Global Ethical Stocktake New Zealand

At the invitation of the International Environment Forum, a group gathered in Browns Bay, North Shore Auckland, on 21 September, and then further shared with others, to consult on the five questions raise in the COP30 Global Ethical Stocktake. The following is their contribution.

Question 1
Why do we so often deny or ignore what science and traditional knowledge say about climate change.crisis and share or tolerate misinformation even knowing lives are at risk?

State of Social Discourse on Climate Change

- The conversation is dominated by scientists, policymakers, and industries either affected by or held responsible for climate change (e.g., fossil fuels, agriculture).

- The general public is largely sidelined—treated as passive recipients of information rather than active participants.

- Political leadership struggles to manage the discourse, which is often shaped by self-interest and conflict, eroding public trust.

- Media and social platforms amplify fear and negativity, contributing to widespread feelings of helplessness and disempowerment.

- Misinformation and opinion masquerading as fact deepen confusion and mistrust, especially among those whose livelihoods are threatened by climate solutions.

Actions We Need to Take

- Shift from a top-down model to inclusive, community-based consultation that values all voices.

- Promote fairness and justice in climate policy—ensuring burdens and responsibilities are shared equitably.

- Encourage cooperation and mutual support across sectors and communities.

- Challenge economic systems that prioritize short-term growth over sustainability.

- Reframe climate action as a collective responsibility rooted in long-term wellbeing, not just material survival.

Spiritual Dimensions

- A spiritual foundation is essential for meaningful climate consultation and action.

- Values like stewardship, justice, interconnectedness, and humility must guide decision-making.

- The crisis reflects a deeper disconnect within the social cohesion of our community driven by a culture conflict and protest and the mis-conception that our wellbeing is based on material wealth and development.

- Without spiritual grounding the nobility of humanity is debased undermining long-term thinking and planetary care.

- Emerging voices are calling for a vision rooted in inclusiveness, compassion, and shared purpose.

Unresolved Issues

- Structural barriers—economic priorities, misinformation, and lack of inclusive governance—continue to block meaningful engagement.

- The spiritual vacuum in public discourse leaves communities vulnerable to division and paralysis.

- Many still feel voiceless, mistrustful, and unsure how to contribute to climate solutions.

- There’s a pressing need to reconcile scientific insight with spiritual wisdom and community empowerment.

Question 2
Why do we continue with production and consumption models that harm the most vulnerable and not align with 1.5% C mission?

Key Decisions

• Recognize that harmful production and consumption patterns persist partly due to lack of spiritual and human values guiding decision-making.

• Acknowledge the need for re-education, reframing, and more constructive communication on climate change impacts and opportunities.

• Accept that communities and industries reliant on high-carbon activities need support during transitions to more sustainable models.

• Emphasize the importance of broad consultation with employees, consumers, and stakeholders when designing climate actions.

Action Items

• Re-education & Awareness: Develop programs to enhance public understanding of climate change and its long-term impacts, emphasizing opportunity rather than fear.

• Values-based Messaging: Promote human-centered and spiritual values—concern for the vulnerable, willingness to sacrifice material comfort—to counteract consumerism.

• Community Transition Support: Design policies and funds to help communities and workers affected by climate mitigation measures (e.g., coal mine closures).

• Inclusive Consultation: Ensure businesses and governments consult widely before implementing climate-related changes (employees, customers, local communities).

• Positive Framing: Encourage media, academia, and government to highlight new opportunities rather than solely focus on dire consequences.

Unresolved Issues

• How to effectively shift societal values from consumerism and self-interest toward sustainability and concern for the vulnerable.

• The scale and mechanism of financial and social support for communities transitioning away from carbon-intensive industries.

• Balancing fairness between those suffering from climate change impacts and those suffering from economic disruption due to climate policies.

• Determining the most effective channels for grassroots consultation and communication to reduce resistance and fear.

• Creating incentives for corporations to voluntarily adopt sustainable practices without heavy-handed regulation.

Question 3
What can we do to ensure that rich countries, major producers and consumers of fossil fuels accelerate their transitions and contribute financing for these measures in the most vulnerable countries?

