13 Influence of Spiritual Beliefs on Autonomous Climate-Change …
255
was the community voice of the Pacific Islands at the Global Climate Action Summit
in 2018 in San Francisco.
Yet ranged against this belief in secular ultimate causes is one that regards climate
change, like other socio-environmental stressors, as an expression of divine anger by
a jealous God (Cox et al. 2018). This view also finds expression in other ways, notably
through anger directed at churches (and churchgoers) that are new and involve novel
systems of worship. For example, among the 140 residents of Vabea and Waisomo
Villages there are four Christian churches (see Fig. 13.2e), each of a different denomination, and each resident generally attends only one of these. And although we never
witnessed any signs of conflict between these churches on Ono, such conflict is
becoming more common in similar communities elsewhere and even at national level,
driven in part by disillusionment with the Methodist Church, the most widespread
and longest-established in Fiji (Ryle 2010; Tomlinson 2012).
Our research shows that many people on Ono, especially those in community
leadership roles and those younger people who recently finished high school, understand much about climate change that coincides with western scientific explanations.
Members of the former group may express different views in different social contexts.
A leader on Ono conveyed to the second author that they are well aware of global
warming and its relation to sea-level rise but that they cannot communicate this to
members of their community as it would be met with disbelief due to their strong
religious convictions.
Younger people are often knowledgeable about climate change and recognize its
impacts in many parts of Ono Island yet, because Fiji society is largely hierarchical,
the views of younger adults are generally unheard within the community, especially if
these views conflict with those of their elders. This is a common source of frustration
among younger people in Fiji and a source of growing anxiety (Scott-Parker and
Kumar 2018). Elsewhere in the Pacific Islands, for example on Butaritari Island in
Kiribati, so frustrated have younger adults become at the reluctance of their elders
to respond to climate-change impacts that the traditional hierarchy itself is under
threat (Nunn et al. 2014). One explanation for this is that younger people were found
to have more formal education and awareness of climate change issues compared
to traditional decision makers. The knowledge held by the latter and the framework
within which their decision-making is made may both be insufficient to cope with the
long-term and unprecedentedly complex challenges to livelihoods posed by climate
change (Laursen et al. 2018; Foley 2018).
Responses to Climate-Change Impacts on Ono
Responses to unwelcome environmental changes, such as those likely to be driven
by climate change in Fiji, are framed within the understanding of their cause/s. And
since on Ono Island, causes are generally divided between the spiritual and the secular
(section “Ono Residents’ Views on the Causes of Climate Change”), occasionally
encompassing both, responses can be similarly divided.
255
was the community voice of the Pacific Islands at the Global Climate Action Summit
in 2018 in San Francisco.
Yet ranged against this belief in secular ultimate causes is one that regards climate
change, like other socio-environmental stressors, as an expression of divine anger by
a jealous God (Cox et al. 2018). This view also finds expression in other ways, notably
through anger directed at churches (and churchgoers) that are new and involve novel
systems of worship. For example, among the 140 residents of Vabea and Waisomo
Villages there are four Christian churches (see Fig. 13.2e), each of a different denomination, and each resident generally attends only one of these. And although we never
witnessed any signs of conflict between these churches on Ono, such conflict is
becoming more common in similar communities elsewhere and even at national level,
driven in part by disillusionment with the Methodist Church, the most widespread
and longest-established in Fiji (Ryle 2010; Tomlinson 2012).
Our research shows that many people on Ono, especially those in community
leadership roles and those younger people who recently finished high school, understand much about climate change that coincides with western scientific explanations.
Members of the former group may express different views in different social contexts.
A leader on Ono conveyed to the second author that they are well aware of global
warming and its relation to sea-level rise but that they cannot communicate this to
members of their community as it would be met with disbelief due to their strong
religious convictions.
Younger people are often knowledgeable about climate change and recognize its
impacts in many parts of Ono Island yet, because Fiji society is largely hierarchical,
the views of younger adults are generally unheard within the community, especially if
these views conflict with those of their elders. This is a common source of frustration
among younger people in Fiji and a source of growing anxiety (Scott-Parker and
Kumar 2018). Elsewhere in the Pacific Islands, for example on Butaritari Island in
Kiribati, so frustrated have younger adults become at the reluctance of their elders
to respond to climate-change impacts that the traditional hierarchy itself is under
threat (Nunn et al. 2014). One explanation for this is that younger people were found
to have more formal education and awareness of climate change issues compared
to traditional decision makers. The knowledge held by the latter and the framework
within which their decision-making is made may both be insufficient to cope with the
long-term and unprecedentedly complex challenges to livelihoods posed by climate
change (Laursen et al. 2018; Foley 2018).
Responses to Climate-Change Impacts on Ono
Responses to unwelcome environmental changes, such as those likely to be driven
by climate change in Fiji, are framed within the understanding of their cause/s. And
since on Ono Island, causes are generally divided between the spiritual and the secular
(section “Ono Residents’ Views on the Causes of Climate Change”), occasionally
encompassing both, responses can be similarly divided.