Turkey is currently the sixth largest market for electricity in Europe and this demand for energy has made Turkey one of the fastest growing global markets for fuel. The expected energy demand for Turkey by 2020 is expected to be 570 GWh (giga watts per hour) (Demirbas 2005, 615). Today, Turkey pays approximately $50 billion a year to other countries for their high quality oil, gas and coal. If nothing is done to develop alternative sources of energy, it is expected that the cost to import fuel from other countries will cost Turkey a staggering $100 billion in 2020. Fortunately, in 2005, Turkey passed a Renewable Energy Law to bring the country more in line with European Union regulations and standards to meet the growing electricity demand and to diversify sources of energy.

Wind power

Turkey could potentially meet all its total energy needs solely from the use of wind energy. The most attractive sites for wind energy utilization and generation are the Marmara, South East Anatolian and Aegean regions. The first wind energy farm was established in Izmir, Turkey in February 1998 with a 1.5 MW capacity (Hepbasli and Ozgener, 2004). On the other hand, the U.S. started harvesting wind power 17 years before Turkey. We need to keep in mind that the U.S. is on a grand scale when compared to Turkey. It is interesting to see the trends for the usage of wind energy between these two countries. The current electricity production from wind for Turkey is about 433 MW (Megawatts) as compared to 35,000 MW for U.S. While Turkey is targeting to achieve a quarter of its potential, 20,000 MW by 2020, the U.S. is intending to reach 90% of its potential and reach 10×108 MW (Table 1) by 2020.

Table 1: Wind power: Turkey and U.S.

Solar power

In terms of the potential of solar power, both Turkey and the U.S. are amongst the most propitious countries in the world by having a range of 175- 200 watts per square meter per day (David Wheeler, Global Developments for Future Blog, comment posted on February 19, 2008).

The most advantageous region in Turkey for the harvesting of solar energy is its Southwest due to its geographic location in the Mediterranean. It is quite common to come across solar panels on top of the roofs in Southwestern Turkey. Photovoltaic (PV) systems are currently limited in use in Turkey but they are on the rise. In Silifke, located south central Anatolia (about 200 km away from Adana), a PV system is currently being used to power irrigation pumps. In order to encourage investors to invest their money into the development of solar power in Turkey the government subsidies need be increased and include the current 5.5 euro-cents/KWh feed-in-tariff.

The most common places where you would see heavy solar power usage for everything from day and night lighting to heating the pool in Turkey are in Eco-homes (left), and Solar cities (right).

Source: http://www.qurbaa.com/images/eko-evleri.jpg

Source: www.solartek.com.tr/tr/index.asp?ID=34

*The hot water heating system installations cover about 10 Million m2 surface.

What is interesting to note is that currently Turkey is amongst the top five countries in the world in the amount of solar power used to heat their water.

Hydropower

According to the Idaho National Laboratory, approximately 6,000 MWs is the gross power potential of U.S. hydropower, of which only about 16 percent can be developed with economical feasibility. About 76 percent of this potential has already been developed, and the remaining portion is to be developed by 2020. On the other hand, Turkey has a somewhat different scenario where the gross hydropower potential is 435 MW, of which only 29% is economical feasible for development and only 35% of that potential has been developed to this date (Yuksek et al. 2007).

After Turkey declared its support for the Kyoto Protocol, it has given a big push for renewable sources of energy, especially wind and hydropower. With the required regulations passed after Kyoto, and with the more recent Copenhagen Accord, Turkey has adapted rigorous development plans for its hydropower potential. The total number of current hydropower projects is over 350, and it is estimated that Turkey can meet up to 46% of the energy demand in 2020 from hydropower resources (Yuksek et al. 2007).

Lifestyles

One of the most important issues for environmental consciousness is energy efficiency. Saving energy is a way of life, not just a part of it.

The automobile has become an integral part of American life with vehicles outnumbering licensed drivers: 254 million cars and 194 million licensed drives. In Turkey the latest statistics showed that there are only 23 million licensed drivers as compared to the 16 million cars on the road. These statistics proves that people living in Turkey tend to more commonly use alternative means of travel, such as the public transportation system, rather than driving their own cars, especially in the larger cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Konya and Bursa. In Istanbul there are even designated lanes along the highway for buses. Although buses, subway, and streetcars are among the preferred ways of transportation since their network pretty much covers everywhere, however, the big cities are still experiencing heavy traffic on the streets due to passenger cars.

The good news is that in Turkey the vast majority of the fleet of taxis and buses have been converted to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) form, saving energy and money.

Environment awareness amongst the populace is also on the rise as well. Having young minds working on the cultural practices that need to be changed for a sustainable future requires both courage and time. To this end, Turkey has devoted the week of January 11th to raise the awareness for energy efficiency. Turkish schools celebrate this week by educating students from all ages in terms of matters governing energy and efficiency.

Rain water catchment systems, have always been part of the architectural design for buildings, however, the water collected from the roof was basically drained down to the garden and was not very practical. With the young generation raising awareness to not waste this precious resource, people have created better designs to capture and find a better use for the rain water.

Rain gutter designs are quite different in Turkey in comparison to the U.S. as well; instead of having them on the side of the curbs, they are designed as screens along the streets. Some cities have canals that bring melted snow and rain water to the middle of the city from the mountains in the vicinity. This water is then used for irrigation purposes.

According to the 2004 statistical figures of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) 34 million tons of municipal waste and 17.5 million tons of industrial waste are produced in Turkey annually. The amount of wastes produced per person in Turkey reaches up to 1 kg (2.2 lbs) daily, of which 34% is food waste. This figure is very small in comparison to waste generation in the United States. The average waste generation in the U.S. is 3.5 kg (7 lbs) per person per day. It is believed that the cultural habits and practices of a people can affect the energy efficiency and minimize waste generation in their country. The practices in Turkey include but are not limited to using the produce when it is abundant and preserving it for later use either by drying fruits and vegetables, creating pastes (such as tomato paste), making marmalade and jams, as well as canning fruits and vegetables and pickling vegetables.

When it comes to our garbage, waste prevention – rather than waste management – is the best way to reduce environmental stress (Brown 2008, 7). It might come as a shock to some, but the most common drink in Turkey, black tea, is still today served in reusable glass cups (below). This differs in the U.S. where 16 billion paper cups are used for coffee on average in 2006, resulting in 253 million pounds of waste (Hillary Feldman, About My Planet Blog, comment posted on May 29, 2008). We need to adapt to thinking in terms of “Waste equals food” as Paul Bierman-Lytle, an architect working for the American engineering firm CH2M Hill, described the concept that waste from one system should provide food for another, whether an industrial system or an ecosystem.

Having said all the above, some of the highlights from Turkey’s future plans include the following: accelerating expansion in renewable sources of energy, aligning Turkey with the European Union regarding renewable sources of energy, using the Multilateral Clean Tech Fund – according to the World Bank, Turkey is the first to receive that fund in 2009 – reduce greenhouse gas emissions, subsidize investors and investments in renewable energy resources, reduce waste generation and improve waste recovery with the help of research and development on these issues.

As humans, although we might see ourselves losing the battle of “Saving the Earth” today, however, we still have the chance to turn things around before it is too late.

I believe if we all work hand in hand to raise global citizens, who can understand and value common humanity, we can get us to work together toward a sustainable future.

Fethiye Ozis is a Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at University of Southern California.

References

• – About My Planet Blog, http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/paper-unsustainable/
• – Brown, Lester R. Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, W.W. Norton & Company
• – Center for Global Development Blog, http://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment
• – Demirbas, A. “Competition Potential of Wind Power Plants” Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, Volume 27, Issue 7 May 2005, p 605 – 612.
• – DIE (State Statistics Institute). Statistics of Turkey in 2003. 2004. DIE. Turkey.
• – Hepbasli, A.; Ozgener, O. “A review on the development of wind energy in Turkey” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 8, Issue 3, June 2004, p 257-276.
• – Omer Yuksek, Murat Kankal, Murat Ihsan Komurcu, Hizir Onsoy, and Adem Akpinar. 2007. The Importance of Hydropower plants in Turkey’s Energy Planning.Paper presented at the international Congress on River Basin Management, March 22-24, in Antalya, Turkey
• – Turk Medya Adana, CNN Turk http://www.turkmedya.com/V1/Pg/detail/NewID/131268/CatID/6/CityName/Adana/ TownID/2/Header/gunes_enerjisi_tarimda_kullanildi.html

She has conducted research on the psychology of meditation for over 25 years, including investigations on the effects of meditation on heart rate control, general well-being, spirituality, psoriasis and anxiety disorders. Her other (but related) line of research is investigating the role of spirituality in adjustment to serious medical illness. A recently published randomized intervention study documented benefits of a very brief physician-delivered spirituality intervention offered to cancer patients on quality of life, emotional well-being, and satisfaction with care. Current work is investigating how religious and spiritual resources, from the patient’s perspective, may help in adjusting to cancer. Matter&Beyond spoke with her on her research.

Matter&Beyond: Dr. Kristeller, you are doing research on the spirituality of cancer patients. You also developed an intervention technique called OASIS that could benefit the patients who are going through spiritual struggles. What was your starting point for this project?

The OASIS Project stands for Oncology Assisted Spirituality and Intervention Study. In this project, we were exploring how individuals draw on their spiritual and religious resources to deal with having a cancer diagnosis. The other question was how physicians perceived that aspect of their patients’ resources and whether they felt it was appropriate to bring it up in the medical environment. First we went out and actually asked physicians what they thought about the role of patients’ spirituality in dealing with cancer. We actually got back a very positive response. Substantial proportion of the physicians actually felt that it was helpful to their patients; it was something that was valuable to engage within the medical environment.

M&B: Were they able to address the spiritual dimensions of the patients?

What we found out was that they didn’t know how to do that. They were afraid if they brought it up, their patients might get upset with them and they’d be triggering off a reaction perhaps that would require so much time and effort on their part to explore with their patients that it just wasn’t practical. So when we found that out from the physicians we decided that we would systematically look at that from that patient’s side.

What we heard from patients was that they also wished to bring it up in the medical environment but they felt that the physicians wouldn’t want to and that they would bring it up if the physicians asked about it first, and the physicians were saying they’d talk about it if the patients brought it up first. So nobody was bringing it up.

So we moved this onto the next step. What if we taught the physicians a particular approach to bringing up this issue with their patients because we couldn’t sit down and teach the patients how to do it. We decided to take a risk and teach physicians how to bring this up to their patients in a very simple way. And we found a few very brave oncologists who were willing to work with us around this and we designed literally a 5-minute patient centered way of introducing this concept.

M&B: How did you design this approach and what were its characteristics?

In a way, we’re guided by previous research on how physicians can talk to their patients about difficult topics. This is actually research that I had done previously in relation to other difficult topics like smoking and alcohol use. And what we did in those cases was we taught the physician a very neutral, gentle supportive way to introduce those issues with their patients and then we took a look at how we could use that with introducing the questions about spiritual resources. So a physician may say something like “Many patients draw on their spiritual or religious resources to deal with something like finding out they have cancer. As your physician I would like to hear more about whether that is true for you, it may or may not be, how do you feel about that?” And that very gentle open way of introducing it feels very comfortable to the physicians and it feels very comfortable to patients. And what we find again is most of the patients respond very positively to that.

M&B: What if the answer is no and they are not interested in talking about spirituality?

We also taught physicians that if the response they get back from a patient is something like “oh no, I’m not religious or I don’t want to talk about that,” how they should respond to that. They should say something like “really what I’m concerned about is how you’re dealing with this and I’d like to hear more about that. Is that ok?” And that shifts it just a little bit. But for about 90% of the patients, they really open up and they are responsive and they start to talk about it and if they are a little hesitant we then teach the physicians how to draw them out a little bit more. Very simply saying, “Tell me more about that. I’d like to hear more about that. Are there any problems you’re having around that? Who else can you talk to about this?” It’s very important. So being encouraging and thanking them for having the courage to share their feelings with the physician. Asking them a little bit more about how they draw on a sense of inner meaning and peace, because we’ve identified that in research as one of the key elements for moving to a different level of coping with cancer.

To our surprise this actually worked very, very well. What we found was that patients have appreciated it. Over 50% of them actually told us after the fact that they had found that conversation helpful to them in dealing better. And about a month after this very brief exploration, they actually said that they were feeling less depressed and they were coping better in comparison to patients from the very same physicians who didn’t get this, who just go their usual appointment. So we’ve been continuing to work on this line of research to deepen it and to expand it at this point.

M&B: You also discuss that a small number of patients are coping in a negative way with spirituality. How does it happen?

Our research and research from some other groups, for example Harold Koenig’s work at Duke, is systematically coming up with a pattern that shows that individuals who feel angry at God, who feel that they’re being punished by having cancer are not doing very well.

Most people feel that at some point. But what I’m talking about is a sort of enduring ongoing struggle around this. And what we find is individuals who are really caught in that struggle in fact are doing very poorly. They are more depressed, and their relationships are not going as well. We don’t have any evidence at this point to show that it actually affects the course of their disease. That would be a challenging kind of study to take on and we haven’t been able to do that. But certainly it’s affecting their inner struggle and their inner well-being. What we encourage physicians to do if they realize that one of their patients is struggling at that level is to encourage the individual to find somebody else to talk to, maybe a Chaplain for example from the medical environment. We really encourage them to look to that and to try to provide those resources and not take that on themselves.