Key Decisions / Insights

• Climate change solutions must be tackled at both global and grassroots levels — individual action and community pressure can drive government and corporate change.

• Spiritual and ethical values (moderation, stewardship, justice, consultation) should guide how rich countries, corporations, and individuals transition from fossil fuels.

• Systemic change is needed: fair global governance, carbon pricing/taxation, removal of fossil fuel subsidies, and equitable financing for vulnerable countries.

• The transition to cleaner technologies (electric cars, renewable energy) creates unintended consequences such as second-hand fossil-fuel vehicles ending up in poorer nations — this must be addressed.

• Education and consumer behaviour (buying less plastic, supporting farmers markets, understanding imperfect produce) are powerful levers for change.

• Collaboration over confrontation — consultation among governments, companies, NGOs, and citizens can be more effective than protest or conflict.

Action Items

• Individual/Community level:

◦ Reduce personal carbon footprints (electric vehicles, composting, lower consumption, rejecting excess packaging).

◦ Form study groups and community dialogues to explore solutions and influence local policy.

◦ Educate consumers about sustainable choices (imperfect produce, local markets, low-waste lifestyles).

• Policy/Government level:

◦ Introduce carbon taxes or cap-and-trade to make fossil fuels more expensive and redirect funds to renewables.

◦ Remove subsidies for fossil fuels; invest heavily in renewable energy and efficiency measures.

◦ Support fair trade and equitable transitions for communities dependent on fossil-fuel industries.

• Global level:

◦ Establish fair international mechanisms to finance climate adaptation in vulnerable countries.

◦ Create transparent systems for holding rich nations and large corporations accountable for emissions and greenwashing.

Unresolved Issues

• How to prevent “problem shifting” — e.g. old fossil-fuel vehicles or environmentally damaging industries moving to poorer nations.

• Balancing costs and fairness: How to ensure food, energy, and essential goods remain affordable during the transition.

• Political will and vested interests: Overcoming resistance from investors, corporations, and governments benefiting from the current system.

• Governance structure: What fair and enforceable global framework can ensure rich countries meet commitments and finance poorer nations.

• Consumer conditioning: How to break entrenched advertising and consumption habits that undermine sustainable practices.

• Implementation gap: Translating broad goals (Paris Agreement, carbon taxes) into on-the-ground change without harming vulnerable groups.

Question 4
What traditions, histories, or practices (cultural, spiritual) from your community teach us to live in greater harmony with nature?

Quote The natural world, in all its wonder and majesty, offers profound insight into the essence of interdependence. From the biosphere as a whole to the smallest microorganism, it demonstrates how dependent any one life-form is on numerous others—and how imbalances in one system reverberate across an interconnected whole.  
(Bahá'í International Community, One Planet, One Habitation, §1)

To the Maori: the indigenous people of New Zealand,

• Matariki is a Celestial connection to the people and the land. Every living thing on this Earth is connected, and it is important we take care of our world.

• So the connection between the land: the whenua, is affected with climate change. So, Maori will often put a Rahui: a temporary restriction or prohibition of access to an area or resource in Māori culture, placed for various reasons including environmental conservation, spiritual well-being, and as a response to significant events like a death. So they are not allowed to use an area until it has being restored or replanted.

• The Maori moon phase planting system is called the Maramataka, which is the traditional Māori lunar calendar that guides activities like planting, harvesting, fishing, and hunting based on the phases of the moon and the movements of stars. The Maramataka recognizes more nuanced lunar phases than the Western system, with each night of the lunar month named and described for its suitability for various activities. 

• The whenua is a fellow person; so if we take care of it will care for us .

• Whenua: encompasses more than just physical land; it extends to the essence of birth, life, and the interconnectedness of all living things. In te reo Māori, 'whenua' has a dual meaning. Whenua refers to the physical land and landscape.

