Scientology Churches everywhere are holding green-themed community forums June 5 designed to encourage environmental responsibility and assure the planet’s future ecological survival.

In observance of World Environment Day, Scientology Churches from Mexico City to Kaohsiung, Los Angeles to Johannesburg, and Melbourne to Madrid—in partnership with local leaders who share their commitment to a greener, more responsible culture—opened their doors today for the community to come together in the interest of a sustainable future.

This year’s World Environment Day motto is, “Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume With Care.” This simple but powerful message encourages people to rethink their lifestyles and, through conscious consumer decisions, decrease humanity’s collective impact on nature’s resources.

In its World Environment Day launch, the United Nations Environment Programme imparts the lesson that if today’s unsustainable consumption and production patterns persist, by 2050 we will have bankrupted the planet; it will take the Earth three years to regenerate the resources we use in a single year.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his World Environment Day Message for 2015, emphasized this point: “The goal of sustainable development is to increase the quality of life for all people without increasing environmental degradation, and without compromising the resource needs of future generations.”

Scientologists see today’s environmental problems as a moral issue, believing increased morality to be the essential factor in resolving this and the many other crises faced by the human family—that working to increase environmental responsibility without addressing morality in general would be an exercise in futility.  

In 1981, when Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote his famous nonreligious moral code The Way to Happiness, he emphasized environmental responsibility as a key aspect of moral behavior. He included “Safeguard and Improve Your Environment” as one of the 21 precepts that comprise this code:

“The idea that one has a share in the planet and that one can and should help care for it may seem very large and, to some, quite beyond reality,” he wrote, “but today what happens on the other side of the world, even so far away, can affect what happens in your own home.

“Cut down too many forests, foul too many rivers and seas, mess up the atmosphere and we have had it. The surface temperature can go roasting hot, the rain can turn to sulfuric acid. All living things could die.”

The book further points out that “Care of the planet begins in one’s own front yard.”

“Care of the planet begins in one’s own front yard”  

Those in attendance at the Church’s World Environment Day events were introduced to The Way to Happiness and a curriculum created for educators, teachers and community leaders to use the book, its public service announcements and the feature-length The Way to Happiness book-on-film to enlighten their friends, families and communities. This gives a simple tool to anyone wishing to create a saner, more ethical world.  

 

The book’s ability to bring about a basic understanding of the role a moral code plays in life is profound. A New York City school superintended who has adopted The Way to Happiness and its educational curriculum for his students describes it as “important because it establishes a framework for what young people are going to do with the rest of their lives. You are talking about a pathway. You’re talking about an opportunity to start to make some decisions that can govern your future.”

“it establishes a framework for what young people are 
going to do with the rest of their lives”

A senior U.S. Army official found that it is “truly a guide to living a happy and productive life. The day-to-day challenges we face often seem insurmountable. However, honesty and kindness are contagious. The sharing of these traits will make our world a better place.”

The Way to Happiness, now published in 112 languages, has brought calm to communities torn by violence, peace to areas ravaged by civil strife and self-respect to millions of individuals—in schools, prisons, churches, youth and community centers.

To uplift every sector of society, the nonprofit, secular The Way to Happiness Foundation International headquarters in Glendale, California, was established as the coordination center for worldwide activities. Through support of the Churches of Scientology and Scientologists, The Way to Happiness and its educational materials and programs are now utilized in every corner of the globe, helping to instill a higher level of honesty, trust and self-respect throughout every culture.