M&B: Maybe it is difficult to estimate how the constant spiritual struggles affect recovery time, but maybe it is easier to estimate how it affects the quality of life.

The individuals caught up in that struggle have a poorer quality of life in general and the research again is pretty consistent in that. And of course it would be naïve to say that you just turn that off. If somebody is struggling in these deep personal issues, they deserve to be recognized and I think we have to assist the individual to find some way to talk to people in their own personal circle of friends, family, religious community about how to deal with them.

M&B: Regarding spiritual intervention, what is the general opinion of the medical community? Is there a growing interest?

I think we are just shedding some light on this. Given how positively the patients respond to even just 5 minutes, I think that there is a growing awareness that there can be a role for this. Within the care of the whole patient, when you shift into the perspective that the spiritual and religious resources people bring to a medical crisis are actually tremendously valuable, and the more they can bring those to the crisis the better they’re going to be doing then. I feel that that defines within the medical environment in a different way.

One of the issues that often physicians would bring up with us is “I don’t know if I have the same beliefs as my patient does” and “if I don’t have the same beliefs maybe it’s not appropriate to bring this up.” And one of the things we do in our training is to work with them around that. Saying you know it isn’t about the beliefs that you have and whether they match your patients. It’s about listening to your patient; it’s about hearing the underlying feelings and meaning that the patient has.

M&B: In terms of spiritual response to cancer, do you see people going through a spiritual transformation?

Let me give you a little bit of frame on that. We’re funded on the Spiritual Transformation Project. When you think of spiritual transformation you’re actually thinking about a real shift in people’s beliefs and people’s sense of themselves as a religious or spiritual person, their relationship to God, or their sense of relationship to God. We’ve compared our data to data that’s been collected on AIDS patients in Miami. Something like half of the AIDS patients communicated that spiritual transformation happened to them. We had 2 out of 100 cancer patients relate that level of change occurred.

M&B: Fifty percent compared to two percent. That is a huge difference. What is your explanation for that?

A couple of reasons I think, one is that even though cancer is a very frightening disease, it’s nowhere near as frightening as AIDS. The prognosis is much better in truth. The other is that the AIDS patients were really people who were struggling with their lives in general. Most of our cancer patients have really quite well-functioning lives. They’re already members of religious community. They don’t need a transformation. They just need to deepen or engage that religious support more fully or the spiritual side of themselves. So, one of the issues is that transformation isn’t necessary, it isn’t needed for this. Engagement though is what we’re talking about.

M&B: What are the fundamental difficulties in doing research on spirituality?

One of the things that is so challenging about this area is trying to measure, trying to capture very elusive concepts and do it in a way where we can systematically identify them, where we can frankly put some numbers to them. So we can compare individuals, so we can look at the effect, for example, of a stressful life event on something like spirituality. So, one of the other lines of work we’ve been doing here is to develop the framework for measuring what we call religious and spiritual engagement, and it’s very challenging to do that. Within Psychology, there’s a long tradition of trying to capture these psychological processes, something like depression or fear. And we have lots of different measuring tools.

M&B: Is there a widely accepted measure of spirituality and religious participation among the healthcare and medical research community?

When we started working in this area, what we discovered were a couple of hundred different scales to measure what people called religious and spiritual involvement. But most of them had been developed in very small groups of individuals, they hadn’t been put into a larger theoretical model and we knew there were probably not hundreds of different dimensions but we didn’t know whether there were 2 or 4 or 5 or 10 and one of the projects we’ve done here is to identify using a group of these measures that seem to capture different aspects of spiritual and religious involvement like belief, compassion, like sense of growing within oneself. As in mystical experiences, we’ve had several of these projects where we’ve given this set of measures actually over almost a couple of thousand people at this point.

Another dimension is interestingly their willingness to tolerate questions about their beliefs and their spiritual well being. Tolerating those questions seems to be a separate and important element that is linked into doing better, to growing more. Mystical experience is a separate dimension so someone who has a mystical experience may or may not be strong in their belief system. Having that may shift that strength but it’s somewhat separate.

We focused on several dimensions. One of the 5 or 6 dimensions is what we call spiritual struggle and that is a separate dimension and again people might be high or low on their strength of their beliefs. If that dimension is strong or high, you do see a lot of distress not only in that part of the person’s life but often in other areas of their life.

M&B: People often think that hope, love, and compassion are the indicators of spirituality. But you are giving other dimensions as toleration to questions or having a mystical experience etc. Do you choose them because they are easier to analyze?

That’s a very good question. It’s very important to include as a part of someone’s total spiritual well being their ability to feel compassion towards others; their ability to feel hope. One of the challenges now in this area is to understand those dimensions in and of themselves and I see them more as overlapping with spirituality rather than defining it. And I say that partly because there are many people who feel that they are not religious or spiritual perhaps, but they certainly have the ability to feel hope and they have the ability to be compassionate toward other people in their lives. From the perspective of Psychology, we don’t have the answers to this yet but we’re applying tools out of Psychology that we’ve used in other areas of understanding human emotions, personality, and patterns to try to apply them within this arena of understanding something as complex as religion and spirituality.

M&B: You are using tools from both religion and psychology. Are psychologists generally interested in spiritual experiences?

Well. William James who is considered one of the founders of Contemporary Psychology in the 1800s wrote the Varieties of Religious Experience. And he wrote that from a very sophisticated perspective where he said we really do need to look at some of the universal aspects of religious or spiritual experience. At the time he didn’t really have the tools to do that but he introduced the discourse around the value of doing that, the value of understanding those very human experiences from a psychological perspective. And it began with a respect for those experiences rather than discounting them. And I think that that is a very important distinction.

In contrast, when some of the thinking that came out of the Psychoanalytic Schools and particularly Freudian theory tended to pathologize those experiences considering them as an anomaly or like a sickness. In fact one of the differences between Freudian thinking and Jungian thinking was the discounting of those experiences as regressive and pathological. It is an aspect of human experience that could tremendously contribute to the best in human nature. And if understood and cultivated in appropriate ways, this could tremendously increase people’s ability to engage with their fellow human beings to act ethically.

In a study conducted by social psychologists Tversky and Kahneman, people were asked to guess the percentage of African nations that were members of the United Nations. Two groups were first asked to estimate whether this number was lower or higher than a threshold: the first group was asked whether it is more or less than 45 percent and the second group was asked whether it is more or less than 65 percent. Then both groups were asked to give their estimates of the actual percentage. The researchers demonstrated that the group that was given the lower threshold estimated a lower value for the actual percentage of African nations that are members of the United Nations. The group that was given the higher threshold estimated a higher percentage. The pattern has held in other experiments for a wide variety of different subjects of estimation. A bias in the estimation of African members of the United Nations may not sound like a big deal, but how about decisions that affect people’s lives seriously?

Consider sentencing in court trials. Social psychologist Mussweiler and colleagues asked trial judges with more than 15 years of experience to consider sentencing demands made by non-experts in a legal crime case before issuing a final sentence. The two sentencing demands were 34 months and 12 months. The judges, despite their experience and despite the fact that the crime was the same, were influenced by the demands. Judges who considered the high demand of 34 months prior to their decision gave final sentences that were almost 8 months longer than judges who considered a low demand of 12 months initially. If prior exposure to a piece of information can make a difference as much as 8 more months in prison, then we ought to know what is going on. The examples above illustrate a psychological heuristic known as “anchoring and adjustment.” The heuristic suggests that when faced with a decision-making or estimation situation, people start with an anchor, or a reference point, and make adjustments to it to reach their final estimate. The anchor serves as a first approximation and then the person makes adjustments to it to reach a final estimate or decision. Why does the human mind utilize this heuristic? The answer is simple—we do not always have a whole lot of information to reach an accurate estimate or best decision.

Therefore, the mind sometimes needs shortcuts, especially under pressing circumstances. To understand this process, let’s have a look at the limitations of human cognition. Models of human cognition Cognitive psychologists and sociologists have worked to develop models of human social cognition. These models emphasize four aspects of our social cognition, which is the way we perceive others. The first is the role of prior knowledge versus information immediately available. For example, when we see a policeman directing the traffic, we use our prior knowledge in our perception. We may assume that he is carrying a gun and he has communications equipment to talk with his station. We deduce these features from our prior knowledge about the traffic police, even if we may not be in a position to observe that particular policeman’s gun or communications device. Relying on prior information in our judgments is called “top-down” processing as opposed to “bottom-up” or data-driven processing. Typically, relying on top-down processing, such as relying on stereotypes, requires fewer processing resources.

The second aspect is the limitation of our cognitive processing capacity. The human cognitive system is modeled to consist of our sensory organs, a sensory register (memory) that temporarily stores our perceptions of external stimuli, a short-term memory, a long-term memory, attention resources and executive control processes. When we receive information in the form of audio-visual or other sensory stimuli, they are processed by our cognitive system and transferred to our short-term memory. Through a process of encoding and categorization, the information is organized and stored in the long-term memory. A part of the long-term memory is “active” or readily accessible. Our further use of information in our long-term memory activates the information, and the lack of use deactivates it, making it less readily accessible. Our behavioral response results from our processing of information. According to this information-processing model of human cognition, the amount of information that can be processed by our cognitive system is restricted in terms of storage, flow and inference (Huitt, 2003).

The third aspect is the amount of cognitive processing that is determined by capacity (amount of free resources) and motivation. Factors such as interest, importance, and relevance determine the motivation to allocate more cognitive resources. We are more likely to devote more cognitive processing resources to subjects that are more interesting, important or relevant in our judgment. The fourth aspect is the interplay between automatic and controlled processing. Automatic processes require fewer resources. Given our limited processing capacity, time and other types of constraints have consequences for our cognitive processing. Under constraints, most individuals tend to simplify their processing by relying on less information, relying on automatic cognitive processes as opposed to conscious ones, or relying on prior information as opposed to information available in the circumstances. Anchoring is one such a simplification. The nature of the situation we are facing will determine which of these mechanisms will be selected. They will be reused or abandoned depending on whether they provide a sound basis for our responses to the social environment. If the simplifications lead to interpretations that harm us, we are likely to abandon them. If, on the other hand, there is no harm or there is a benefit, then we are likely to reuse those simplifications.

Anchoring effect Anchoring is defined as the effect of a prior judgment of an object, the anchor, on our future judgments regarding another object. These judgments may be about a numerical value, a probability, or even a moral or legal judgment. As an example, consider the situation where people are asked whether the population of a city is greater than or smaller than a value. Let’s say two groups of people are asked the same question with two anchors: Group A is asked whether the population of Houston is more than or less than 500,000. Group B is asked whether the population of Houston more than or less than 2,000,000. In this example, the values of 500,000 and 2,000,000 serve as anchors. Both groups are then asked: What is your estimate of the population of Houston? Experiments indicate that the people who were given the lower anchor on average give a lower estimate for the population and vice versa. How does anchoring happen? Cognitive psychologists tell us that human judgment is essentially relative or comparison based, even if we are not asked to make a comparison explicitly. So, in evaluating the present object or person, our minds search for an anchor. A particular anchor may be selected because it is readily accessible, because it is suggested to us, or “self-generated via an insufficient adjustment process” (Mussweiler et al). Our prior cognitive processing of the anchor increases the accessibility of anchor-consistent knowledge, which influences our subsequent judgments. For example, when we meet a person from a country, the first person we met from that country may become our anchor. If we had a positive experience with the first person, we are likely to interpret the actions of this new person with a positive light. While cognitive heuristics such as anchoring help us make quick decisions under constraints, they may also lead to errors. The price we pay for the economy provided by the heuristics is “systematically biased judgments under certain conditions.” (Bless et al., p. 24). For instance, a car dealer may offer you a very high price as an anchor and ask you to make a counter offer. Experiments have demonstrated that under such circumstances, the value of the initial offer has a significant effect on what people will be willing to pay for the final price of the car. If the initial offer is very high, the customer is likely to accept a higher negotiated price and vice versa. The anchoring effect can also be observed when we take a few characteristics of a person and consciously or subconsciously fit them to a stereotype.

In such cases, we may misperceive their motivations or misunderstand their circumstances. Sometimes the anchor can be manipulated by some person other than ourselves, as in the case of the car dealer. Sometimes, we may pick the anchor unintentionally based on information obtained from the mass media. As the mass media tend to focus on rare events that tend to be negative, the stereotypes formed based on information solely derived from the mass media may be misleading (Said, 1997). What are some of the lessons we can derive from our discussion of the anchoring effect? For one, we need to point the mirror at ourselves and ask: Are we forming stereotypes of others that may be inaccurate? Are we influenced by the anchoring effect in our judgment of other people? To see whether we may have anchors for evaluating people of different backgrounds consider your initial thoughts about Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Americans, Russians, Asians, Africans, Mexicans, etc. Are these anchors based on scientific data or news media coverage of events or personal encounters with one or more individuals? It may be infeasible to try to collect encyclopedic information about every nationality, religion, or culture that we encounter. But in matters that impact our society we ought to do a better job of researching a diversity of resources. But perhaps a more important lesson is this—the anchoring effect is here to stay as part of the reality of human cognition. If we would like to provide accurate, reliable information to people about ourselves, our culture and values, we should reach them before they form a negative anchor or stereotype. If we would like our cultural background, religion, or values to be understood without distortion, we need to reach out to as many people as possible around us and interact with them. We need to hold conversations, and share meaningful experiences with them to anchor their future judgments in an accurate reference point. The anchoring effect is demonstrated to be pervasive and robust in psychology. It is not likely to disappear in the foreseeable future. However, we do have the opportunity to reach out and help form positive anchors for better human relationships.

