The Impact of Rastafari Ecological Ethic in Zimbabwe: A Contemporary Discourse

Abstract

Climate change is a critical challenge that the world is facing today. The impact of climate change has resulted in a global climactic disaster on the environment and humanity. Nevertheless, the commitment from some rich nations towards reducing the effects of anthropogenic global warming is half-hearted to the detriment of the poorer ones. Whereas a number of contributions to the ongoing debate on the climate change have emanated from sectors such as social sciences, environmental studies and politics, this study adopts a fresh paradigm by engaging religion. Specifically, the study seeks to examine the contribution of Rastafari faith to the preservation and reclamation of the environment. The paper posits that religion has a vital role to play in the mitigation of the climate change which has brought environmental disaster. Therefore, it is urgent to involve religious players in strategies and actions that are meant to address environmental degradation. The study examines the efforts of the Marcus Garvey Rastafari House of Nyahbinghi Order in Zimbabwe. The paper utilises the grassroots methodology, interviews and observation techniques to gather data that is corroborated with the phenomenological approach to unravel the trend in its milieu. In the final analysis, the study concludes that Rastafari ecological ethics plays a complementary role to the national and global action in the preservation of the environment.