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Sikhism and Sustainability: New Approaches to Environmental Ethics

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Faith Traditions and Practices in the Workplace Volume I

Abstract

Human society is currently facing multipronged grand challenges whose impacts transcend national and regional boundaries. Of these, environmental degradation is an increasingly complex challenge with grave consequences for the social and economic realms of life. It is being increasingly recognised that the existing approaches to solving the environmental crisis are insufficient and piecemeal, and there is a dire need to explore new philosophical paradigms to charter a sustainable development pathway. In consonance with other major religions of the world, Sikhism is increasing taking a “green turn” through re-interpretation of scriptural sources and drawing on elements of Sikh philosophy. The field-based research documents the role of Sikh organisations in promoting ecological consciousness and creating new forms of environmental governance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Sri Guru Granth Sahib is the central holy religious scripture of the Sikhs, regarded by the Sikhs as the final, eternal Guru following the lineage of ten human Gurus of the religion. The Sri Guru Granth Sahib has been abbreviated as SGGS when quoting direct passages from its text in the course of this chapter.

  2. 2.

    Small and marginal farmers in Punjab started leasing out land on cash terms to medium and large farmers, who had sufficient capital and family labour and could make investments in machinery and agriculture infrastructure. This phenomenon came to be known as reverse tenancy (Singh, 2000: 1889).

  3. 3.

    Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) is a relative measure of sustainability that ranks Indian states according to the pressure they face in managing their natural resources. Higher the ESI value for a state, lesser the ecological challenges it faces (Centre for Development Finance, 2011: 12).

  4. 4.

    http://www.ppcb.gov.in/Attachments/Legal%20Matters/BudhaNallahNirbhai.pdf.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Nadia Singh

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  1. Nadia Singh
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Correspondence to Nadia Singh .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

    Mai Chi Vu

  2. Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

    Nadia Singh

  3. Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

    Nicholas Burton

  4. Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Irene Chu

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Singh, N. (2022). Sikhism and Sustainability: New Approaches to Environmental Ethics. In: Vu, M.C., Singh, N., Burton, N., Chu, I. (eds) Faith Traditions and Practices in the Workplace Volume I. Palgrave Studies in Workplace Spirituality and Fulfillment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09349-4_3

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