Further reading

• Bless, H., Fiedler, K., Strack, F. 2004. Social Cognition, New York: Taylor and Francis.
• Huitt, W. 2003. The Information Processing Approach to Cognition. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University.
• Mussweiler, T., & Strack, F. 2001. The Semantics of Anchoring. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 86, 234–255.
• Said, E. 1997. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, New York: Random House.

Our current source of energy is mostly fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable. In other words, they are finite resources and they will diminish significantly in future; hence, they will be very expensive to use and environmentally harmful to recover. In contrast, solar, wind, biomass, hydrogen, geothermal, ocean, and hydro power are renewable energy resources, that is, they are constantly replenished and will not run out. Renewable energy is not only important for our energy needs but also has significant advantages over fossil-based energy resources in the protection of the environment. Besides, the environmental aspect of renewable energy also has a religious dimension, since preservation of the earth and its inhabitants is regarded as a duty for humankind.

Among these energy resources, solar energy is generally used for electricity generation or for hot water heating. It also finds uses in solar cooling, and in direct heating and lighting of buildings and homes. Solar panels are made of photovoltaic (PV) cells. The term “photovoltaic” means “converting light into electricity.” Solar energy technology has been around since the late nineteenth century. Yet, its share in energy production constitutes a very small fraction (less than 0.1%) of production around the world. This stems from the higher cost of electricity generation with solar panels in comparison to use of fossil fuels. In the US, electricity generated from PV cells costs $0.30 to $0.40 per kilowatt-hour while consumers pay only $0.10 per kilowatt-hour to the electric utility companies. Nonetheless, with recent advances in this technology, it will be possible in the near future to decrease the cost and make this technology viable for our energy needs as we face shrinkage in fossil fuels around the globe.

One of the factors that increases cost is the low power-conversion efficiency of current PV cells. The PV cells used in the market are mostly fabricated from silicon crystals and these cells show a power conversion efficiency of 15%. That means, 85% of photons go to waste when harvesting energy from sunlight. In fact, the theoretical limit of light harvesting in silicon-based solar panels is only 31% because of the low band gap of silicon, which only partially absorbs sunlight to form charge carriers in the device. To solve this problem, scientists have utilized three different crystals in a single PV cell to absorb more sunlight, and these studies have yielded a device efficiency of 37%. Just recently, scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colorado) and Boeing-Spectrolab have achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 41% by using the same idea, establishing a new milestone in sunlight-to-electricity performance. Although such studies are very promising in this field, when it comes to production cost, these inorganic PV cells are still an expensive technology for power generation compared to fossil fuels.

Organic photovoltaics

An alternative solution to decrease the cost is to use devices with lower power efficiency but a very low cost of production. Organic-based PV materials offer such an alternative with easy and fast production techniques such as solution processing and printing. Conjugated polymers (polymers with alternating single and double bonds in their polymeric backbone) are especially important in this regard, since they exhibit semiconductor properties. The best organic PV cell efficiencies reported in recent years are around 5%. This number must double in order for the cells to be used in solar panels, assuming that the cell displays high photostability and conductivity. Many research groups are now focusing on organic-based solar systems as an alternative technology to their inorganic counterpart.

Although we are all familiar with solar energy, most of us do not know how electricity is produced from sunlight. To show the mechanism for photovoltaic activity, one first should look into an anatomy of a typical organic PV cell which is shown in Figure 1. This cell is based on an organic PV cell. The organic layer is sandwiched in between two electrodes where light absorption and charge separation occurs. Typically, glass is used for support but plastic materials can also be used as alternatives. The anode is usually indium tin oxide (ITO) and the cathode can be aluminum, calcium, gold, or magnesium. The electrodes must be semi-transparent to facilitate light absorption. Specifically designed conjugated polymers are utilized for sunlight absorption, where the wavelength range of absorbed light may vary from ultraviolet-visible to near infrared depending on the material used in the device. The efficiency of the device is determined by the extent of light absorption, efficiency of charge separation, and charge diffusion to the electrodes. The morphology of the organic layer has been found to be very important for device characteristics and cell efficiency. In an organic PV, an electron is promoted from the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level upon light absorption (Figure 2). This transition results in an electron-hole pair which is then separated by the electric field formed by the different ionization energy of electrodes (Φ). Therefore, the electron moves to the cathode and the hole moves to the opposite side. This process causes charge flow between the electrodes and hence electricity is generated in the process.

Despite all the improvements in organic PV technology, current cell efficiencies are still low for electricity generation. The stability of organic PV materials must be improved as most of them are prone to degradation by oxygen and humidity in the air. The large-scale production of organic solar panels is possible, and yet the feasibility of current methods has not been investigated extensively so far.

Solar energy is a clean, renewable resource of energy and is projected to have significant role in the energy market in near future. Funding in the field of solar energy has been increasing in recent years due to the increasing need for energy and the likely reduction of fossil fuels towards the end of this century. Yet, our research efforts are still not sufficient for the advancement of this technology.

Importance of renewable energy for the environment: an Islamic perspective

Solar energy, like other renewable energy resources, is environmentally friendly. Its use should be promoted, as fossil fuels play a dominant role in the increase in greenhouse gases, which are believed to be responsible for the increased rate of global warming and hence climate change. Global warming may cause rises in sea level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. These changes may in turn increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, and tornados. Other consequences may include higher or lower agricultural yields, glacial retreat, reduced summer stream flows, and species extinctions. Warming is expected to affect the number and magnitude of the events mentioned above; however, it is difficult to connect particular occurrences to global warming.

In any case, focusing on renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies is one of the best options to secure the future of our planet and all existing forms of life on it. Our effort should not only be due to the expected shortage of fossil fuels in future. Rather, it must be seen as a duty and moral act to save the environment since use of renewable energy resources has little or no negative impact on nature. Religious awareness and guidance in this area is necessary so that each individual may take active part in the protection and development of the environment. Much environmental degradation is due to our ignorance of what our Creator requires of us. People should be educated to realize that the conservation of the environment is a religious duty demanded by God. This fact is expressed in Qur’an in a number of places such as, “Do good, even as God has done you good, and do not pursue corruption in the earth. Verily God does not love corrupters” (Qasas 28:77), “And do not follow the bidding of the excessive, who cause corruption in the earth and do not work good” (Shu’ara 26:151–152), “And do not cause corruption in the earth, when it has been set in order” (A’raf 7:56). Any deliberate damage to the natural environment and its resources is a kind of corruption which is forbidden by Islam.

As Muslims, we should protect and preserve the environment because by doing so we protect the creatures which pray to God and praise Him. Although we do not know how they praise God, the Qur’an clearly points this out: “The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, declare His glory: There is not a thing but celebrates His praise, and yet you understand not how they declare His Glory!” (Isra 17:44). Islam is established on the concept of good (khayr). Since it is scientifically proven that protecting the environment is of great significance for all animals and plants on earth, Muslims should see it as khayr. In the last two verses of chapter Zalzalah (99:7–8), God says, “And whoever does good an atom’s weight will see it then. And whoever does ill an atom’s weight will see it then.”

Protecting God’s creatures and the environment is a duty of humankind because human beings are the “agents” of God on earth. This task cannot be performed by other creatures. Therefore, as the Muslim community we should all commit ourselves to the preservation and to the protection of the environment. Surely, investing in and promoting improvement of the technologies based on renewable energy is one way to go.

References

• http://www.nrel.gov/learning/re_basics.html
• http://www.islamonline.net
• http://lfw.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=ARTCL&ARTICLE_ID=257239&VERSION_NUM=3&p=12 (PHOTOVOLTAICS: Research targets more-efficient photovoltaics)
• http://lucy.mrs.org/publications/jmr/jmra/2005/dec/0407.html (Organic and nano-structured composite photovoltaics: An overview)
• http://www.orgchem.science.ru.nl/molmat/mm-web/education/caput-college/SolEnergMatCells-2004-83-125.pdf (A brief history of the development of organic and polymeric photovoltaics)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
• http://www.islamset.com/env/index.html

The 2006 World Development Report analyzes the relationship between equity and economic development in Developing countries. In this essay, I re-examine the relationship between equality, equity and development from a long-term economic development perspective. Equality refers to the condition where socioeconomic groups, i.e. upper, middle and lower classes, in a society have access to relatively similar levels of income. Equity, however, roughly corresponds to the broader term of human development,² and emphasizes equality of opportunity, and a broader set of human conditions. In the light of this report by the World Bank, I suggest that contrary to the long-held views, the development of contemporary Developing countries can only be achieved by “leveling the playing field” among citizens.

For long years, it was believed that economic development led to human development. it was assumed that as a country develops economically, it is able to provide more for the basic needs of its citizens such as education, healthcare, and a better quality of life. Even though it seems reasonable to expect improvement in individuals’ quality of life as a country develops, we have not observed many countries successfully achieving this better quality of life by following the advice of policymakers. However, a casual observation suggests that the relationship between economic development and human development may be endogenous; that is, just as it is natural to expect economic development to affect human development, we should be able to observe various aspects of human development shaping the course of development of many Developing countries. In fact, many Developing countries such as India and Turkey perform better in measures of economic development due to their higher levels of educated citizens.

Equality – development tradeoff

Following Simon Kuznets’ (1955) pioneering study on the relationship between economic development and equality, academicians and policymakers believed that there exists an inherent trade-off between economic development and socioeconomic equality. The dominant perspective places economic efficiency concerns at the center of this tradeoff .³Equality-enhancing redistribution programs lead to “diversion of resources away from their most efficient use.” According to this view, employing limited resources in welfare-improving areas results in a decrease in economic growth as well as underutilized resources. Instead of employing the relatively scarce factor of production, that is capital, in new investment opportunities which would economically be more efficient, spending the capital on less productive social redistribution would negatively affect the economic development hopes negatively.

The main alternative view highlights the welfare consequences of the presumed tradeoff between growth and equality. Proponents of this perspective claim that a focus on rapid growth is likely to entail “distorted patterns of development” and to reduce the welfare of the poor in the society. In particular, the state along with the actors in the private sector directs its focus on increasing productivity and efficiency in the manufacturing sector. Any financial commitment that potentially decreases efficiency in the economy is strictly avoided; redistribution to the poor in the society is considered among such expenditures. The socio-economic distress of the poor simply takes a backseat vis A vis economic efficiency. In order to minimize the short-term effects of the growth-oriented economy, equality should take precedence over economic growth. In the long-run, equality will positively impact economic development.

A recent report by the World Bank draws attention to this widely-accepted tradeoff between development and equality,⁴and proposes an alternative. The report claims that equality and development are complementary to each other rather than contradictory. Economic growth without equality can only provide distorted patterns of economic development leaving the majority of the population in need, just as we observe in many Developing countries today. On the other hand, an exclusive focus on equality is likely to hinder development as valuable resources at the disposal of capital-holders are diverted from their efficient use. As a result, a long-term solution to this impasse requires the introduction of a delicate trade-off between the two: Investment in human. Human development, hence, lies at the heart of this new conception of economic development.

Equity and equality

Equality, in the conventional sense of the term, refers to the elimination of extreme disparity with respect to wealth among individuals within a given community. For this end, different states have applied various forms of redistribution in order to eliminate inequality of income. Such use of the term mostly taps into the outcome aspect of equality. That is, the goal is to minimize the differences in incomes of the people by redistributing wealth from the rich to the poor. Equity, on the other hand, is the new term offered by the World Bank to development terminology. Equity is based on a larger conceptualization of the notion of equality. It suggests equal opportunities in respect to education, health and such; no explicit implication is being offered for the outcome-based notion of equality. Individual responsibility, in this regard, is critical in bridging equal opportunity at the outset with the final outcome.

John Rawls’ notion of the “veil of ignorance” summarizes the basic idea behind this contemporary understanding of equity.⁵ The veil of ignorance is expected to provide a fair allocation of resources that all members of a society would agree. In a hypothetical decision-making situation prior to their knowledge of which position they would occupy in the society, individuals are asked to allocate resources to members of the community; they may be the worse-off or best-off in the community, hence they will put an effort in fairly allocating the resources. In essence, Rawls concludes that “primary goods” should be provided for all, referring to the equality of opportunity for all. Amartya Sen dwells on a similar concept of primary goods, “functionings,” and defines it as “the set of actions a person performs and of states the person values and enjoys.”⁶ It is important to recognize the fact that no suggestions are being made here with respect to the conventional understanding of equality, that is income redistribution. The emphasis in this conceptualization of equity highlights the relative importance of equal opportunity provision over outcome-based redistribution, but not necessarily the exclusion of the latter for the sake of the former.