• The Tikanga: customs and traditional values, reflect teachings of unity found in the Baha'i faith. Like the example of the human body where Baha’u’llah compares humanity with the human body. He says that the functions of the human body are different but the organs and nerves all work together. That is the same as the unity within creation

• m-a-u-r-i Is a concept of life principle, life force, vital essence, special nature, a material symbol of a life principle, source of emotions - the essential quality and vitality of a being or entity. Also used for a physical object, individual, ecosystem or social group in which this essence is located.

• The centre of the Maori world view is balance with nature. Biodiversity!

• The health of a river can be seen by the biodiverse multiple ecosystem levels of different plants, the flora and fauna.

Some of the practical things we can do in the warming climate

1. What we need to do is to harvest the water when it's coming down. But care must be given that large dams don’t ruin valleys of unique biodiversity.

2. Wetlands are very important as they store water like a sponge and provide moisture in the heat.

3. As the climate warms planting broad leafed plants like bananas can produce shade so that vegetables can grow under them.

Spiritual Dimension and practical action

• The Baha'i faith emphasizes recognizing nature as a Divine reflection, acting as a responsible steward of Earth's resources and temporising consumption with moderation and humility.

• Harmonies achieved through scientific and technological advancements,

• Guided by spiritual principles, cultivating tenderness and compassion for all living creatures,

• Aligning daily life with natural rhythms and supporting community-based environmental actions like re-forestation and recycling. The Baha'i view that we are as we are the trustees of this planet. We are responsible for preserving its vast resources and biodiversity for future generations.

• That nature is a reflection of the Divine. Nature is seen as a manifestation of God's attributes.

• Recognizing that the true value of nature cannot be measured solely by economic terms, then there should be an interconnectedness. Then all living forms are interconnected, and humanity's well-being is inseparable from the health of the planet,

• Community action, such as tree planting campaigns, recycling programs, and promoting the use of fuel-efficient stoves. Then it talks about compassion for animals.

• A core principle is to show extreme kindness, tenderness, and love to animals, refraining from harming them unless absolutely necessary.

• Volition, knowledge, and action; we have a responsibility to understand the science underpinning anthropogenic climate change and find the energy to act on mitigation.

• The teachings on the need for Global governance are so obvious in the age we live in, finding ways to consult and to implement a just system are urgent.

• There are shared values amongst the indigenous peoples of the Pacific. For example in Tonga they learn about the environment through stories at school, the God of the sea and God of the land. From these stories they learn who they are and about the significance of the environment and their relation to it and why it's important to look after the land and sea. Also in relation to the natural world, the Bahá’í writings refer to the care for animals. The shared values and spiritual dimensions of these indigenous cultures need to be widely shared too, as they are very much needed. The predominate attitude in the world today is the concept of ownership and exploitation.

• There’s a need to understand the science behind the ecology that underpins an intimate connection with the land. A central, ongoing factor in Indigenous practices is that learning is handed down to children through doing—learned by observation and experience, not just by reading or classroom teaching. It’s about being with the land, learning to read the environment, and developing a deep, place-based relationship. This is a living, hands-on form of knowledge that comes from daily life and immersion in the surroundings.

• We must come to recognize that the universe is governed by a principle of Justice—one that gently steers us toward a path of sustainability and balance.

• This is a faith grounded in empirical reality. It emerges through understanding, experience, and learning. Indigenous communities, for instance, have cultivated a profound relationship with the environment over thousands of years. Their stories—of the god of the sun, the god of the land—are not mere mythology, but expressions of lived experience. These narratives have become woven into their identity, cherished and preserved as sacred truths.

• Yet exploitation has taken root. Indigenous ways of life are being eroded and marginalized. In Africa, for example, the killing of elephants for their tusks reflects a tragic disregard for ecological harmony and cultural respect.

• There are glimmers of progress. Supermarkets have begun replacing plastic bags with paper alternatives. Governments are responding—China, despite continuing to build coal plants, now generates over 50% of its energy from green sources. Japan, too, has acknowledged the environmental toll on its economy and the cost of inaction. These shifts, though incremental, signal a growing awareness and a collective movement toward restoration.

