Environmental Responsibility and Global Citizenship

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explains this distinction as the difference between power and permission: being able to change or destroy something does not mean that doing so is morally right. Human dominion therefore has limits.

Jewish environmental teaching connects stewardship with belief in God as creator. Psalm 24 declares, ‘The earth is the Eternal’s and the fullness thereof.’ If the world belongs to God, people are not its unrestricted owners. Damaging it needlessly means mistreating something entrusted to their care. Growing food and using resources are necessary, but their use should not prevent the world from supporting life in the future.

Avoiding destruction and repairing the world

Bal tashchit means ‘do not destroy’. Its scriptural starting point is Deuteronomy 20:19–20, which prohibits destroying fruit-bearing trees when besieging a city. Even during war, a useful source of food should not be needlessly destroyed. Jewish sages extended this into a wider prohibition on needless destruction and waste.

Maimonides explains that this principle also applies to actions such as destroying useful possessions, blocking a water source and wasting food. Environmental responsibility is therefore not simply about refusing to use resources. The important distinction is between useful consumption and unnecessary waste. For example, repairing a usable item instead of discarding it can conserve materials and reduce rubbish.

Tikkun olam, ‘repairing the world’, gives environmental care a positive purpose. Avoiding damage matters, but people should also work to improve the world. This idea is particularly emphasised in Reform Judaism, where environmental stewardship is connected with social justice. Reducing pollution, supporting conservation and making responsible consumer choices can all contribute to that aim.

Gemilut hasadim means acts of loving kindness. It involves personal effort and practical care, such as visiting sick people or comforting mourners, rather than money alone. Applied to environmental issues, it encourages concern for people suffering from environmental damage. Helping a community affected by flooding, for example, connects care for the environment with care for people.

These ideas have different emphases: bal tashchit challenges needless destruction, tikkun olam encourages improvement, and gemilut hasadim focuses on loving action towards others.

God knows human actions and intentions

Maimonides, a twelfth-century Jewish scholar also known as Rambam, set out thirteen principles of Jewish faith. Principle 10 states that God knows all human deeds and thoughts. Its traditional wording includes: ‘He comprehends all their deeds’, drawing on Psalm 33:15. This expresses God’s omniscience, meaning knowledge of everything, including people’s intentions.

Applied to environmental responsibility, this belief can motivate someone to act responsibly even when nobody else is watching. A person might avoid wasting water or secretly dumping rubbish because their actions are still known to God. It also makes motives important: appearing environmentally responsible to gain praise is not the same as sincerely caring for creation and other people.

The principle is not itself an environmental rule. Rather, it can strengthen commitment to duties such as stewardship and bal tashchit by reminding believers that their choices and intentions matter to God.

Honi and responsibility to future generations

The Talmud tells a story about the sage Honi, also called Choni, meeting a man planting a carob tree. The man explains that it will take seventy years to bear fruit. Honi asks whether he expects to live long enough to eat it. The man replies that his ancestors planted trees for him, so he is planting for his children.

The point is that an action can be worthwhile even when the person performing it will not receive its benefits. People inherit resources from earlier generations and should pass on a world that can sustain those who follow them.

This illustrates sustainability: meeting present needs without undermining future generations’ ability to meet theirs. Conserving water or protecting woodland is not only about immediate convenience; it also protects future opportunities.

A related teaching in Avot d’Rabbi Natan 31b says that someone planting a tree should finish planting before going to greet the Messiah. Giving priority to completing the planting shows the importance attached to practical care for the world.

Environmental responsibility crosses borders

Global citizenship means recognising responsibilities towards people beyond one’s own country. Climate change makes this especially relevant because its consequences are not confined to the places producing the emissions.

The Reform Jewish environmental approach connects this responsibility with ‘Justice, justice shall you pursue’ in Deuteronomy 16:20. It argues that countries most responsible for climate change should take greater responsibility for finding solutions. It also stresses protection of poor and vulnerable people, since poorer nations may suffer heavily from its effects.

This connects environmental protection with fairness. A policy should be judged not only by whether it conserves resources, but also by who benefits, who pays and who is left vulnerable.

Humanist Climate Action: reason, science and compassion

Humanist Climate Action is a volunteer-led network within Humanists UK. It encourages people to protect the planet and its biodiversity, meaning the variety of living things. Its approach is guided by reason, science and compassion, rather than belief that the world belongs to a creator.