Inequality traps

Based on this relatively modern notion of equity, it is possible to identify three ways that equity and development are complementary in Developing countries. The first of these ways touches on the notion of “inequality traps.” Inequality traps can be defined as the reproduction of economic, political and social inequalities “over time and across generations.”⁷ Existing political and economic inequalities in Developing countries systematically favor the interests of a relatively small elite group over the rest of the society. By the use of overt or covert power, the elite in Developing countries are able to influence the policymaking process more effectively despite their disadvantage in number. As the poor are likely to be much less involved in the political decision-making process, the vicious circle of underperformance continues.

The second way that equity and development relate to each other comes in the form of inefficient redistribution mechanisms. The institutional structures are tailored to benefit not the neediest in the society, but rather middle-class and upper middle-class citizens.⁸Hence, the influence of the more advantaged in the society further determines the shape of the institutional structure.

Finally, leveling the playing field does potentially affect the investment and innovation environment. A modern economy is inconceivable without an active investment environment. Inequality of opportunity prevents individuals like Nthabiseng from taking part in the modern economy and realizing their potential. Barred from entry, either through institutional mechanisms or mere negligence, individuals facing inequality of opportunity will not be able to enrich the environment of competition necessary for economic development. The relatively few and well-endowed rich will be less likely to feel any pressure to pursue innovation and investment opportunities. Competition, which is regarded as the major source of development, will not come about. As a result, the resulting environment is inimical to sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Implications

Several world religions endorse social justice, helping the poor, and equality as central principles in their teachings. Even though these principles may manifest themselves in fundamentally different ways, the basic idea remains the same. Christians are urged to love their neighbors as themselves; Buddhists are responsible for caring for the poor; one of the five pillars of Islam is zakat (almsgiving); and, the word for “charity” is the same as for “justice” in Hebrew.⁹ As a demonstration of this shared concern among world religions, the World Faiths Development Dialogue has issued a statement the essence of which asserts as follows: “All religions would see the extreme material poverty in the world today as a moral indictment to contemporary humanity and a breach of trust within the human family.”¹⁰ In addition to this poverty-reducing aspect of religions, it is easy to see how this recent understanding of equity can also be inferred from one of the fundamental tenets of all religions. Human dignity constitutes a shared and fundamental theological principle for world religions.¹¹ In order for human beings to reflect this dignity, the latent potential for perfection has to be provided with the right set of opportunities, and basic necessities such as health care, education, and nutrition. Otherwise, undeveloped individual potentials do run the risk of being wasted leading to both dishonoring human dignity and economic underdevelopment, as a social phenomenon.

In what preceded, I introduced a new perspective on economic development, a chronic problem among Developing countries. By making a distinction between equality of income and equality of opportunities, the presumed trade-off between equality and economic growth might be overcome. It is my hope that this new emphasis on equality and human development will allow billions of people living in dire conditions to reclaim their dignity as humans. Eventually, this emphasis on human development will result in economic development, long-anticipated in Developing countries.

A. Kadir Yildirim is a PhD candidate in political science at the Ohio State University. He can be reached at yildirim.10@osu.edu.

Notes

1. The story of Nthabiseng and Pieter is taken from World Development Report 2006 by World Bank.
2. Human Development is defined by the United Nations Development Programme as “the priority of human well-being, and aimed at ensuring and enlarging human choices which lead to equality of opportunities for all people in society and empowerment of people so that they participate in – and benefit from – the development process.” Education, health care, and quality of life are different aspects of human development. For reference, see: http://www.undp.org/rbec/nhdr/1996/georgia/glossary.htm
3. Bruce Moon and William Dixon. 1992. “Basic Needs and Growth-Welfare Trade-offs.” International Studies Quarterly. Vol. 36 (2).
4. World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development. Oxford University Press: New York.
5. John Rawls. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
6. Amartya Sen. 1985. Commodities and Capabilities. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
7. World Development Report, p. 2.
8. Rudra, Nita. Who Really Gets Hurt? Globalization and the Race to the Bottom in Developing Countries Manuscript. Also, see World Development Report, p. 179, for a similar discussion.
9. World Development Report, p. 76.
10. http://www.wfdd.org.uk/, September 1999.
11. In a recent article in The Fountain, Halim Calis presents a compelling argument on human dignity in Islam and Christianity as a common ground for interfaith dialogue. See “Holy Sources of Human Dignity.” The Fountain, Issue 58, 2007.

“Philosophy considers force to be the point of support in social life, and life as the realization of self-interest (as its goal) and conflict (as its principle).”1 When Said Nursi wrote this sentence in The Words, he was looking at the Cyclops-like aspect of the European philosophy of his time, which totally excluded spirituality from the interpretation of the relationship between humans and the universe. There was only one eye on that face which concentrated solely on the materialist side of the creation. Said Nursi called this face “philosophy”; he was opposed to nineteenth century materialist philosophy, but rather favored one that was open to metaphysics and the spiritual as well as to the rational, an approach that he would later call “the marriage of the mind and the heart.”

This materialist philosophy, which considers “power” to be the point of support in social life, actually shaped the social and political movements of the twentieth century. Those individuals who were empowered with personal and financial resources built production facilities and had the less powerful individuals in society work for them in exchange for little remuneration. Capital thus quickly accumulated in the hands of an increasingly prosperous minority, whereas the majority of the members of the “developing” society were barely able to make a living. Mercy seldom descended from the narrow top of the pyramid to the base-and envy and resentment rose in dark clouds from the wide base to the top. Power became the main determining effect in social life, as individuals or groups tried to realize their self-interests to the degree that their “power” allowed them to.

When there was a conflict between interests, might was used as the arbitrator. Revolutions simply shifted the building blocks of the pyramid, but the shape of the pyramid always remained the same. “Natural selection,” a misconception thought to be observed in nature, became the very basis of civilizations. The political arena always had its actors whose pockets were full and waves of ordinary people were merely directed, explicitly or implicitly, in what they should do with their lives. Nations with less economic power became oppressed, their lands and resources were looted, and their futures were thrown into a deep, dark well of uncertainty. The world saw the bloodiest wars of all times as humanity descended to the lowest of the lowest, “asfal al-safilin.”

There has not been any single event in the course of social history which has not been motivated by a system of thought. The intellectuals of the last century tended to strip human beings of their inner dimensions and consider them as a piece of walking/talking machinery. This machine was supposed to produce goods constantly in order to satisfy the increasing needs of mankind. Simultaneously, the circle of the needs extended itself to the farthest point of the imagination, until there was no way that circle could be encompassed. Most of these needs took the shape of carnal desires, and the machine became dedicated to gratifying these desires. Relations between individuals and their families, in neighborhoods and within countries, started to deteriorate. Divorce, domestic violence, deceit, murder, and other crimes-enough to make anyone with a heart grow mute-began to seem and sound normal to the general public. Thus, the machine began to annihilate itself and its surroundings. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi brought the matter to public attention at that time with the following words: “Force calls up aggression, seeking self-interest causes battles over material resources, and conflict brings strife.”2

Since life was considered to be the realization of self-interest, the self became the center of all interests. Individualism was raised as the banner of victory, while the bonds that connected selves together began to disappear. “Country, religion, family, ideas of civilization, all the sentimental and historical forces that stood between cosmic infinity and the individual, providing some notion of place within the whole, have been rationalized and have lost their compelling force.”3

Contrary to accepting power as the fabric of social life, such as it has been in the past two centuries, the Holy Qur’an accepts “rights” to be the constant point of support in social life. The first Caliph of Islam after the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the honorable Abu Bakr, stated this Qur’anic approach in his first speech to the public: “The weakest among you is the strongest in my eyes until his rights have been delivered to him, and God willing I will accomplish that; and the strongest among you is the weakest in my sight until he delivers the rights to their real owner, and God willing I will pursue that.”4

One of the five pillars in Islam is the prescribed alms, zakat. According to the Qur’an, every Muslim with adequate financial resources is obligated to give one-fortieth of his wealth to people in need. This portion of the wealth of the rich is considered a right that is given to the poor from God. This is a very interesting point, because the Qur’an draws a circle around the rights of the powerless within the circle of the powerful. In so doing, the Qur’an effectively silences brute force and allows “rights” to speak instead. Thus, the Qur’an teaches and commands believers to practice “giving precedence to the common interests of the community over one’s own interests.” The fact is that all unrest in human social life proceeds from two sources or attitudes: “Once my stomach is full, what do I care if others die of hunger?” and “You work, I will eat.”5 These statements symbolize a world where labor and capital confront each other and zakat, as a moral imperative, is abandoned; yet mankind has been advised to use charity as a form of purifying alms that is essential to the establishment of social welfare and order.

Human rights, huquq al-ibad, are a very important issue in the Qur’an. A devout believer who has pursued a virtuous life in this life may be pardoned for all their sins. However, the violation of the rights of others is excluded from this pardon, for such a violation must be resolved between the person who violated the rights and the one whose rights has been violated. The “others” here can be Muslims or non-Muslims and they can be of any race, ethnicity, belief, or worldview, in fact, anybody whom God has created. An anecdote from the time of the third Caliph, Umar is noteworthy here. It occurred in the city of Hims (Syria) in 635. The Muslim army was in retreat and leaving the city at the approach of a huge Roman army. The commander of the Muslim army ordered his men to reimburse the people of the city for the taxes that had been collected. The tax collectors told the Christian population of the city that the Muslim army would not be able to protect the city against the Roman army, and that since the taxes had been collected in payment for the protection of the city, the army no longer had any right to keep the taxes.6

The Qur’an does not leave the individual by themselves in the universe. “Does man think that he will be left uncontrolled (without purpose)?” (Qiyama 75:36). Human beings have the willpower and determination to choose between evil and good. Humans are responsible for their choices as well as their actions, and they will be held accountable for every deed they commit. This very fact should urge everyone who hears this message to adjust their standing within the community. The Qur’an commands each soul to uphold righteousness and forbid evil. This command is not limited only to the person’s interactions with the rest of the society. Rather, each person is also responsible for their own physical and psychological being. Nobody can commit suicide, harm their own body, or fall into despair or cut themselves off from society.

From a Muslim’s point of view the holy books that preceded the Qur’an also hold “rights” to be paramount within the community for the establishment of justice and harmony; the Qur’an states, “And we have sent down to you (O Muhammad) the Book (the Qur’an) in truth confirming the Scripture that came before it” (Maida 5:52). If we want to live in a safer and a happier world, where every human being’s rights are secured, the followers of the Holy Scriptures should refer to the enlightening realm of the revelation, advocating “right” rather than “might” as the criteria for any decision that affects the destiny of humanity. Rights have to be promoted at every level of society, and this cannot be done without taking the metaphysical dimensions of the individual into consideration. Looking at how people all around the globe are returning to the warm home of religion and how members of different faiths are striving to understand each other, one can hear the joyful celebration of the marriage between the mind and the heart and can see rights sitting on their throne supported on the shoulders of might.

Notes

1. Nursi, Said, The Words, The Light, Inc., NJ: 2005 p. 146-7.

2. ibid. p. 146-7.

3. Bloom, Allan, The Closing of the American Mind, Simon & Schuster Inc., 1988, p.85

4. Hz. Muhammed (s.a.s.) ve Hayati (Prophet Muhammad and His Life), Diyanet Yayinlari, Ankara: 1996, p. 435, Turkish Religious Council Publications, p. 435

5. Nursi, Said, The Letters, 22nd Letter, Truestar, London: 1995, p. 74.

6. Belazuri, Futuhu’l-Buldan, Beirut, 1987, p. 187.

Qur’anic Perspective

At this point it would be interesting to look at what Ali Unal has to say as to why no past civilization could resist decadence and time’s corrosive power. His approach refers more to the individual and free will, rather than visible causes:1

. . . [C]ontrary to the fatalism of all other philosophies, including even Ibn Khaldun’s, the Qur’an stresses the individual’s free choice and moral conduct. Although the Divine Will, as emphasized in the Qur’an, could be regarded in some respects as the counterpart of Hegel’s Geist or as other philosophies’ absolute and irresistible laws of history, the Qur’an never denies human free will

. . . . Ibn Khaldun, Toynbee, Spengler, and other philosophers of history formed a mistaken conception of history because they did not try to discover the real dynamics of historical movements. Rather, they sought to explain the apparent causes behind a civilization’s establishment, flourishing, and decay. Whoever looks to the past will arrive at the same conclusions. But just because no community has remained at its peak this does not mean that this is an inevitable end or a determinist grip on the fate of each nation. Past civilizations collapsed because they did not heed the warnings of what had happened to earlier peoples. Accepting historical determinism causes us to nullify free will and consider the warnings and advice found in the Divine Scriptures and social sciences as useless and absurd.

