Today I puchased a copy of a 2007 edition of this ground breaking classic book by Al Gore. I was delighted to note that he quotes from the Baha'i writings on pages 261-262:
One of the newest of the great universalist religions, Baha'i, founded in 1863 in Persia by Mirza Husayn Ali, warns us not only to properly regard the relationship between humankind and nature but also the one between civilization and the environment. Perhaps, because its guiding visions were formed during the period of accelerating industrialism, Baha'i seems to dwell on the spiritual implications of the great transformation to which it bore fresh witness: " We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His innerlife molds the envirionment and is itself deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and ever abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions."
And again from the Baha'i sacred writings comes this: " Civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and scientists will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men."
Bahá'í Scriptures teach that, as trustees of the planet's vast resources and biological diversity, humanity must seek to protect the "heritage [of] future generations;" see in nature a reflection of the divine; approach the earth, the source of material bounties, with humility; temper its actions with moderation; and be guided by the fundamental spiritual truth of our age, the oneness of humanity. (The Baha'i International Community, “Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Baha'i Faith”)
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