Humanism is a non-religious outlook that uses evidence and reasoning to understand the world, and empathy to guide ethical decisions. Humanist Climate Action recognises that humans are part of nature and depend on it. Environmental damage threatens people’s homes, food supplies and well-being, while green spaces and the diversity of living things can bring enjoyment and wonder. Its concern also extends to other sentient animals: animals capable of experiences such as pain and pleasure.

For these humanists, caring for people, other animals and the natural world is a moral duty. They believe responsibility rests on human beings: a higher power will not solve environmental problems for us. Believing that this is the one life we have strengthens their concern for how we live and for the legacy we leave to future generations. Like the man planting Honi’s carob tree, they recognise that worthwhile action can benefit people who come after us.

Humanist Climate Action encourages changes in lifestyle to reduce people’s carbon footprints—the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their activities. It also campaigns for low-carbon, sustainable policies. This connects individual choices with collective action: reducing waste at home matters, but wider policies are also needed to protect the environment.

The group challenges climate misinformation and promotes evidence-based thinking, including the scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change. Its reliance on science means assessing evidence and tested explanations, not accepting claims uncritically. It raises awareness and cooperates with other environmental campaigns, including through membership of the Climate Coalition.

These aims apply directly to sustainability: reducing emissions and protecting biodiversity help preserve conditions on which future lives depend. They also support global citizenship. Concern for human well-being is not limited to one country, and cooperation recognises environmental protection as a shared human task. For example, supporting policies that reduce emissions can express responsibility towards people elsewhere whose homes or food supplies are threatened by climate change.

Comparing religious and non-religious reasons

Jewish environmental teaching and Humanist Climate Action can reach similar practical conclusions while using different foundations. A Jewish argument may emphasise responsibility towards God’s creation, obedience to bal tashchit and God’s knowledge of human choices. Humanist Climate Action emphasises scientific evidence, compassion, human dependence on nature and responsibility without reliance on a higher power.

Both approaches can support conservation and care for future generations. This shows that belief in God is not necessary for environmental responsibility, although religious belief can give believers powerful reasons to act. Atheism means not believing in God; it does not, by itself, determine a person’s environmental attitudes.

There can also be disagreement about how to act. Restricting resource use may protect future generations, but restrictions that make essential energy or food unaffordable can harm people now. Conversely, prioritising immediate benefits while ignoring lasting damage transfers the costs to others.

A justified conclusion should weigh both concerns. Environmental care is strongest when it protects long-term resources while making the transition fair for people with the fewest resources. This brings sustainability and global citizenship together rather than treating them as competing aims.

• Genesis 1:28: human dominion; Genesis 2:15: serve and guard the earth → power carries responsibility.
• Psalm 24: the earth belongs to God → stewardship rather than unrestricted ownership.
• Bal tashchit: avoid needless destruction and waste; rooted in protecting fruit trees during a siege in Deuteronomy 20:19–20.
• Tikkun olam: improve the world through environmental care and social justice.
• Gemilut hasadim: practical loving kindness, including helping people affected by environmental harm.
• Maimonides’ principle 10: God knows human deeds and thoughts → sincere responsibility, even when unseen by others.

Future generations and global responsibility

• Honi’s carob tree: seventy years to bear fruit; plant for descendants as ancestors planted for you.
• Avot d’Rabbi Natan 31b: finish planting before greeting the Messiah.
• Sustainability: protect future generations’ ability to meet their needs.
• Deuteronomy 16:20: pursue justice → consider responsibility for emissions and the vulnerability of poorer communities.

Humanist Climate Action

• Identity: volunteer-led network within Humanists UK.
• Reasons: reason, science and compassion; humans depend on nature; moral concern for people, sentient animals and future generations.
• Responsibility: humans must act rather than rely on a higher power; this one life and our future legacy matter.
• Aims: low-carbon lifestyles and sustainable policies, challenging climate misinformation, individual and collective action, cooperation with other campaigns.
• Application: reduce emissions and protect biodiversity for future generations; cooperate across borders for shared well-being.

Comparison and evaluation

Jewish reasoning can appeal to God’s creation and commandments; Humanist Climate Action appeals to evidence, empathy and human responsibility. Both support environmental care.

Weigh long-term protection against immediate human needs. A justified judgement explains how responsibility and costs should be shared fairly.