This is strongly confirmed by the Qur’an in the following verses:

. . . surely God does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition. (Rad 13:11)

. . . God never changes the grace He has bestowed on any people until they first change that which is in their hearts. (Anfal 8:53)

Theories concerning the collapse of civilizations

There are many theories concerning the collapse of civilizations, but of course, if a theory does not conform to reality, it is worth nothing. In this article, I will first give a brief account of widely held beliefs about the collapse of civilizations, explain the weaknesses of these theories, and then give a rationale that I believe better explains the historical data we have. As for most social problems, we will perhaps never know the truth about why societies collapse. However, the stakes at hand are so high that we must make every effort to understand, and to an extent, solve this problem.

The most common explanation for such collapses is some insurmountable natural disaster, like an epidemic, hurricane, drought, or earthquake that leads to the demise of a civilization by killing the population and crippling the economy. Widely-cited examples are the eruption of the volcano in Thera that preceded the collapse of the Minoan civilization, the malaria epidemic in the Roman Empire or earthquakes in Mesoamerican societies. These arguments, which are very appealing to our human nature, that desires simple explanations for all questions, are in fact very unsound. Societies constantly experience such disasters, yet survive them. The potato blight in Ireland in 1845 halved the island’s population but there was no cease of sociopolitical complexity as a result of the disaster. It is strange to think that the Roman Empire, which survived many disasters before, including the eruption of Pompei in AD 79, fell to malaria. We should consider that complex civilizations are designed to absorb such disasters, and they do. Just recalling the constant earthquakes in Japan added to the loss of a world war with two nuclear bombs exploding in the heart of two large cities will sufficiently prove this notion. Japanese civilization did not collapse. On the contrary, it is one of the strongest economies in today’s international arena. It is peculiar then that some civilizations are no longer able to fight such disasters. However, an act of God can certainly collectively destroy any civilization, as it did in the past like Sodom and Gomorrah. This is clearly narrated in the divine scriptures.

The other common explanations for such collapses are intruders and competition with other civilizations. The barbarian tribes, which brought the end of Rome in the fifth century, and the Mongolians that invaded Baghdad in the thirteenth century are clear examples of the intruder argument. This argument suffers from the realization that civilizations are attacked by outsiders throughout their existence, yet for some reason they cannot defend themselves near the time of their collapse. Competition with other societies however, is in principle expected to lead to growth and expansion instead of collapse. There is no end to the examples from this category too, like the competition of the Ottoman Empire with Persia, which indirectly weakened its western front. But the competition argument is both intuitively confusing and it fails to account for major cases, like the fall of the Roman Empire.

Another widely held belief about such collapses is that at a certain point in the life of a civilization a resource is depleted and the civilization that depends on this resource is prone to collapse. The Romans and the Ottomans both depended on military expansion for their economy, and when the relatively weak nations around them were engulfed or when they were barred from further expansion by geographical limitations, such as seas or large mountains, they were no longer able to use this resource. There seems to be some truth and lessons in this argument. To the uninformed, it is a very curious fact that the cradle of civilization was Mesopotamia, where modern day Iraq is. How is it possible that the superpowers of that era, the Sumerians (~3000 BC) and the Babylonians (~1000 BC) chose to live in these deserts? How is it possible that they irrigated the land, raised armies, and built world wonders in these sand dunes? These questions actually are easily answered when we realize that Mesopotamia was not a dessert in that era after all. It is now a generally accepted theory that this place had a fragile ecosystem, which was destroyed after thousands of years of environmental pressure. The potential for these lands to accommodate great civilizations was lost after this fragile ecosystem was slowly destroyed by its inhabitants.

However, the argument of resource depletion inherently asserts that the elite of a civilization facing resource depletion passively waits for the predictable demise. I will argue below that this case, although strange, is true. Another difficulty of the resource depletion argument is that in some instances of collapse resources were never depleted. The fertile lands of Mesopotamia still remained green until later than 1000 AD, while many civilizations experienced collapses. The Romans, who used irrigation as a resource, kept farming till the very end. Finally, one may wonder why societies aim at possessing a higher amount of resources all the time. Population increase is only a partial answer to this question. We can easily imagine a society whose population stays the same; it is not a far-fetched hypothesis that this society will naturally also try to increase its resources to fend off a variety of calamities it may experience, such as intruders and catastrophes. I believe herein lies an interesting rationale that brings together the mentioned theories that are flawed. To understand this, we first have to appreciate a law in economics, called the “law of diminishing returns.”

It is very rare in economics and in general social sciences that some series of observations can be identified as a “law.” However, the “law of diminishing returns,” first put forward in 1965 by Ester Boserup, is so comprehensive in its nature and explains such a variety of trends that it is now universally accepted. It goes: The return for an investment in a particular activity is great at the beginning, and then it gradually decreases. At a point, further investment brings no further benefits. At this point, the facility (a person, a group, a society, a factory) can no longer increase its returns, however much they would invest in that activity.

A simple example will clarify the law. Suppose we have a piece of land that we want to use for irrigation. In the beginning, we would just disperse seeds and wait for the crops to grow. Notice that our investment is minimal (say 1 unit of investment), and we get some food for our investment (again define this to be 1 unit of return). Then, if we want to increase the amount of crops we have, we may dig some canals for watering. It is straightforward to recognize that the canal digging is a lot harder than just dispersing seeds (say 5 times harder). However, it is again straightforward to recognize that although now we make 6 times more investment, we probably will not get 6 times the crop. Nevertheless, we want to maximize our return, so we still dig the canals. The next step would be to use motorized vehicles, which is maybe a 10 times increase in investment, but everybody will surely accept that it is not possible to get a crop that is 16 times greater than our original from the same plot of land. (Readers who may object that once the investments of canals and vehicles are made they will provide constant returns are reminded of the maintenance costs of these investments.) A further increase in returns may require genetically engineered crops that will require years of expensive research (more investment). The return per investment will always decrease for a certain type of activity, in this case irrigation.

This law is everywhere in life: If one week of studying suffices a result of 80 on one exam, in order to get 90, you need to study two more weeks. Most healthy people can run 100m in 20 seconds; to run it in 10 seconds you need years of exercising. Depending on one’s abilities (which determine an individual’s possible investment) these may even be impossible for many people. A vivid example is the heating problem in England during the nineteenth century. Heating, which was primarily carried out by burning wood from forests, with the increase in population had to be switched over to the burning of coal. The mining and distribution of coal, which is much more difficult than simply getting some wood from a nearby forest, was made even more difficult when the easily mined surface coal was rapidly depleted and deeper tunnels with lighting and airing problems had to be developed. It is intuitive why this law is in effect: Obviously, always, the easier solutions are adapted first, then the harder ones. Mining coal when you have easily available and plentiful wood is not reasonable. Consequently, we have a decline for our returns per investment.

The resources that civilizations use are no exception. A civilization that uses irrigation as a resource is bound to be limited by a certain level of return. Resource does not have to be depleted; it just cannot produce a return more than at a certain level. Another civilization that is dependent on taxation, mercenary or military expansion can achieve no more return after a certain level, no matter what adjustments it makes to its existing policy. Having said this, we can understand why a civilization that depends on a certain type of energy or resource cannot expand its influence beyond a certain level. Moreover, when energy becomes scarce, the civilization can become less agile in terms of trying new resources and new ways to produce returns, since agility and innovation mostly depend on using some of the surplus resources on strategies that will most probably yield no returns. Hence the rise of large architectural structures and many inefficient military operations are carried out during the ascent of a young civilization. These activities, which are easily buffered by the large returns that come from initial investment on the main resource of a civilization become impossibly costly later when the returns from the same investment is declining.

One last piece of the puzzle completes the rationale as to why civilizations collapse, and this piece is an easily accepted assumption: A civilization is like a dinosaur. It is large and strong, but it is adapted to the conditions into which it was born. The conditions change, however, the dinosaur cannot change its behavior. It helplessly tries to maximize the returns for the type of resource that it is adapted to use, and after a point, it simply cannot, thanks to the universal and unforgiving law of diminishing returns. At this point, another civilization, that primarily uses another superior resource, will have larger returns, build a larger army to invade the former civilization, build larger ships to cut off the trade routes, and produce goods to cripple its economy… This is just a matter of time, and it is unavoidable (see Figure 1b). The strength of the civilization in its golden age is now its weakness. In such a weakness, since there is no extra resource to fight new problems-all resource is either used up by the population, or goes toward defense costs-even a natural disaster can bring an end to a civilization that once seemed to be indestructible.

The Ottoman Empire’s strength in its rise was its perfect hierarchical organization which led to the accumulation of all power under the Sultan. Its main resource was military expansion and taxation of trade. These adaptations, which were ideal for the time between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, led to one of the most powerful empires that have ever reigned. However, by the sixteenth century, these strategies had become burdens: Due to the strong hierarchy, an intelligentsia that supported science and art as in the West could never develop. Military expansion had to stop. Taxation could no longer work since the Mediterranean Sea was no longer used for trade. The strategies were not abandoned though, instead, more investments were made in order to increase the returns, which as we saw above is a nonviable alternative. Eventually, other civilizations that used better resources brought about the end of the Empire. A similar order of events can be observed for other civilizations that collapsed. The great Arab historian Ibn Khaldun of the fourteenth century likens the lives of civilizations to the natural lifespan of individuals. They are born, they grow old, and they die. In my view, a civilization does not die because it gets old; it dies because it cannot compete with a stronger civilization.

The natural question to ask is if our current civilization will collapse. From the analysis above, we can conclude that there are two reasons for the collapse of a civilization: 1) Dependence on a certain type of investment and failing to adapt to the new conditions. 2) The invention by another competitor civilization of a new type of investment with higher returns. In today’s world, both of these reasons are in some ways different than those that existed in the past. First, with the advancement of science, the current civilizations are flexible in the resources they utilize, the options are constantly evaluated, the heating in United Kingdom does not collapse when wood is depleted; instead, coal, then gas, then nuclear power is used. The return for the investment made for some utility is similar to the curve shown in Figure 1c: whenever the return for a type of investment declines, we can shift to the next resource. Second, by the immense advancement in information processing and communication, the whole world is aware of the types of investments other societies are using, and a leading civilization that follows the developments in other countries is very unlikely to be threatened by a sudden development in a rival civilization. Third, because of progress in international trade, the old sense that any other civilization is an enemy has lost its significance.

Notwithstanding these reasons, only a few decades ago, at the height of the cold war, we witnessed the possibility of the immediate collapse of our civilization. Global warming and the depletion of petrol reserves were only two of the many alarming cues that we may have turned to declining returns for our investment curve. It is imperative to remember again that the stakes are very high. The next civilization to fall may bring about the fall of the human species.

Notes

1. Tainter, J. (1988). The Collapse of Complex Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1988.
2. Grigg D. Ester Boserup’s theory of agrarian change: a critical review. Prog Hum Geogr. 1979; 3 (1): 64-84.
3. Unal, Ali, Islam Addresses Contemporary Issues, Kaynak, Izmir:1998, p. 142.

In this ever changing environment, managing resources has not only become very important, but it has also changed over recent decades.

The main concern is limited resources vs. unlimited needs; this has been the dilemma of people throughout history. Some societies thought that they had found the answer by trying to limit needs and wants, while some other societies promoted needs and wants, motivating people to work harder to satisfy the same. However, questions, such as How to decrease the cost of production? How to increase productivity? and What is the best method for motivating people? remained important through the last century.

These are the very same questions for which the business world is trying to find the answers.

The efficient management of resources is very important. The management of manpower plays a critical role in the satisfactory completion of this task. To maximize the use of all resources one must also maximize the use of human resources.

A New Approach: Coaching vs. Managing.

In recent decades, we have seen a new approach, the use and effectiveness of which has been increasing in management; COACHING. More organizations have become interested in coaching their employees rather than managing them.

Managers manage numbers, goals, objectives and activities for results.

Coaches develop others to reach higher levels of contribution, personal attainment, and success.

Managers ensure there is a place to work, a procedure to follow, and a system for monitoring business.

Coaches, on the other hand, build high-performance teams by focusing on interpersonal relationships with employees and guiding them to achieve their dreams and aspirations. Everything else is trivia that should be delegated to someone else or relegated to after-hours. A leader or coach makes the relationship with their employees the first priority.

Management today recognizes the need to have a winning organization; it must be more knowledgeable and competent in dealing with and developing people.

Traditional management methods, which are organization-centered, although they have served business well and have accomplished a great deal, are now being challenged by the needs of the employees and customers. In dealing with these new challenges, most managers find that they are at the limits of their current skills. A changing business environment requires us to continuously improve our approach to management. Now is certainly the time for a new methodology which incorporates many of the approaches used by successful managers. That is the fundamental change.

The process of evolution is at the base of the need to develop a management competency in dealing with and developing people. The belief that all employees are self- motivated and that the manager’s role is simply to direct the activities of their subordinates through intimidation or any other method, assumes a results orientation with little regard for the means. In such a system, the employees generally have little opportunity to provide input to the process, and management becomes a numbers game, with little or no attention being paid to developing skills or people.

