Faith is something which the Middle East has a lot of. Whether that faith is being used solely for good is another matter altogether – some are trying to change that by invoking the shared green aspects of the Abrahamic faiths

Sharing Eden – Green teachings from Jews, Christians and Muslims is a small book which is trying to do a big thing:  encourage those of faith to take more positive action for the environment. And therein lies the strengths and also the weaknesses of this book. Three writers from each faith explore issues such as sustainability, water, food and biodiversity through the lens of their faith.

They look at the teachings from the Torah, Bible and Qur’an whilst also highlighting practical action faith groups and communities are taking across the continents. It’s only 100 (small!) pages long, it’s very readable with lots of images and I managed to go through it all in a short train journey. The writers manage to fit a lot of spiritual and practical information into a very short space but there is naturally a lot still missing.

There was no exploration of the fact that there are some aspects of all faiths that will struggle to align with the environmental agenda. For example, in Islam the Hajj pilgrimage is seen as problematic as the international travel and use of natural resource that occurs during the pilgrimage can only be minimized and not be eliminated altogether.

There was also no interaction between the three faiths in terms of their similarities and differences and although that could be explained away by lack of space, it still would have been nice. Saying that, it was lovely to be able to read about the three different faiths in one book and hopefully that will mean the readers (of whatever faith or of no faith) got a taster of all three too.

The book seemed to have a naïve belief (in my opinion) that once you told people of faith of these green ethics, that they would change their deep-rooted behaviours. From personal experience, I’ve found this to be untrue and that people often need more than just information to change their actions. As such, it would have been nice if the barriers that those of faith experience whilst trying to take environmental action were explored more fully and the more difficult and contentious nature of green action discussed.

A little bit more climate science would have also been nice and would have rooted the need for action in two spheres – faith and science.

Indeed, the book could have made more of an effort to link those of faith with the broader environmental movement in terms of other (non-faith) groups, organisations, campaigns and also news sites.

No, this isn’t about the fact that GreenProphet.com wasn’t mentioned, as no green news sites were mentioned at all (!) although that could have been a vital way to strengthen faith followers’ knowledge and understanding of climate change related issues.

After reading all that, you probably think I didn’t enjoy the book but I really did. The writing was great, the chapters on food and biodiversity were particularly interesting and I think for someone new to the issue, this is a GREAT introduction.

It was also great to have all three faiths together in one book and I will definitely be passing my copy around. However, for those looking for a little bit more in-depth exploration of the faith-environment nexus then this probably isn’t for you.

Sharing Eden – Green teachings from Jews, Christians and Muslims 

By Natan Levy, David Shreeve and Harfiyah Haleem

Kube Publishing in association with The Conservation Trust

2012

$8.99 / £4.99

For more green faith communities see: 

London Mosques Start Beekeeping Trend – Interview

The Eco-Mosque Checklist – 7 Steps to a Greener Mosque

Consumerism, Ecology and the Sabbath

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Jewish American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak died last week, at age 83. 

The acclaimed master of kid-lit once said, “I don’t write for children. I write. And someone says, ‘That’s for children.'” Best known for his 1963 book Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak spoke through guileless prose and vivid imagery. Simple messages beautifully imagined: the essence of all his works. His books seem variations on a theme. Characters transcend negative feelings of rage, jealousy and envy; they experience change; and ultimately, they survive. Think Dostoyevsky, but with better pictures. Mickey Mouse and Sendak were born in the same year…but only Maurice had a Brooklyn address and Jewish Polish parents. Most of his extended family had perished in the Holocaust, and the Sendak household, like many others in their immigrant neighborhood, was steeped in survivor’s guilt. A frail child, he was frequently bedridden. Books provided reliable escape from a childhood he described as a “terrible situation”.

He grafted family culture into his works. The title “Wild Things” was inspired by the Yiddish phrase vilde chaya: rowdy children. He was a frequent interview for NPR’s Terry Gross, telling of dark memories inconsistent with his chosen trade.

“If I came up late for dinner, I’d hear about Leo and Benjamin and the other children who were my age who could never come home for supper and were good to their mothers but now they were dead, and I was lucky. … I hated [the people who died in the Holocaust] for dying because all they brought was violent scenes in the house between my mother and father and her pulling hair out of her head, my father diving onto the bed, and its vivid memories.”

He revealed that his grotesque monsters are his aunts and uncles, observed and absorbed over years of weekly visits to his mother’s Sabbath table. Their crooked teeth, hairy moles, and yellowed fingernails were scrutinized by the bored kid with the wild imaginings.

Their characters reborn much later, immortalized in cartoons.  For the book’s operatic adaptation, the monsters stole his relatives’ names: Moishe and Tzippy, Aaron and Emile. His collaborations amplified his talents. Sendak illustrated Isaac Bashevis Singer’s first children’s story, Zlateh the Goat.  Published in 1966, the book earned a Newberry Award.

He was an early advisor to the groundbreaking Children’s Television Workshop during development of Sesame Street.

A prolific set designer for operas and ballets, he adapted Wild Things for the stage in 1979. In the 1990s, Sendak collaborated with playwright Tony Kushner on a translation of children’s Holocaust opera Brundibár, originally written in 1938 by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása. They joined forces on an illustrated book of the same name.

Published in 2003, it was named one of the New York Times (NYT) Book Review’s 10 Best Illustrated Books of 2003. That same year, Chicago Opera Theatre produced their adaptation of Brundibár. Last January, Sendak sat down with Stephen Colbert for an interview aired on “The Colbert Report”.

He had just published his latest book, Bumble-Ardy.  With cranky humor and dazzling candor, the 83-year-old shared his views on children’s books in general, and Colbert’s own planned release in specific, summing it up with, “[It has] a terrible quality of ordinariness. The sad thing is, I like it.” Sendak endorsed Curious George and the entire Dr. Seuss catalog, but his monosyllable review of Give a Mouse a Cookie was,”Eh”.  Peek at the two-part series, linked below. Tart and racy, but comedic gold.

LINK 1

LINK 2

The NYT called him “the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century.” During his lifetime, Sendak racked up a Caldecott Medal, the Hans Christian Anderson Award, a National Book Award, and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. More recently he received a National Medal of Arts and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. “I didn’t set out to make children happy. Or make life better for them. Or easier for them. I like them as few and far between as I do adults. Maybe a bit more because I really don’t like adults.” But there’s no question we liked you: Godspeed Maurice Sendak.

Image via TimeOutNewYorkKids

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