental movement.

Through its initial six-year pilot period, the Bhumi Project has been supported by the UN Development Programme, the US Agency for International Development, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation and GreenFaith. Now, in the wake of the Paris Climate Agreement and with the importance of its advocacy and community engagement roles clearly established, Bhumi is now seeking to develop a new base of support to sustain and increase its impact.

A Strong Track Record

The Bhumi Project was founded in 2009. Since then, we’ve been hard at work.

Bhumi has helped major Hindu pilgrimage sites, including Dwarka, Rishikesh and • Puri, raise awareness about climate change and the importance of caring for the natural world, attracting regional and national media attention.

We authored and helped publicize last year’s Hindu Declaration on Climate • Change, signed by over 60 respected international Hindu leaders and organisations from a wide range of lineages in the lead-up to the Paris Climate negotiations. Released at an event in Delhi, the Declaration received media coverage in India and internationally.

Our annual Hindu Environment Week, now in its third year, has engaged more than • 25,000 Hindus in practical action to care for the planet in India, the US and UK.

Our Green Temples Initiative offers resources for temples in India and globally on • best environmental practices for Hindu places of worship.

Our 2015 Clean Kumbh campaign at the Kumbh Mela in Nasik, which included a • solar lamp giveaway and a tuktuk and online campaign in support of renewable energy, attracted coverage on 3 national Indian TV channels and 10 Indian newspapers, over 200,000 Facebook likes, and more than 12 million in-person views over a 10-day period.

We have conducted more than 50 environmental workshops and trainings across • India on topics including climate change, waste management, and wildlife conservation.

Our Future, the World’s Future

For the world to achieve an environmentally sustainable future, the Hindu community’s leadership is indispensable. The Bhumi Project is uniquely positioned to foster that leadership, helping one of the world’s most ancient spiritual traditions address the most pressing ecological issues of our time.

To meet the great challenges that face the planet, we have ambitious goals for 2017-2018.

AccelerAting renewAble energy Development in inDiAThe rapid adoption of clean energy in India is vital to the country’s development and to global efforts on climate change. In response, Bhumi will coordinate Hindu participation in One For All, an international faith-philanthropy-NGO campaign to end energy poverty with clean energy by 2030. By raising awareness, advocating for policies that support the rapid deployment of distributed clean energy systems, and fostering commitments by Hindu groups and leaders that will help bring renewable energy access to rural and vulnerable communities, Bhumi will galvanize Hindus in support of this goal.

HinDu youtH leADersHip60% of India’s population is under the age of 35, making youth a key to the country’s environmental future. In the US, UK, and elsewhere in the Hindu diaspora, 2nd and 3rd generation Hindu youth are looking to connect their religious identities and beliefs with national and global concerns.

Through our Bhumi Pledge campaign, we will engage the social-media savvy youth on environmental concerns. Through our highly skilled team’s creative use of social media, we will raise awareness of the environmental challenges the world faces and how everyone can play their part to address them.

We will also play a central role in organizing a South Asian multi-faith Convergence – a gathering and training for 100 youth leaders (ages 21-35) from India and other South Asian countries. After the three day Convergence, these young leaders will implement climate and environmental action plans in their home communities. Bhumi has organized Hindu participation in similar successful Convergences in Europe and North America, and will help convene and support this groundbreaking event on the subcontinent. Following the Convergence, we will be active partners in the development of a multi-faith environmental hub in India, working with colleagues from the Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain and Christian communities. These first-ever initiatives will lay the foundation for a heretofore unimagined level of Hindu and multi-faith support for sustainable development.

ecoDeviAcross the world, women are on the rise, with governments, businesses and civil society recognising the need to empower women for positive social change. Combined with this is the fact that the worship of the feminine aspect of the divine within Hindu traditions - Radha, Sita, Parvati, Bhumi Devi, Shakti, Maa Ganga - offers a unique lens through which to understand our relationship with the natural world. Based on this, Bhumi believes that the time is ripe for a strong, women-led Hindu environmental voice and for women as environmental leaders.

In 2017, we will organise a week-long EcoDevi festival in a major Indian city. Bringing together activists, scholars, artists, business and religious leaders and working with experienced festival planners, EcoDevi will combine workshops, seminars, exhibitions and hands-on training. City, State and National Government representatives, alongside religious and NGO leaders, will also participate. Creative and compelling social media and press outreach will attract national and international media coverage.

Later in the year we will organise an EcoDevi Solar Rickshaw Run, a week-long, well-publicized travelling campaign from Delhi to Varanasi. Working with high-profile female celebrities, we will highlight the powerful role women have in addressing climate change and elevate the issue of energy access through clean energy among Hindus globally.

HinDu climAte nArrAtives Hinduism offers a unique and distinct understanding of the world in comparison to non-Dharmic traditions. As yet, however, there has not been any major research to understand how Hindus view the natural world, and how such understandings can help address climate change.

In 2015 Bhumi was the Hindu partner in a groundbreaking multi-faith research project to understand how to communicate climate change to people from different religious traditions. We wish to expand on this research by conducting a two-year research project to closely examine how Hindus understand the natural world, climate change, and their responsibility towards caring for the earth. Working with a variety of Hindu traditions and organisations, the findings of this research will be shared through workshops and trainings.

For this work, Bhumi will partner with GreenFaith, Climate Outreach - international experts on developing climate narratives, and the CP Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation - a leading environmental education institute based in Chennai, headed by Dr. Nanditha Krishna.

The Time is Now

The climate and environmental crises represent grave threats to human well-being. Rooted in strong environmental ethics, there is much Hinduism can contribute in addressing the environmental challenges of our time.

With India on the rise, fuelled by aspirational young people, and a global diaspora who are leaders in technology, science, and business, there is much Hindus can do to show the world how to live in harmony with the natural world.

The Bhumi Project is the world’s only organisation that directly engages the intersection of these powerful realities. This is a vital mission at a critical time.

As we rise to meet this challenge, we hope you will support us.

The Bhumi Project is an initiative of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies in partnership with GreenFaith.

The increasing involvement of Hindus in the conservation of the world’s natural environment is greatly welcomed. I hope that the Bhumi Project will have a galvanising effect on the whole Hindu Community world wide.

— His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

I commend the Bhumi Project for their efforts to clean sacred cities and the pilgrimage routes around them. I encourage all Hindus to take part in the work that the Bhumi Project is doing, and to support them in all their endeavors.

— Sri Rameshbhai Oza

www.bhumiproject.org

For more information and enquires, please contact: Gopal Patel, Director: gopal@bhumiproject.org