To Love the Environment is To Love God
FFWPU-USA
“Nature is God’s creation and His gift to humankind,” wrote Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon in his 2009 autobiography As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen. “To care for and love the environment is to love God… If our spiritual eyes were open we would see that a single dandelion by the roadside is more valuable than the gold crowns of kings.”
The late Rev. Moon, co-founder of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), shared many things in his bestselling autobiography, including his heart for nature and the critical need for people to save the environment.
“We must work quickly to awaken people to the preciousness of nature and the urgent need to restore it to the rich and free state it enjoyed at the time of Creation,” he wrote in his book. “As environmental issues grow more serious, many environmental groups have sprung up. The best environmental movement, however, is the one that spreads love…
The shortcut to protecting nature is to develop a heart that loves nature.”
As Earth Day, April 22, comes upon us, it serves as a global reminder of our individual and collective impact on the earth—and our power to heal and restore it. For more than 20 years, Rev. Moon and FFWPU co-founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, affectionately known as True Parents, worked to sustain and preserve Brazil’s Pantanal region, a “modern-day Eden.”
Like the Amazon, the Pantanal—the world’s largest tropical wetland and flooded grasslands—is an important source of oxygen for the earth and a storehouse to absorb greenhouse gases. And like other complex ecosystems, it is rapidly changing due to industrial development, overfishing, pollutants and waste, among other aggravators.
“No creature lives for itself,” wrote Rev. Moon. “Instead, they live for each other. Nature teaches us this tremendous lesson… Human selfishness is destroying nature. Competition for the shortest route to economic success is the main reason that the earth’s environment has been damaged. We cannot allow the earth to be damaged any further. Religious people must lead the way in the effort to save nature.”
Rev. Moon took world leaders to the Pantanal, sponsoring discussions on how to protect the region and the rest of the earth. He set up fish farms and sought to establish aviary and insect preserves to protect unique species from extinction.
Today, Dr. Moon continues this work of environmental protection through a variety of avenues, including sponsorship of two upcoming virtual conferences in April through the Hyo Jeong International Foundation for the Unity of the Sciences (HJIFUS). Together with scientists and industry leaders, the 2nd International Conference on Science and God (ICSG) and the 27th International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS) will focus on the themes “Environmental Restoration: Hope from the Frontiers of Science” and “Surmounting the Challenges of Environmental Stressors,” respectively.
Dr. Moon has also honored changemakers around the world, launching the Sunhak Peace Prize in 2015 which has awarded three environmental leaders to date. Former Kiribati President Anote Tong was recognized in 2015 for improving global awareness of climate change and seeking solution-oriented action from the international community, while biologist Modadugu Vijay Gupta of India was recognized for pioneering the ‘blue revolution’ and making innovative contributions to fisheries and aquaculture development. In 2019, Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, former Agriculture Minister of Nigeria, was recognized for his good governance in agricultural innovation and eradicating poverty.
As we observe Earth Day—and every day—let’s take initiative to care for and love the environment, and remember that humanity’s love for the earth is our solution to environmental problems.
You can get a copy of Rev. Moon’s autobiography here.