Because it is people who make things happen, and because we are dealing with a more enlightened and demanding work force, blind submission to direction is no longer feasible. We all want and expect a clear communication of roles, responsibilities and resources, and we expect to be evaluated as we perform our assigned tasks. We have to understand the dynamics of interpersonal relationships and how we are perceived by the people we are leading. We have to develop a competence and consistency in dealing with the people who are reporting to us. Indeed, we have to develop multiple skills, combining the sensitivity of a leader who is viewed as a capable and involved person with those of a trainer who provides the subordinate with skills enhancement and a defined pay off.

The new approach is employee-oriented rather than organization-oriented.

High Trust Leadership: High trust equals high performance.

Today’s younger generation, as well as many of the older generation, are assuming different interests which change the desired expectations and outcomes of their lives. We need to tune into these changes and be aware of the fact that unless we present a work environment that aligns with these expectations, we may not be able to keep our better employees. Without competent players, exemplary results become significantly more difficult to attain.

There is a pervasive and accelerating transition from the long term relationship between the employer and the employee, which represented the norm in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Quality of life, family and independence have become the priorities for the worker in the twenty-first century. Management must be aware of these needs and it has to address the means by which the organization and managers meet them.

Each of us can remember a number of instances when we asked someone to explain or show us how to do something. Whether riding a bike, shooting a basketball or solving a difficult puzzle, there was a moment when we asked for help. Yet, after we asked for help, we were impatient with the helper or coach and wanted to get back to hands-on as rapidly as possible. Your team members are no different. They want to put their spin on the advice or the directions. The easier the manager makes it for team members to set the rules on how and when they are coached, the more likely it is that they will develop the discipline to find the information themselves and make their own decisions. An integral part of coaching is teaching and reinforcing. Whether it is sports or business, winning and losing do not depend on trick plays or new systems. The information your competition has is the same as yours. So what are you going to use to win? It comes down to motivating people to work and to prepare to play as a team. In a word, it is COACHING.

Six Essential Skills;

There are six essential management skills, or personalities, that are needed in order to optimize our efforts to become an effective coach.

1- Relationship builder: Get to know your team well and as individuals. Make sure you understand them, their values, their personal goals, and their objectives.

2- Team builder: In understanding each member of the team it becomes imperative that the manager develops the skills to link and blend these individuals into a coordinated, cooperative, and cohesive team in order to address the common goals and objectives of all.

3- Planner: An effective manager must also be a planner. Your team will look to you for direction, strategies, improvement processes, etc. They will expect guidance in managing their time and activities. It is essential that you have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to define and establish well thought-out road maps and game plans for your team.

4- Interactive Communicator: The essential key to acheiving this skill and the foundation for successful interactions is effective and active listening. Acquiring and sharing know-ledge and information is an integral part of the business world.

5- Organizer: A manager must also be an effective organizer. Organization is essentially preparing a framework for getting the job done properly, effectively, and efficiently.

6- Experience gatherer: Finally managers need to focus on the need to become experience gatherers. Managers must continue to expand their knowledge and their skill base and share that growth with their team members. To be a good manager, you must be a good leader and a great coach first.

The importance of coaching is that the scope of opportunity and success expands significantly as the manager’s skill dimensions increase. Therefore, the more effectively the managers incorporate each management dimension into their management process, the more likely it is that they will be able to attain results that are otherwise perceived as unattainable.

Leadership Qualities;

– Challenging the process: thinking out of the box.

– Setting the example: Do what you want your team to do, lead by example.

– Recognizing and rewarding value: Look for the right things that team members do and reward them; do not look to catch mistakes.

– Enabling others to succeed and attain goals: Make it the team’s own goal that they will accomplish.

– Establishing and sharing your vision: Give the team a road map and future hopes and dreams to catch hold to.

– Maintaining your commitments: Never break a promise and ensure that the goals and objectives are clearly communicated.

The organizations which employ more effective coaches to lead their work force will have the upper hand in the competitive business world, and will be a center for attracting better people. Since everyone likes to be on a winning team, it is critical for organizations which want to maximize their resources, lower their operation costs, reduce their turnover and increase loyalty to build teams to win. I hope to see every organization building their own winning team and getting ahead of the game.

Yet, how can the Web be used for something more than surfing, chatting, making money, or wasting time? Can it provide an environment for learning? Can it be used with other educational technologies? What pedagogical possibilities do these technologies bring to schools, teachers, and students? In this article, I discuss this aspect of Internet.

One of the more explosive growth areas of the Web is distance learning. Web-based distance courses can run the range from text-based, e-mail, correspondence courses to full-blown interactive multimedia presentations. The vast majority of courses more closely resemble the text-based model, while many offerings use video, audio, and even some interactivity. Of particular interest is the newer interactive multimedia technologies found on the Web, such as Java, VRML, Shockwave, and others.

Several sites offer distance-learning offerings. The World Lecture Hall (www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/) offers hundreds of courses from universities all over the world, many with multimedia components. Java and VRML applets used in education are featured at www.gamelan.com. The Internet University (www.caso.com and www.internet-university.com) offers more than 500 courses. Other exemplary sites include San Francisco State University’s “Introduction to Multimedia” course, which features excellent design, interactive multimedia, graphics, streaming audio, and chat features (www.cel.sfsu.edu/MSP/msp.html). Also there are many homepages that offer free online courses, like www.learn.com and www.free-ed.net.

Educational Uses of the Internet

The following is a list of different educational uses of Internet. This is not exclusive, but rather a starting point.

Communication: Educators and students use the Internet to communicate when they exchange e-mail, contribute to electronic discussions groups, participate in Internet Relay Chat (“chat rooms”), and use video conferencing. These tools allow Internet users to send and receive messages from one or more people at the same time. The message may include words, pictures, illustrations, sounds, or movies (Education and the Internet 1996).

Collaborative Learning: Collaborative learning involves communication as well as individuals working in a cooperative team (Erkens & Kanselaar 1995). Team members share a common task and/or project. Collaborative projects may be student-based, for example, student-to-student and classroom-to-classroom projects that rely on teamwork established by teachers from different classrooms. Teacher-to-teacher and teacher-to-expert projects provide additional assistance and create a collaborative environment (Story 1996).

Resource Sharing and Information Gathering: Resource sharing consists of publishing information on the Internet for others to view and use. For educators, this includes lesson plans, learner activities, research papers, articles, newsletters, announcements, and school policies. The Web can serve as a gateway to the Internet’s vast resources. Educators and students use the Internet to solve problems, gain knowledge, and research almost any topic (Edwards, Havriluk, and Roblyer 1997).

Presentation Medium: Educators can use electronic presentation aids rather than overhead transparencies. For electronic presentations, users need a personal computer, presentation software (e.g., Adobe Persuasion, ClarisWorks Slideshow, Microsoft PowerPoint), and a projector. Software, hardware, and/or HTML scripting allows electronic presentation aids to be viewed via the Internet.

Interacting with Web Applications: With the Web’s multimedia capabilities, Web pages are being developed in such a way that users can input data and receive an output or a product. Search engines and dictionaries are examples of such interaction. Internet users can obtain e-mail addresses, interact with “live” animation, take virtual museum tours, locate an individual’s phone numbers, play games, and create their own Web pages. Feedback and assessment can be used to monitor student progress, control the learning pace, and evaluate teaching strategies. Using HTML Forms is a simple but powerful way to collect student feedback and control it to improve teaching. Forms collect data from students using Web-based course materials. Student feedback provides instructors an informed evaluation of their teaching. By using this evaluation method, instructors can get immediate feedback on course material, teaching style, and student progress. After this, they can make the necessary adjustments.

Interactive Multimedia Technologies

Every day Netscape, Microsoft, or another company announces an exciting new piece of technology that will deliver audio, animation, 3-D graphics, or allow one to wander through virtual spaces on the Web for free. Some of these are Live Audio, Shockwave, Java, Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), Active X, and QuickTime Video.

What is new about such technologies? Physics teachers using Java created an applet for projectile motion that allows users to set the launch angle and coefficient of linear air resistance.

It then animates the body’s trajectory and calculates some of its properties numerically. (http://www3.adnc.com/~topquark/fun/applets.html.) What’s new and fascinating about such applets is that they offer hard-to-do simulations of physical events, are free, can be demonstrated on several computer operating systems, are highly interactive, and can be accessed at any time by anyone in the world with an Internet connection.

What would an interactive multimedia course module delivered over the Web look like? Physics teachers could videotape real-world phenomena depicting certain laws of physics, for example, the Ferris wheel and the “whip” for circular motion. They could supplement the video with audio lecture material, allow students to manipulate variables in a Java program, use VRML to create 3-D walk-through virtual models of how the laws of projectile motion apply, animate the behavior of balls on a track, conduct a synchronous two-way conversation with one student or the entire class via chat lines, correspond with individual students asynchronously via e-mail, and then quiz and grade students using online interactive exams.

Are there other reasons for using multimedia in teaching? The power of multimedia to impact learning positively can be seen in physics. Laws of physics that run counter to students’ commonsense notions of how the world works provide a stimulating catalyst for further investigation. In “The Initial Knowledge State of College Physics Students” (Journal of Physics 1986), I. A. Halloun and D. Hestenes demonstrated that freshman physics students’ intuitive notions of the behavior of a ball leaving a track are often contrary to the laws of circular motion, a major topic in freshman physics.

Other research indicates that these misconceptions may be overcome through video and animation. In one experiment conducted at the University of Massachusetts, the path of a ball on a circled track was videotaped. A segment of the track then was removed, and another video segment captured the ball’s path as it was about to leave the track. When queried at this point as to where the ball would go next, many students get stuck: their instinctive senses tell them it will go off in an upward path or a downward, not the straight-ahead path that it actually takes. A third video segment showed the actual straight-lined path of the ball leaving the track. An animation done in Director and then put on the Web with Shockwave showed that a circle is really composed of an infinite number of straight lines, and that when the ball hits one of them it goes off in a straight line. This straight-line path is, in fact, counterintuitive to many students. Using these multimedia supplements to regular course materials could improve test grades significantly. Web-based course materials are being used extensively to provide supplementary as well as standalone instruction in educational settings. One of the Web’s most powerful elements is its ability to engage learners in an interactive format. Although many technologies allow teachers to develop interactive Web course materials and receive student feedback, many continue to use the Web only for distributing static documents. This severely limits its potential to improve the teaching-learning process. Most education Web sites provide such basic course information as syllabus, schedule, announcements, and reading lists. Others include synchronous or asynchronous communication, online testing, discussion groups, conferences, bulletin boards, and streaming audio and video. These materials are available for courses that meet in classrooms regularly and use Web materials as supplementary tools, as well as for courses delivered entirely over the Web and without any traditional classroom meetings.

Web Interactivity

Web interactivity helps engage students in the active application of knowledge, principles, and values. It also provides them with feedback that allows their understanding to grow and evolve. Chickering and Ehrmann (1998) suggest that while using technology to teach, educators should avoid didactic materials and search for technology-assisted solutions that are interactive, problem-oriented, and motivate students. Students can either read or print a static Web page; with an interactive Web page, they can interact with content, other students, and instructors, as well as participate in discussion groups, quiz questions, simulation program, conferencing, live chat, or fill out a feedback form. This Web-based informal assessment represents a cognitive behavior-modification technique designed to help students develop goal-setting behavior, planning, and self-monitoring. It also allows them to master concepts (Good and Brophy 1995). For example, students can regulate and monitor their own learning in a sequential and constructive fashion as they respond to the questions and receive ongoing feedback. In traditional, as well as Web-based courses, there is a gap between what is taught and what is learned. Reid (1997) mentions that methods of assessing the teaching and learning experience in online education are in high demand but short supply. No existing measurement adequately evaluates how well a teacher performs in a virtual classroom. Angelo and Cross (1993) observed that by cooperating in assessment, students reinforce their grasp of course content and strengthen their own self-assessment skills. Furthermore, student motivation is increased when they realize that teachers are interested in their success as learners. Teachers can empower themselves by using technologies to facilitate a proven educational process of receiving and acting on feedback from learners. This will lead to pedagogical improvements in interactive Web environments for assisting teaching and promoting learning.

Top Educational Resources on the Web

Education World (www.education-world.com): A free resource for primary and secondary school educators. It includes lesson plans, articles by education experts, and information on using technology in the classroom. Developed by people with backgrounds in education, the site contains more than 8,000 pages, a weekly e-zine, and a searchable database of over 115,000 education links. Strength: a well-organized interface to the world of primary and secondary education; original material and good annotations. Weakness: needs more quality evaluation of the links so that educators are guided toward the most valuable resources. GSN (http://www.gsn.org): Global School Net Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to the instructional application of telecommunications at the primary and secondary school levels. It includes a registry of the best curriculum projects, tutorials, articles about Internet use in the classroom, news and discussion, and events and contests. It also includes a link to the collaborative project with Microsoft to create a comprehensive site for education resources on the Internet. Strength: appealing interface; good selections from many sources. Weakness: inconsistent design does not do justice to the depth and breadth of offerings. Blue Web’n (http: //www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn): This is a library of Internet-based instructional information for primary and secondary school levels. You can search this database quickly by audience type, application type, content area, and other search terms. It contains activities, lessons, references, tools, and projects listed for a variety of educational audiences, and is part of the Pacific Bell initiative (Education First) and umbrella program to benefit education (Knowledge Network). Strength: quick way to search for lessons and resources; good method for reviews of resources; Weakness: a bit over-generous with the ratings stars, caveat surfer. AskERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) (http://ericir.syr.edu): ERIC is a clearinghouse on information and technology. Its collection of education-related resources is funded by the American government. AskERIC includes a question-and-answer service, a virtual library, and a research and development team. Collections are well-organized and frequently updated. Strength: broad coverage of many educational topics; extensive support for educators. Weakness: graphic slab design of Web; coverage is not deep in all areas; some resources are outdated. EDUCAUSE (http://www.educause.edu/): This association manages and uses information technology in higher education. The site includes a discussion of current issues, conference information, professional development, publications, information services, and collaborative alliances with other organizations. It focuses on the future of higher education in the information age. Strength: this site is well organized and has breadth and depth; Weakness: not all content is available online.

