Environmentalists stressed that spiritual leaders must be given command to educate the public about causes and consequences of the climate change. Environmentalists acharya Dr Lokesh Muni, Baba Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal and Devinder Sharma, trustee of the Dialogue Highway Trust, Chandigarh, shared their experiences during an interaction with students, teachers, and representatives of different NGOs at a programme organised on the topic ‘Clime Change, Inequality and Violence’ at the Law Bhawan Auditorium in Sector 37.
Acharya Muni claimed that even the UN have realised that spiritual and religious leaders could play a major role in mobilising the general public for the cause. He stressed the need to interlink the dharma (religion) with samaj (society), spirituality (adhyatam) and naitikta (morality).
Seechewal said, “The overexploitation of natural resources has played a havoc with the environment. There is a need to inculcate the civic sense in the common man to keep the surroundings clean.” He also said uninterrupted discharge of chemicals, polluted water and solid waste into rivers had contaminated the food. — TNS