scholarly journals Three Sufi Communities Guarding the Earth: A Case Study of Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-396
Author(s):  
Maghfur Ahmad

Prasenjet Duara (2015) accuses divine religions as the cause of the environmental crisis and natural disasters. Duara's thesis was counterattacked by scientists and religionists who stated that religion has the spirit and teachings of careness for the environment. Nevertheless, the arguments they built are still theological, normative and theoretical. This study is an antithesis to the Duara’s statement and at the same time presents evidence based on the primary data that occurred in three Sufi communities. The focus of this study analyzes Sufi activism in Indonesia in safeguarding the earth, as a form of substantial religious responses to the environmental crisis due to climate change. Through the principles and mechanism of qualitative research methods, researchers sought to analyze mitigation and adaptation actions to climate change carried out by the Majlis Zikir Kraton Pekalongan, Jamaah Aoulia Panggang and Pesan Trend Ilmu Giri. The data are obtained through interviews, observation and documentation and they are analyzed interactively. The results of the study revealed that climate change is believed by the Sufis as God’s authority due to human destructive behavior. For Sufis, overcoming climate change must begin with a change in the perspective of human relations, nature and God. In the case of three Sufi communities, religion is not just a doctrine of the relationship between God and humans, but also operational guidance on how to synergize with nature. Through a substantial religious spirit, the Sufis guard the earth through the re-actualization of the narratives of takhalli, tahalli and tajalli, as ecological repentance, ecological movements, and ecological campaigns in mitigating and adapting to climate change. [Prasenjet Duara (2015) menuduh agama-agama samawi sebagai penyebab terjadinya krisis lingkungan dan bencana alam. Tesis Duara mendapat serangan balik dari ilmuwan dan agamawan yang menyatakan bahwa agama memiliki spirit dan ajaran kepedulian terhadap lingkungan. Hanya saja argumen yang mereka bangun masih bersifat teologis, normatif dan teoritis. Kajian ini merupakan antitesa terhadap pernyataan Duara, dan sekaligus menyajikan bukti berdasarkan data-data lapangan  yang terjadi pada tiga komunitas sufi. Fokus kajian ini menganalisis aktivisme kaum sufi di Indonesia dalam menjaga bumi, sebagai bentuk respons kaum beragama subtansial terhadap krisis lingkungan akibat perubahan iklim.  Melalui prinsip dan mekanisme metode penelitian kualitatif, peneliti berusaha menganalisis tindakan mitigasi dan adaptasi terhadap perubahan iklim yang dilakukan oleh Majelis Zikir Kraton Pekalongan, Jamaah Aoulia Panggang dan Pesan Trend Ilmu Giri Yogyakarta. Data-data diperoleh melalui wawancara, observasi dan dokumentasi dan dianalisis secara interaktif. Hasil kajian mengungkap bahwa perubahan iklim diyakini oleh kaum sufi sebagai otoritas Tuhan yang disebabkan perilaku destruktif manusia. Bagi kaum sufi, mengatasi perubahan iklim harus dimulai dari perubahan cara pandang relasi manusia, alam dan Tuhan. Dalam kasus di tiga komunitas sufi, agama tidak sekedar menjadi doktrin tentang relasi Tuhan dan manusia, melainkan juga petunjuk operasional bagaimana bersinergi dengan alam. Melalui spirit agama yang subtansial, kaum sufi menjaga bumi melalui reaktualisasi narasi takhalli, tahalli dan tajalli, sebagai pertaubatan ekologi, gerakan ekologi, serta kampanye ekologi dalam perilaku mitigasi dan adaptasi terhadap perubahan iklim.]

Organization ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wright ◽  
Daniel Nyberg ◽  
Lauren Rickards ◽  
James Freund

The functioning of the biosphere and the Earth as a whole is being radically disrupted due to human activities, evident in climate change, toxic pollution and mass species extinction. Financialization and exponential growth in production, consumption and population now threaten our planet’s life-support systems. These profound changes have led Earth System scientists to argue we have now entered a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene. In this introductory article to the Special Issue, we first set out the origins of the Anthropocene and some of the key debates around this concept within the physical and social sciences. We then explore five key organizing narratives that inform current economic, technological, political and cultural understandings of the Anthropocene and link these to the contributions in this Special Issue. We argue that the Anthropocene is the crucial issue for organizational scholars to engage with in order to not only understand on-going anthropogenic problems but also help create alternative forms of organizing based on realistic Earth–human relations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tallulah Harvey