References

Angelo, T., and K. Cross. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. 2d ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993. Chickering, A., and S. Ehrmann. “Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as a Lever.” Retrieved November 3, 1998 from www.tltgroup.org/resources/darticles.html Edwards, J., M. A. Havriluk, and M. D. Roblyer, M. D. (1997). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997. Erkins, G., and G. Kanselaar. “A Cooperative System for Collaborative Problem Solving.” 1995. http://www-cscl95.indiana.edu/cscl95/kanselaar.html Good, T. L. and J. Brophy. Contemporary Educational Psychology. 5th ed. New York: Longman, 1995 Knuth, R. A., and D. J. Cunningham. “Tools for Constructivism.” In T. Duffy, J. Lowych, and D. Jonassen (Eds.), Designing Environments for Constructivist Learning. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1993, 163-87. Reid, J., Jr. “Measurements in Online Study: Items Useful in Quantifying Pedagogical, Social and Technical Issues.” 1997. Retrieved November 3, 1998 from www.caso.com/articles/reid05.html Story, D. “World Wide Web 101.” 1996. www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/M2311.cfm

The great transformation that followed the Industrial Revolution at the end of Middle Ages created imbalances between the legitimate use of resources and environmental well-being. The Industrial Revolution brought about improvements in agriculture, the large-scale production of iron and steel, the development of machinery, and the factory mode of production. Behind these changes lay a new energy system based on the rapid expansion of the use of coal as fuel. Coal dominated industrial society’s energy production until well into the twentieth century, when oil and gas superseded it. These cheap, concentrated, and abundant fossil fuels led to the explosive growth of population, wealth, technology, production, and trade. Cheap energy tilted the balance between the careful use of resources with a maximum effectiveness and the polluting effects of these resources.

Contemporary industrial civilization differs strikingly from traditional civilizations in two important ways. Both these differences have impacted upon the present environmental crisis. First, the huge consumption of fossil fuels and use of modern technology have enabled unprecedented production levels of goods and wealth accumulation, and have allowed large numbers of people to live in luxury. Although this production has not required traditional forms of slavery, a large portion of humanity has been left out of the productive process or benefits little from the wealth it produces. Second. industrial society exhibits growth and innovation rates so much faster than any previous civilization that a new situation has emerged. The increase of the world’s population is the most obvious kind of growth: It doubled between 1850 and 1930, and then doubled again between 1930 and 1975. Though growth rates have peaked. the world’s population may double again between 1975 to and 2010. Meanwhile, technological innovation has accelerated so rapidly that many persons living today can remember a world into which no cars, airplanes, or radios existed. Technological changes in transportation and communication have been viewed, until quite recently, as instruments of progress. Now they are being reexamined for the rate of energy consumed and the quality of life delivered. Further innovations may have a different character.

Innovative, energy-intensive technology exacerbates two tendencies found in both industrial society that it shares with and traditional civilizations:

” These civilizations developed large integrated economic and political systems. Industrial (and post-industrial) society is rapidly incorporating the whole world into its integrated economy.

” Traditional civilizations tended to be so unstable that few flourished for more than a few centuries. Industrial society becomes dysfunctional as it depletes resources, pollutes the environment, and manufactures weapons, all at a rate that many believe cannot be sustained for even a century longer.

The development of large-scale technology in the service of extensive, complex institutions has engendered a new situation. Never before has so much energy been available for human use. The novelty of the sheer quantity of energy is matched by its concentration. In this century, the governments of industrial nations have increased and centralized their power. In recent decades, the appearance and expansion of multinational corporations and energy conglomerates has allowed the leaders of a few institutions to determine much of our planet’s future. These firms are drawing the whole world into a single integrated economy dedicated to establishing a universal, high-energy consumer culture. No previous time has seen, on a global level, such an acceleration of growth and social change as that caused by these institutions.

Better living conditions for all is the well-publicized promise offered by the present industrial society. And although in absolute numbers more people are hungry than ever before, it is true that today more people, and a higher percentage of people, are wealthier than at any time in the past. The revolution of rising expectations suggests that the world’s poor increasingly believe that economic development and industrialization will bring affluence even to them.

But the costs and dangers of the present order are no less familiar. The growing world economy’s voracious appetite exploits resources at an unprecedented and accelerating rate. Huge though the global reserves of usable natural resources are, present trends ensure their depletion within an ominously brief time. The processes of the world global economy poison the environment on which we all depend, and the accompanying misuse of land and water threatens, over time, to transform large parts of the planet into desert.

The shift from a world consisting of many societies with largely self-reliant economies to a single global society with an integrated economy makes the whole system vulnerable to disaster, should one essential part of the system malfunction. War or large-scale revolution anywhere in the world may disrupt the economic and political stability of the entire world. Thus, while the global economy serves us, it makes us dependent and transforms us into its slaves, for when its smooth functioning becomes necessary for our survival, its perpetuation, whatever the cost, becomes our most urgent and necessary task. When its smooth functioning depends on a disciplined, rational, careful work force, all that is spontaneous, emotional, exuberant, and unpredictable-qualities that make up part of our humanity-must be sacrificed. Such issues are already beginning to emerge in the nuclear power debate.

In this age of cheap and abundant energy, we feel as powerless to affect the decisions of Exxon as of OPEC. We can feel the edge of the old adage that technological advance does not give power to people generally, but gives some people greater power over many other people. Environmental costs in the form of stripped landscapes, polluted waterways, marine oil slicks, and smog are increasing. If we do not act now, we will continue to pay the human costs in increased regimentation and rising cancer deaths.

The decline of what Muslims ethicists call “contentment” (qana’at) and the rise of a consumer society have made every whim and appetite worth pursuing. Unmitigated pleasure can be enjoyed without struggle, self-discipline, or hang-over. Advertising often gives the impression that advancing technology and a high-energy life style can fulfill all our desires at the touch of a finger. A high-energy life style offers instant gratification in the form of fast food, electronic entertainment, high-speed travel, air conditioning and central heating, painkilling drugs, and laborsaving machinery.

The human aspiration to overcome biological limits, to extend the boundaries of human knowledge, power, and experience as far as possible, regardless of the cost, has led to the space program, supersonic transport, and the development of fusion power. These infinite aspirations are enclosed in finite flesh, and thus present a contradiction that must be resolved by religion, for it is religion that makes us aware of the limits by showing us death as an imminent reality.

It is ironic that although we witness death almost every day, the certainty of our own death always lurks on the fringes of consciousness. In his book The Denial of Death (New York: Free Press, 1974). Ernest Becker argues that since we know we are to die and are therefore doomed to live in a tragic and terrifying world, the situation calls for new heroism (basically matters of belief and will), dedicated to a vision. “But modern man is drinking and drugging himself out of awareness or he spends his time shopping, which is the same thing.”

The vision to be free includes not only freedom from human finitude and death, but also repudiation of the smelly, messy, and transient fleshiness of our own bodies. Bodies originate in the soil. They feel hunger and thirst. They eat and drink and defecate. They fall sick, deteriorate with age, die, and rot in the dirt. They also generate passions, irrational emotions, and “lower” impulses. They engender lust, lechery, and fornication. How could anyone with such a body become free? Repudiating the body and physical work only encourages our penchant for mechanization.

We live and make public policy in industrial culture as if we half-believed these dreams to be real. We pursue scientific research as if the knowledge gained will improve rather than threaten human well-being. We talk and plan as if industrial civilization will continue forever. Such a pretense has a long historical lineage in history. The Pharaohs and Qaruns, as the Qur’an reminds us, believed in their own divinity and hence eternity. The Greeks observed that those whose ambitions and success raised them too high suffered a fatally distorted perception of reality-called arrogance-that led to a form of madness inevitably resulting in their downfall.

Fortunately, an alternative does exist. Environmentalism has an important religious dimension. It does not demand a sudden end to technological advancement, but rather calls for stringent measures to develop a morally and spiritually satisfying life style for all. Only such a strategy might succeed in arresting environmental deterioration and establishing and then maintaining satisfying and egalitarian human communities for long into the future.

RELIGIOUSLY INSPIRED ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Religion remains an important source of moral-spiritual awareness that engenders responsibility and accountability for the individual as well as the collective good. Religious beliefs help make sense out of many otherwise inexplicable human conditions. It is religion that reminds humanity of its creatureliness. Belief in the transitory nature of life and final judgment in the Divine court means abandoning the aspiration to surpass human limits and of the pretense that gaining power will not bring with it the often irresistible temptation to misuse it.

This must not mean an end of scientific enterprise, but rather a careful directing of science and technology to those activities that really will improve the quality of human life. Mortality remains the greatest measure of human limitation, and a spiritual-moral culture must find ways to help people face the sorrow connected with their own death and the deaths of those they love. At the same time, it must reconcile us to our limited sojourn on Earth without denigrating our bodies. The pious life must involve physical labor as well as prayer.

These considerations soon become a question about the meaning of human life. Whether a high-energy, consumerist society can for long preserve humane conditions is much in doubt. The choice of the right path to arrest the deteriorating condition is, in part, ours.

If we, as Muslims, believe that the Earth’s resources are a part of God’s creation, we must use them in a way that ensures that all life, present and future, will have access to its needed resources. We must also make sure that any threats to life from the pollution engendered by our use of these same resources are minimized.

As followers of Islam, the religion that encourages us to prove the existence of the “Master of the Day of Judgment” through natural phenomena, we should reflect seriously upon the relationship between religion and the environment.

Why should Muslims pay attention to environmental ethics? I can think of at least three answers:

First, the Qur’anic imperative: “Do not defile the Earth…” (7:54). The Islamic revelation calls upon humanity to avoid corrupting the Earth. Although “corruption” here means defiling the material as well the spiritual environment, the Qur’an underscores the interrelationship between the material and spiritual dimensions of the problem. Spiritual problems cannot be worked out apart from correcting humanity’s relations with the physical environment. Human beings must live in harmony with the environment if they want to avoid becoming alienated from nature. The Qur’an repeatedly points toward the portents of God’s existence in nature, for it states that both terrestrial and celestial bodies are all the ayat (signs or proofs) of the Divine presence. In order to overcome their alienation from God, human beings must learn to live in harmony with their physical and mental environments.

Second, humanity is entrusted with the khilafa of God. This position can be interpreted as conveying humanity’s “lordship” over God’s creation and that nature exists to serve human beings. In fact, some environmentalists claim that such an anthropocentric view, commonly held by Abrahamic religions, is the source of our environmental crisis. However, it must be pointed out that although religion has an important place in determining people’s ideas and culture, it is too simplistic to extract such “lordship” from the creation story. Quite the contrary, for this khiafa implies God’s commandment to human beings to assume “stewardship” over His creation, to continue to watch over the world and its creatures as benevolent, responsible guardians. For Muslims, humanity is God’s trustee and therefore must serve the purposes of the “Master of the Day of Judgment.” The Earth belongs to God, and He has entrusted us with its safekeeping. As such, all human beings are answerable for their actions, for how they use or abuse this Trust of God.

Third, there is a purpose in human life: to worship (‘ibada) God. I am using the word ‘ibada here in its essential meaning of “serving” God by fulfilling all that God requires us to do. This includes living in harmony and peace with one another. In Islam, faith in God means being aware of matters of ultimate concern. There is a sense of urgency in such an understanding of faith. The Qur’an speaks about of the Day of Judgment in terms of urgency and calls upon human beings to respond to their limited life on Earth.

The spiritual and physical environments face constant challenges by human behavior. Just as awareness about moral dangers should create in us a sense of urgency when we are warned that excessive materialism will damage spiritual well-being, pollution of the physical environment must be treated as a matter of ultimate significance. Environmentalists all over the world warn us that our oceans are rising and so we are going to be drowned, that our food and water are filled with chemicals and so we are going to die of cancer, that the ozone hole will introduce lethal radiation from outer space, and that we actually are going to destroy ourselves, thereby proving that the cosmic experiment of intelligent life on Earth has been a failure. These issues are related to the ultimate value of human life.

