1 Beyond Belief
9
Written by Kylie McKenna and Lorelle Yakam, Chapter 8 reports the results of
a survey of market vendors in Papua New Guinea who demonstrate a clear understanding of the effects of recent climate changes on food supply. While recognizing
that their understanding would benefit from additional information, their consensus
is that climate change is a sign of the ‘end times’, a fatalistic interpretation that clearly
constrains the range of adaptive responses.
Following from this, Chapter 9 by Kurt Bangert looks in more detail at such
apocalyptic beliefs in the Pacific (and elsewhere) and discusses three distinct variations of ‘end-times’ beliefs. The underlying theme is that while God is merciful
and compassionate, He is also in control and responsive to human action, which
reinforces humanity’s responsibility in the age of climate changes.
For Clive Pearson, the profound and multifarious challenges of climate change
in the Pacific Islands region represent a kairos moment, a time requiring an urgent
reappraisal of biblical and theological traditions in the context of the Anthropocene. Chapter 10 argues that for future policies to be well-grounded in communal
life, there is an opportunity for scientific, political and sociological discourses to
be matched with contemporary theological thinking. The importance of blending
religious insights with traditional knowledges and values is highlighted.
Weaving Worldviews: Science and Spirituality Together
Leading on from the blended approaches discussed in Chapter 10, the next four chapters deal with the ways in which spiritual-religious and scientific-secular worldviews
can meaningfully co-exist in Pacific societies, as complementary rather than contradictory. In Chapter 11, Rowan Gard characterizes this as ‘paddling on both sides
of the canoe’, something that propels you forward fastest. She argues that optimal
adaptation to climate change will be gained this way, through the co-production
of knowledge that is at once scientifically rigorous but also incorporates Pacific
Islanders’ spiritual beliefs and values.
Chapter 12 presents a similar model, ‘the cord of three strands’, that is argued
by Peni Havea and Antoine N’Yeurt to characterize an explanatory framework
for climate-change adaptation in five representative coastal communities in Tonga.
The three strands—the state, the people, the church—should be treated equally and
woven together to produce culturally-acceptable frameworks for adaptation and for
the pursuit of sustainability.
A case study from a remote island in Fiji by Jalasayi Atkinson-Nolte and two
colleagues comprises Chapter 13 and focuses on how people’s spiritual-religious
beliefs influence their interpretation of observed climate change. But this study also
found that these people had developed a system of ‘flexible attribution’ of particular
phenomena to particular causes, either science-based or religious-based, and that this
proves no hindrance to effective action and planning.
In a similar vein, Chapter 14 discusses the complementary approaches to conservation practices adopted by island communities in Western New Guinea. As Ian
9
Written by Kylie McKenna and Lorelle Yakam, Chapter 8 reports the results of
a survey of market vendors in Papua New Guinea who demonstrate a clear understanding of the effects of recent climate changes on food supply. While recognizing
that their understanding would benefit from additional information, their consensus
is that climate change is a sign of the ‘end times’, a fatalistic interpretation that clearly
constrains the range of adaptive responses.
Following from this, Chapter 9 by Kurt Bangert looks in more detail at such
apocalyptic beliefs in the Pacific (and elsewhere) and discusses three distinct variations of ‘end-times’ beliefs. The underlying theme is that while God is merciful
and compassionate, He is also in control and responsive to human action, which
reinforces humanity’s responsibility in the age of climate changes.
For Clive Pearson, the profound and multifarious challenges of climate change
in the Pacific Islands region represent a kairos moment, a time requiring an urgent
reappraisal of biblical and theological traditions in the context of the Anthropocene. Chapter 10 argues that for future policies to be well-grounded in communal
life, there is an opportunity for scientific, political and sociological discourses to
be matched with contemporary theological thinking. The importance of blending
religious insights with traditional knowledges and values is highlighted.
Weaving Worldviews: Science and Spirituality Together
Leading on from the blended approaches discussed in Chapter 10, the next four chapters deal with the ways in which spiritual-religious and scientific-secular worldviews
can meaningfully co-exist in Pacific societies, as complementary rather than contradictory. In Chapter 11, Rowan Gard characterizes this as ‘paddling on both sides
of the canoe’, something that propels you forward fastest. She argues that optimal
adaptation to climate change will be gained this way, through the co-production
of knowledge that is at once scientifically rigorous but also incorporates Pacific
Islanders’ spiritual beliefs and values.
Chapter 12 presents a similar model, ‘the cord of three strands’, that is argued
by Peni Havea and Antoine N’Yeurt to characterize an explanatory framework
for climate-change adaptation in five representative coastal communities in Tonga.
The three strands—the state, the people, the church—should be treated equally and
woven together to produce culturally-acceptable frameworks for adaptation and for
the pursuit of sustainability.
A case study from a remote island in Fiji by Jalasayi Atkinson-Nolte and two
colleagues comprises Chapter 13 and focuses on how people’s spiritual-religious
beliefs influence their interpretation of observed climate change. But this study also
found that these people had developed a system of ‘flexible attribution’ of particular
phenomena to particular causes, either science-based or religious-based, and that this
proves no hindrance to effective action and planning.
In a similar vein, Chapter 14 discusses the complementary approaches to conservation practices adopted by island communities in Western New Guinea. As Ian