# 636: Rev. Rolando Gomez Comon, also known as Apu Adman Aghama, Chief Priest of the Luntiang Aghama Natural Divine Arts Shrine of Healing in the Philippines
Why did you choose to sign “A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment?” What part(s) did you find most compelling?
I believe in all what the Statement says especially on the second part of the Statement that says Nature is sacred.
Thank you very much for giving me opportunity to become part of your spotlight interview as well as to the Pagan Community Statement on the Environment. I pray that everyone could sign the Statement because it is not only us who will benefit from it but also for our future generations.
As Peace Weavers, we act now, even though we might not see the fruit of our labor in this present lifetime. We have a firm faith that in the next lifetime we will achieve what we have planted in this present generation.
#3,874 Jakub Bogusław Szałecki from the Czech Republic
Why did you choose to sign “A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment”?
Anything that raises an awareness about what is going on and what is the real relation between humans and the world is a good thing. We need to look around and think. And do something.
What part(s) did you find most compelling? What would you have changed? What other concerns did you have, if any?
“We are connected to our families, through links of love, to their relatives, and so on to the entire human species. Our family tree goes back further than the rise of humans, including all mammals, all animals, and all life on Earth. The entire Earth is our immense and joyous family reunion.” This part says it all. It is not about us taking care of the Planet which is somehow ours like a garden property outside our house. We are the very Planet. And we need to save ourselves and stop ignoring the facts. The waste, the toxic substances, the pollution, the greenhouse gases: they won’t go away because we pretend they don’t exist. Of all the bad things, ignorance is the worst, I believe. It is ignorance that we need to get rid of. Now. Before it’s too late for us.
#3,773: Venus Robertson living in Seoul, South Korea, originally from Singapore and Australia
Why did you choose to sign “A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment”?
Much of it matches my own beliefs and I feel that any energy that comes together with pure and true intention is an intention to contribute to the changes that the earth is experiencing. If there are more minds and hearts in alignment, more is possible with greater ease. Thank you for providing the reason for people to contribute their energies!
What part(s) did you find most compelling? What would you have changed? What other concerns did you have, if any?
The most compelling part of it is the energy behind it. It speaks louder than the words on the screen. It is a sign of change and that there are those within many nooks and crannies of this good Earth that are hearing the call within their own hearts to collaborate on change. We are forever part of a growing conscious community and this I felt when I came across the pledge.
#9,012 Tom Bennett, living in Japan, originally from Wales
How does earth, land, or place play a role in your religion?
It is the whole point of my religion, to connect to place and interact as a part of the system that I am living in, rather than something outside of it.
Why did you choose to sign “A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment”?
I think the Statement accurately reflects the Pagan mindset (in a general sense), and so it gives us an opportunity to express our want for change, and to express a solidarity as a spiritual tradition.
What part(s) did you find most compelling? What would you have changed? What other concerns did you have, if any?
I enjoyed the part about a “change of spirit being required”. In my opinion, it is the attitude of humans that need to change first. Our practices will always grow from those attitudes. No changes and no concerns. There are other things that I feel that the Pagan community could address, but I feel that the Statement did its job well.
#301: Gemma Grove from Namibia in South West Africa
What is the thing you love the most about your religion?
What I love most is that I am in sync with mother earth. And she in turn keeps me aligned and synched with her.
Does earth, land, or place play a role in your religion?
Yes of course!!!! Mother earth is very important to me, without her we would be nothing.
Why did you choose to sign “A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment”?
I love the Pagan Statement. Because I am a pagan and believe in what was said.
What part(s) did you find most compelling?
I liked the fact that it was explaining to people who we are and our vision.
#1,193: Helena Joshee from Panaji, Goa in India, originally from Kenya in East Africa
Why did you choose to sign “A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment”?
The extinction of species hits hard because, as a child, I looked at some of them in the wild and was looked back on. Now the picture is fading, as species are disappearing.
I was raised Roman Catholic and loved it, because there was a routine of gathering flower and giving them to the Virgin. Ancestors from Goa who never refused food to any wild creature that arrived at the door and presences of the dark of night were respected.
I feel sadness, as freewheeling life is laid low by Westernised shopping and malls. I see the Buddha anywhere and I see Brahman everywhere, depending on which word arises in my mind. And I bow and worship everything, even the appliances that keep on faithfully pulsing in spite of power cuts. There probably is every sort of form imagined that may be near or seen, and maybe some unknown that, although present, are not seen because never imagined or wondered at.
Enenna from Poland, administrator of www.wicca.pl, translated the Statement into Polish
How does earth, land, or place play a role in your religion?
Witchcraft teaches mysteries as revealed in the Wheel of the Year. Therefore the earth and its seasons play a great role. Also in Witchcraft you can use places of power to achieve interesting results in your rituals.
What part of “A Pagan Community Statement on the Environment” did you find most compelling?
I believe that everything is interconnected. The realization of this, and of the greatness of nature has been one of my first spiritual insights. I also believe that the constant growth and consumption are unsustainable. I don’t think this is a particularly Pagan statement. I think there is a recurring theme in this interview: I can’t tell what part of me is Pagan, and what part of me is simply me. And so I can’t tell what part of environmental thought is Pagan and what part is secular. Regardless of religion, we humans share the same love of Nature and the same fate.