Doha Climate Change Conference COP 18 – Qatar 2012: Climate Change & Personal Responsibility•What is needed is a profound shift in awareness to transform the quality of the conversation and action
among stakeholders: we need to recognize that our preferences and behaviors shape our actions. Realchange must begin – and be sustained – in the minds and hearts of human beings.

•There is more than adequate data and evidence of the contribution of human activity to climatechange, and therefore the need for change in our behavior. All individuals and countries need to takeresponsibility and have a commitment to action.

•It´s time for individuals to act with conscience. Our planet is a home, not a commodity… it’s time forindividuals to use their inner resources in a sustainable way.

•We must all seek equitable outcomes that recognize we all inhabit the same planet, and that we allinherit the outcomes of the collective actions taken on our behalf by our communities andgovernments.

•Our failure to really see and act on the extent of the current problems is a reflection of our collective
reluctance to take personal responsibility for what is happening. This failure is due to our inability to see
the linkages between our individual and collective attitudes, thoughts and actions and the impact ofthese on nature and the planet.

•Nature is signaling the need for a shift of consciousness and a need to return to the values which sustain
and nurture the planet, and all those who inhabit it. Nature protects when she is protected.

•The loss of complex ecosystems causes serious problems for humanity, such as an increased
vulnerability to natural disasters, poverty and famine, and an overall reduction in the global
population’s health and wellbeing. We must address the problems that exist at the level of attitude, andits associated behaviour, within all of us.

•It´s time for individuals and communities to use inner resources to help manage our response to theseenvironmental issues. It will be difficult to stop or slow these impacts, but we can support adaptation andsustain community values through personal empowerment, inner resilience and a return to civic values.

•Adopting a less materialistic or more sustainable lifestyle helps save the planet’s resources. Statistics
indicate that after satisfying basic needs, a life of simplicity creates higher levels of well-being.

•Mitigation and adaptation must start within ourselves before we can hope to affect the systems andprocesses of the communities around us.

•The UN is rare in its ability to convene the world’s member nations on behalf of the interests of the wholeworld. The urgency of the Climate Change initiative requires our most profound vision and most unselfish
action agenda.

Contact us:•••

Brahma Kumaris Office for the United Nations, 866 UN Plaza, Suite 436, New York, NY 10017, USATel: +1-212-688 1335, environment@brahmakumaris.org, http://un.brahmakumaris.org
Brahma Kumaris Spiritual Headquarters, Pandav Bhawan, PO Box 2, Mount Abu 307501, Rajasthan, India
International Coordinating Office, Global Co-operation House, 65-69 Pound Lane, London NW10 2HH, UK

The Brahma Kumaris is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) of the United Nations, in general consultative status with
the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It is also affiliated to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) and is an accredited
observer organization to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

environment.brahmakumaris.org