In recent years, literary studies have become increasingly invested in environmentalism. As science reveals the negative impacts of climate change, and demonstrates a growing concern for humanity’s contribution, literature operates as a form of cultural documentation. It details public awareness and anxieties, and acts as a conduit for change by urging empathetic responses and rendering ecological controversy accessible.To explore the relationship between literature and environmental politics, this paper will focus on the work of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, and his dystopian visions. In his particular brand of sci-fi, there is no future for humanity. Science and technology fail to pave the way for a better and fairer society, but rather towards, as far as Dick is concerned, extinction. He argues that scientific advancement distances us from reality and from a sense of “humanness”. His pessimistic futures are nihilistic but tender; nurturing a love for humanity even in, what he considers to be, its final hours.Unlike the work of other prominent sci-fi writers, Dick’s fiction does not look towards the stars, but is in many ways a return to earth. The barren landscapes of Mars and other planets offer no comfort, and the evolution of the human into cyborgs, androids and post human species is depicted as dangerous and regressive. Dick’s apocalyptic visions ground his readers in the reality around them, acting in the present for the sake of the earth and humanity’s survival. His humanism is critical of grand enlightenment ideas of “progressivism”, and instead celebrates ordinariness. In the shadow of corporate capitalism and violent dictatorial governments, Dick prefers the little man, the ordinary everyday domestic hero for his narratives. His fiction urges us to take responsibility for our actions, and prepares us for the future through scepticism and pessimism, and a relentless fondness for the human.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
BK Roy ◽  
MB Ullah ◽  
MH Rahman

Bangladesh, with an area of 147 thousand km2 and population of 149.78 million, is prone to natural hazards (PHC, 2011). The objectives of the study were to determine the climatic parameter specially temperature and rainfall pattern, assess hazard, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change. Assessment was made during April to June 2013 in char areas of Kazipur upazila under Sirajgonj district. Primary data were collected through Focus Group Discussions and direct observation of the researcher. Secondary data were collected from various publications of government and non-government agencies. Workshops were also conducted at union and upazila level to justify, validate and improve the findings from village levels discussion. Major vulnerabilities faced by the char (island) people were drown of children and old people, lack of safe drinking water, close institutions, crackdown of embankments and roads, river erosion, stagnant water, infertility of cultivable lands, deposits and on crop field, submerse of crops, float away of fishes from ponds, PPR disease of goats, sell cattle at lower price, migration, increase abduction and robbery, increase lightning and cold wave. The major adaptation practiced by the char people was raise homesteads, articulate extra pipes with the tube wells, repair embankments and roads, plant tree seedlings, cultivate advanced crops, vegetables in floating beds, drought tolerant crops, cold wave tolerant and early maturity crop, vaccinate the cattle, drill deep tube wells and reserve fodder (CVCA, 2012).DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jesnr.v7i2.22205 J. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 7(2): 59-63 2014


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Agustinus Kastanya

Indonesia has already agreed to and submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) to the UNFCCC, to reduce emission gases by 29% on its own and by 41% with outside help by 2030. This step follows the Paris Agreement (COP 21) to reduce world emission gases to prevent the earth warming by 20C . Maluku is characterized by small islands, narrow and short watersheds and needs an innovative approach to development. Multi landscape based development of small islands means using island clusters, watersheds, ecological conditions and socio-economic conditions. An agricultural concept for small islands based on multi landscape plans like green economics has been developed in 3 base concepts : (1) conceptual framework; (2) macro concept framework; (3) micro concept framework. The multi landscape format integrates water catchments and RTRWP/K which are organized into the smallest management units in accordance with indigenous rights. The complete landscape is managed using an agroforestry system for conservation of the watersheds, islands, cluster groups and seas. Thus, the agricultural concept can deliver productivity and services to meet the needs of the community and the environment as well as for mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.


New Medit ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Houda Rjili ◽  
Mohamed JAOUAD

Climate change is a global environmental threat to all economic activities, especially the livestock activity. The South of Tunisia, where animal husbandry is a fundamental element of the domestic economy, is more influenced by these negatives effects due to the arid climate. The objective of this study is to identify strategies and levers mitigation and adaptation to climate change developed by breeders on based on available factors. For this purpose, a survey conducted among 73 breeders on the rangelands of El Ouara, in the South of Tunisia. Results emerges that breeders use various adaptation strategies principally, supplementation, integration agriculture-livestock and conduct’s mode through different types such as association. The result of the model reveal that age of breeder, herd size, agricultural area, member of an association, subsidies and well ownerships are the most factors which significantly influence the adaptation choices of breeders to cope to climate change. The results proved too that adaptation to climate change was inhibited by many factors such as luck of workforce labor, lack of water and financial resources as well the degradation of the rangelands.


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