Eboo Patel is founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core. This is his reflection on the answer Senator Clinton gave to his question at Sunday night’s Compassion Forum for the presidential candidates. The full exchange between Patel and Senator Clinton is below.
My question to Senator Clinton addressed how Americans of all faiths and no faith at all can apply the ethic of compassion to global poverty and climate change without changing our standard of living. I appreciated Senator Clinton’s response about small personal lifestyle changes one can make in addressing climate change without vastly changing one’s standard of living.
However, in addition to talking about personal lifestyle changes, I feel Senator Clinton could have addressed efforts the White House should embrace for our entire country, such as developments in green technologies, or emphasizing the importance of creative philanthropy and microfinance in addressing both climate change and poverty. Pointing out the leadership of the Vatican in becoming the first carbon neutral state in the world serves as a great example of an entire community working together to serve the larger community.
Nonetheless, I found Senator Clinton’s hope to serve as a model for climate change improvements heartening. Leading the Interfaith Youth Core – an organization that works with young people to promote a narrative of religious cooperation and interfaith leadership – has shown me how important it is to keep moving forward in an arena that can seem daunting. Our country needs courageous and compassionate leadership to help us take steps in the right direction, to transition from individual efforts to systematic change, and it is my personal hope that any U.S. President be committed to doing just that.
The Compassion Forum exchange:
common value of compassion.
Americans of all faiths and no faith at all genuinely believe in compassion and want to apply that in addressing global poverty and climate change. Can we do that without changing our standard of living?
Senator Clinton: Well, I believe there is so much we can do that we’re not doing that would not change our standard of living as an imposition from the outside, but which would inspire us to take action that would impact how we live.
And I don’t think we would notice it demonstrably undermining our standard of living, but it would give us the opportunity to set an example and to be a model.
When I think about the simple steps any one of us can take — you know, turning off lights when one leaves a room, unplugging appliances, changing to compact florescent bulbs — you know, my husband and I have done that — I don’t think it’s impacted our standard of living, but we feel like we’re making a small contribution to limiting the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, you know, being more mindful of our purchases.
I hope that, as president, I can model that and lead that effort so that people don’t feel so threatened by the changes we’re talking about when it comes to dealing with global warming.
In preparation for the pope’s visit, I was reading that the Vatican is the first carbon-neutral state in the world now. Well, that shows leadership. And I don’t think it has impacted the work or the living. You know, Ambassador Flynn, who was our ambassador to the Vatican, might
know. But it was a great statement.
And we can do more. And I think that, with leadership, people will find ways to take those first steps. And then we can take even more.
Now there’s so much that I have to do as president with the cap in trade system, with moving away from our dependence on foreign oil, but I’m going to look for ways that will cushion the costs on middle class and working and poor people. Because I don’t believe that they should have to bear more than what they are bearing right now as we make this
transition. And I believe we can accomplish that.
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