Question 5
Considing that we need to guarantee diversity in the collective, how can we mobilise more people, leaders, corporations, companies, and nations to support just and ethical changes in combating the climate crisis? What ideas and values could inspire us in this mission?

Mobilizing for Climate Justice: A Spiritual and Collective Approach

Over the past 200 years, humanity has slowly been waking up to deeper truths about our purpose, our relationships with one another, and with the natural world. We’ve made progress — but there’s still a long way to go. One of the greatest challenges we now face is the climate crisis. And the question stands:

How can we mobilize more people, leaders, corporations, and nations to support just and ethical changes in combating this crisis? What ideas and values can inspire us?

Start With the People

The most important point is this: real change doesn’t begin with governments or corporations. It begins with people — with communities at the grassroots. When ordinary people raise their voices, act with unity, and speak with clarity about what is needed, then leaders respond. Then corporations listen. They have to — their survival depends on it. But the spark begins in our neighborhoods, our relationships, and our values.

We’ve seen that in the way protest movements have matured into practical dialogues. We’ve seen it in community consultations. And we’ve seen it in Indigenous knowledge systems like tikanga Māori, which plan across generations — far beyond the three-to-five-year cycles of modern governance.

Values Must Change

The climate crisis isn’t just a matter of carbon emissions or political treaties. It’s a moral issue. A spiritual one. It demands a transformation of how we see ourselves — not as owners of the Earth, but as trustees. Stewards. And that’s not just a metaphor — it's a call to action.

We need to begin sharing a new consciousness. One that centers:
- Unity in diversity
- Justice and equity, especially for the poor and vulnerable
- Interdependence — with each other and with the natural world
- Truthfulness and integrity — doing what we say we’ll do
- Deeds, not words — showing by example.

These are not ideas that need to be "preached" at people. They’re lived values. When we live them, they're contagious. And they resonate across every culture, every spiritual path.

Consultation, Not Confrontation

Another principle that’s critical here is consultation. Not shouting, not accusing — but real listening. Finding truth together. It’s something I’ve experienced personally: when people with different views sit down together in a spirit of respect, something new emerges. Possibility opens up.

I once saw this during an interaction with a protest group. I was skeptical at first — I thought they were just loud and divisive. But when they sat down with others in the community and asked, "What do we need? How do we move forward together?" — that shifted everything. That is the power of consultation as a spiritual and practical tool for progress.

Global Governance and Equity

Another issue is the way global resources are managed — or mismanaged. We’re in a world of conflict over resources: oil, water, sea access, intellectual property. Nations assert dominance. Corporations defend patents. Yet we know there are enough resources on this planet to end hunger and extreme poverty. The problem isn’t scarcity — it's distribution. And at the heart of that lies equity.

As long as some countries — or groups — hold power over others through mechanisms like the veto in the UN Security Council, we cannot have true global justice. These systems must evolve if we’re serious about a sustainable and peaceful future.

Trust Is Fundamental

Another layer to this is trust. Studies show that trust in institutions — governments, media, religions — is eroding. And without trust, it’s very hard to mobilize people. That’s why integrity and transparency matter. That’s why we need communities, leaders, and even corporations to act consistently and ethically. People follow those they trust.

And trust doesn’t mean perfection. It means honesty. It means accountability. It means service.

Learning to Communicate in the Modern Age

One other piece that can’t be overlooked is communication. Especially with young people. If we're not present where they are — on social media, in online spaces — we’re invisible to them. So we need to learn how to communicate, not just with technology, but in ways that are authentic and relatable.

Our challenge is to bring spiritual principles into practical life, in language that’s universal. Not necessarily religious language. Just truth. Because truth, as one wise teaching says, can be tested to the ends of the earth and will still stand. What’s false will eventually crumble.

Conclusion: What Can I Do?

Many of us ask, "What can I do to serve?" That’s a question we should hold close. Because while global change is needed, it begins with individuals. It begins with us. And the answer may not be found in big gestures, but in consistent, humble acts of service.

We may feel small. But we are not powerless.

When we work in unity, guided by truth and a vision of the common good, change comes.

Not always quickly. Not always in the ways we expect.

But it comes.