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

The Qur’an declares that “reforming the Earth” is the ideal human endeavor. It also criticizes humanity for several very basic human traits: that human beings are too proud and petty, narrow-minded, and selfish. “Man is by nature timid,” says the Qur’an. “When evil befalls him, he panics, but when good things come to him he prevents them from reaching others.” This pettiness causes individuals to become so submerged in nature that they lose sight of its Creator. Only when nature fails them do they turn, in utter frustration, to God. Their shortsightedness deludes them into thinking that charity, altruism, and sacrificing for others will impoverish them. This, however, is Satan’s influence, for God promises prosperity in return for generosity to the poor.

The Qur’an insists, therefore, that individuals transcend their pettiness and enlarge themselves in order to develop the inner moral quality of taqwa (usually translated ‘fear of God,” but actually meaning, “to guard against danger”). Using taqwa, individuals can discern right from wrong and, above all, evaluate their own actions properly and so avoid self-deception, a danger to which they are always exposed. People often think they have done something consequential, although in the long run the deed has no importance. The real worth of one’s deeds can be judged only through taqwa, and an individual’s aim should be the ultimate benefit of humanity, not the self’s immediate pleasures or ambitions.

The Qur’an (6:38) declares in no uncertain terms that: “There is no creature upon the Earth or in the skies that does not form part of a community as you do. All things progress through life thanks to Divine guidance: some are more advanced, some are less advanced.” This means that humanity is not the only community living on the Earth. God’s sustaining provisions reach all of His creatures, and thus all are worthy of respect and protection. Prophet Muhammad regarded all living creatures as worthy of protection and kind treatment. When asked whether kindness to animals will be rewarded, he said: “For charity shown to any creature with a wet heart, there is a reward,” (wetness indicates life). This tradition also suggests humanity’s stewardship over nature.

The Qur’an does not regard nature as opposed to God for, in reality, nature is muslim, meaning “submitted to God’s Will.” Every creature that exists in the heavens or upon the Earth bows its head in submission to God’s laws, willingly or unwillingly. “The seven heavens and the Earth and all that exists within them sing the praises of God; there is no atom that does not praise God with thanks and gratitude, although you may be unaware of how this praise is expressed.” (17:44; 3:38). Giving thanks imparts worth and value, and the Qur’an emphasizes God’s greatness and glory by including animate and inanimate creatures in His worship. Such inclusion is designed to create a respect and reverence for nature in human beings. Nature is in harmony with those individuals who give thanks. Just as when people of different cultural and ethnic backgrounds overcome their fear of each other when they pray together, this shared aspect of creatureliness overcomes the alienation between humanity and nature.

There is a total harmony between God and nature. There is however, an unfolding process and progression in nature, for God placed in it a creative power that made it grow, bifurcate, and ramify. The Qur’an asks: “Do the unbelievers not see that We have created the planets [in this solar system from the burning, swirling gases that] We tore away from [the sun as it revolved]? Do they not see that We created every living thing from water [that is, this viscous soup of solar gases]?)” (21:30).

God gave nature the power of growth, bifurcation, progression, and change. The Qur’an abounds in statements that nature is the proof (ayah) of God’s existence, unity, and wisdom. Nature is well-knit and originally without any flaw. God has created every thing according to a its proper measurement (qadar). Nature is therefore one of His prime miracles. Thoughtful reflections on this divine miracle and keen observation of it can lead us to faith in God and encourage us to worship God. Nature is the reminder (dhikr) of God. The Qur’an calls upon humanity to reflect on nature and learn from it:

“In the creation of the heavens and the Earth, and in the alternation of night and day [in which the means of livelihood are found] there are signs [of Truth] for those with the ability and will to understand. Those who, whether sitting, standing or reclining on their sides, remember God and deliberate upon the creation of the heavens and the Earth [and the purpose that underpins the whole cosmos] saying: “0 Lord! You have not created all this in vain. May You be glorified: You are far above the creation of playthings and trifles. So, 0 Lord, deliver us from the fires of Hell!'” (3:190-91).

The Qur’an emphasizes three dimensions of the human-nature relationship, with nature functioning as the proof of God’s existence:

• Worship engendered by nature

• Appreciation of beauty and aesthetics derived through nature

• Gratitude based on the realization of utility and value in nature.

The Qur’an teaches that nature has surrendered itself to the laws of God and thus is muslim. Nature is not only muslim in the sense that it obeys God’s laws and rules; the Qur’an (17:44) goes one step further and says that all nature sings God’s praises, although ordinary human senses cannot grasp that form of worship.

Whereas nature is the handiwork of God and the Qur’an speaks of its beauty, value, and goodness, it also underscores the purposefulness of creation. Everything in creation has a purpose, and everything functions as a sign of God’s existence. Moreover, God created the natural world long before human beings, thus making human beings dependent on the natural order for their survival. There is no reason why human beings should be valued more than other creatures when the human body depends on and is connected with the biotic and abiotic parts of this ecosystem. All living creatures are part of the divine purpose, and are interconnected in the ecological system. Human beings must realize this interconnectedness with the rest of nature and must reach out to all other sentient beings (17:44: 22:18).

The Qur’anic verse: “Every created being has a size [and proportion known to God alone]” (13:8; 15:21) proclaims the natural balance that needs to be preserved for ecological systems. The massive ecological damage caused by humanity indicates its disobedience to God. It is humanity’s responsibility to maintain ecological balance as a proof of its gratitude to the Creator. In Islam, the requirement of tahara (ritual purity), usually understood in the context of Muslim ritual cleansing, has an extended application: the elimination of internal and external impurities that pollute our body and spirit. Thus water, an important source of ritual tahara and human consumption must be kept pure. This general rule applies to other ecological systems, mountain ranges, and waterfalls also, because they are essential for healthy living.

THE HUMANITY-ENVIRONMENT RELATIONSHIP

In Islam, an individual’s relationship with the environment is governed by certain moral precepts. These originate with God’s creation of humanity and the role it was given as God’s vicegerent (khalifa) on Earth. This vicegerency covers every aspect of life, be it individual, social, or environmental. It regulates a whole spectrum of relationships with God, one’s own self, other human beings, and with animate and inanimate objects. Diverse elements in God’s creation, including humans, form essential parts of God’s measured and balanced creation.

The role of human beings, however, is not only to benefit from their surroundings. They are expected to preserve, protect, and promote their fellow creatures. The Prophet emphasized this interdependency in a tradition: “All creatures are God’s dependents, and the best among them is the one who is most beneficial to God’s dependents.” Through his own example, the Prophet laid down the rules of caring for trees, animals, and all natural elements. He encouraged others to do the same as part of their religious-ethical responsibility by making such assertions as: “The only reasons God does not cause His punishment to pour over you are the presence of the elderly, the suckling babes, and the animals that graze upon your land.”

Humanity has an ethical responsibility, then, to face the challenge of acting as God’s trustee over His creation, for human beings have been given the gift of intuitive reasoning. This means that human beings are responsible for their actions:

“We offered the Trust to the heavens, the Earth, and the mountains [namely that they attain autonomous existence and acquire total responsibility for their own actions]; but they declined, afraid that they would be unable [to meet the challenge]. But humanity accepted [the Trust], for it was ignorant and unjust” (33:73).

But, as history shows us, human beings often act with arrogance and injustice, not only toward one another, but also toward nature. They think they control nature by discovering, domineering, and then exploiting the laws undergirding natural phenomena. However, since it is God Who has given these laws to nature, He sometimes disrupts its natural course to remind human beings that He is still in control. The Qur’an reminds humanity of its arrogance and forgetfulness by underlining the alienation and desperation of human beings when nature departs from its ordained path:

“It is He Who enables you to travel across land and sea. [Picture this:] a boat full of [passengers is crossing] the waters carried along by gently winds. Suddenly the weather changes; a fierce storm tosses the vessel this way and that, while huge waves threaten to capsize it. [Forsaking their false gods, the terrified seafarers] cry out [to the One True God] with complete sincerity saying: ‘0 God! We swear that if You save us from this [storm] we shall be truly grateful!’ But when God delivers them [safely to the shore) they return to their selfish and evil ways. 0 people! Your selfishness and arrogance will be your downfall” (10:22-23).

Human beings, however, are the most honored creation of God (17:70). That which distinguishes humanity from nature is humanity’s possession of reason, knowledge of right and wrong, and its moral agency to act with freedom. Cognition and volition were specifically given to human being so they could exercise authority over and take responsibility for preserving the natural order. The Qur’an records the angels’ doubts about humanity’s ability to fulfill the responsibilities of stewardship: “Will they not abuse the authority and corrupt God’s creation?” God silenced the angels by reminding them that He knew what they did not know (2:30).

Although the Qur’an does not draw the following conclusion, it is not difficult to demonstrate that the test for human beings has always remained the just exercise of authority over those under their stewardship, including nature. The just exercise of power without fully and sincerely submitting to the will of God and accepting social responsibility and personal accountability to maintain a healthy spiritual and material environment can-and has-lead to the present ecological injustices. There is nothing more dangerous to human well-being than the unsupervised exercise of power. According to Seyyid Hussein Nasr: “There is no more dangerous a creature on the Earth than a khalifat Allah who no longer considers himself to be ‘abd Allah and who therefore does not see himself as owing allegiance to a being beyond himself. Such a creature is able to possess a power of destruction which is truly Satanic in the sense that ‘Satan is the ape of God’; for such a human type wields, at least for a short time, a god-like but destructive dominion over the earth because this dominion is devoid of the care which God displays towards all His creatures and bereft of that love which runs through the arteries of the universe.”

The Qur’an says that God created everything in the heavens and Earth for the sake of humanity (22:65; 45:13). However, it is not primarily a relationship of subjugation and utilization of nature. Rather, the meaning of this statement suggests that human beings are the most important beneficiaries of the natural world and possess priority over the other creations of God. At the same time, their moral agency places upon them responsibilities toward other creatures who also depend for their survival on the resources of this biosphere. The Prophet said: “The earth is made for me as a place of prostration (masjid) and as a purifier.” This means that the soil has to be kept pure and be used with care and reverence, since it is the place on which a Muslim prostrates as a symbol of complete humility and submission to God.

Thus, the fundamental aspect of environmental ethics in Islam requires human beings to intervene to protect the Earth. They cannot claim exclusive rights over everything in nature, as some interpreters have done. They cannot stand back while the environment is being destroyed. Furthermore, human responsibility is not limited to a particular period of history, for all must work to leave this world in a better shape and order for future generations and other animate and inanimate species.

The Prophet is reported as having said: “God is beautiful and loves everything beautiful. God is generous and loves generosity, and is pure and loves purity.” Islam emphasizes nature’s beauty, goodness, and value, and creates among its followers an attitude of reverence and respect for nature without making them its worshippers or slaves. In Islam, human beings are neither the masters nor slaves of nature; humans and nature are interrelated in their worship of God, and it is humanity’s duty to serve God and take care of His creation.

THE SACRED LAW OF ISLAM AND ECOJUSTICE

The Shari’a is the Divine blue-print for the Islamic social order. It is a network of duties and responsibilities toward God, one’s own self, other human beings, and the rest of creation. It is important to note that the Shari’a is a comprehensive system that considers life an organic whole. Human beings and all biotic and abiotic members of the biosphere are components of this whole. The Shari’a creates a moral order where humans, individually and collectively, on the micro-level and the macro-level recognize their worth and value, fulfill their duties toward others, and establish an order of peace, justice, and equilibrium.

The fundamental principles of the Shari’a are justice and balance. It seeks to establish a balance between human freedom and welfare, human rights and duties, and individual and communal goals. Seyyid Hussein Nasr has highlighted the following guidance of the Shari’a in matters of environmental ethics:

“The divine law (al-Shari’ah) is explicit in extending the religious duties of man to the natural order and the environment. One must not only feed the poor but also avoid polluting running water. It is pleasing in the eyes of God not only to be kind to one’s parents, but also to plant trees, and treat animals gently and with kindness.”

The ethical concerns of Islam are summed up in the following five guidelines provided by the Qur’an and the Sunna:

• Use of the natural environment is permissible, but should not involve unnecessary destruction. “Do not be wasteful” (7:31) is the Qur’anic dictum.

• Life’s component elements must be protected so that their use may continue in a sustainable way.

• Preservation of the environment must be undertaken in an altruistic fashion, and not merely for its benefit to human beings. Other members of the biosphere who share this planet must be kept in mind.

• The process of development must sustain life, even if one anticipates no direct benefit from it.

• Sustainable use of the ecosystem requires that life is maintained with due balance in everything. Human beings are not the owners, but rather the maintainers, of this balance.

In conclusion, it is worth remembering that as we prepare for the world to come, and even as we run toward our Lord, the Prophet has reminded us to care for the environment. He said: “If the last day comes and one of you has a palm-seedling that he was going to plant, let him plant it, because God will reward him for doing so.”

What this tradition seems to emphasize is that even when the world is ending and a person sees no apparent reason for planting trees, he or she is still commanded to do so because it is pleasing to God. This statement sums up Islam’s environmental ethics: at no time should a Muslim neglect his or her responsibility to think about the environment and its protection. This responsibility is engendered by our faith in God’s wisdom and our own well-being. It is the convergence of faith and action in Islam that essentially links the environment to religion: one who does not use natural resources carefully so that all beings, present and future, have access to the resources they need, has violated the divinely ordained ecosystem.