"The
greatness of any nation is not measured by its GNP or Military Might,
but rather by the way it cares for those who cannot help themselves."
Seijaku Roshi
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The
Time to Act is Now
Today we live in a time of great
crisis, confronted by the gravest challenge that humanity has
ever faced: the ecological consequences of our own collective
karma. The scientific consensus is overwhelming: human activity
is triggering environmental breakdown on a planetary scale.
Global warming, in particular, is happening much faster than
previously predicted, most obviously at the North Pole. For
hundreds of thousands of years, the Arctic Ocean has been
covered by an area of sea-ice as large as Australia—but now this
is melting rapidly. In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) forecast that the Arctic might be free of
summer sea ice by 2100. It is now apparent that this could occur
within a decade or two. Greenland’s vast ice-sheet is also
melting more quickly than expected. The rise in sea-level this
century will be at least one meter—enough to flood many coastal
cities and vital rice-growing areas such as the Mekong Delta in
Vietnam.
Glaciers all over the world are receding quickly. If current
economic policies continue, the glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau,
source of the great rivers that provide water for billions of
people in Asia, are likely to disappear by mid-century. Severe
drought and crop failures are already affecting Australia and
Northern China. Major reports—from the IPCC, United Nations,
European Union, and International Union for Conservation of
Nature—agree that, without a collective change of direction,
dwindling supplies of water, food and other resources could
create famine conditions, resource battles, and mass migration
by mid-century—perhaps by 2030, according to the U.K.’s chief
scientific advisor.
Global warming plays a major role in other ecological crises,
including the loss of many plant and animal species that share
this Earth with us. Oceanographers report that half the carbon
released by burning fossil fuels has been absorbed by the
oceans, increasing their acidity by about 30%. Acidification is
disrupting calcification of shells and coral reefs, as well as
threatening plankton growth, the source of the food chain for
most life in the sea.
Eminent biologists and U.N. reports concur that
“business-as-usual” will drive half of all species on Earth to
extinction within this century. Collectively, we are violating
the first precept—“do not harm living beings”—on the largest
possible scale. And we cannot foresee the biological
consequences for human life when so many species that invisibly
contribute to our own well-being vanish from the planet.
Many scientists have concluded that the survival of human
civilization is at stake. We have reached a critical juncture in
our biological and social evolution. There has never been a more
important time in history to bring the resources of Buddhism to
bear on behalf of all living beings. The four noble truths
provide a framework for diagnosing our current situation and
formulating appropriate guidelines—because the threats and
disasters we face ultimately stem from the human mind, and
therefore require profound changes within our minds. If personal
suffering stems from craving and ignorance—from the three
poisons of greed, ill will, and delusion—the same applies to the
suffering that afflicts us on a collective scale. Our ecological
emergency is a larger version of the perennial human
predicament. Both as individuals and as a species, we suffer
from a sense of self that feels disconnected not only from other
people but from the Earth itself. As Thich Nhat Hanh has said,
“We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.”
We need to wake up and realize that the Earth is our mother as
well as our home—and in this case the umbilical cord binding us
to her cannot be severed. When the Earth becomes sick, we become
sick, because we are part of her.
Our present economic and technological relationships with the
rest of the biosphere are unsustainable. To survive the rough
transitions ahead, our lifestyles and expectations must change.
This involves new habits as well as new values. The Buddhist
teaching that the overall health of the individual and society
depends upon inner well-being, and not merely upon economic
indicators, helps us determine the personal and social changes
we must make.
Individually, we must adopt behaviors that increase everyday
ecological awareness and reduce our “carbon footprint”. Those of
us in the advanced economies need to retrofit and insulate our
homes and workplaces for energy efficiency; lower thermostats in
winter and raise them in summer; use high efficiency light bulbs
and appliances; turn off unused electrical appliances; drive the
most fuel-efficient cars possible, and reduce meat consumption
in favor of a healthy, environmentally-friendly plant-based
diet.
These personal activities will not by themselves be sufficient
to avert future calamity. We must also make institutional
changes, both technological and economic. We must “de-carbonize”
our energy systems as quickly as feasible by replacing fossil
fuels with renewable energy sources that are limitless, benign
and harmonious with nature. We especially need to halt the
construction of new coal plants, since coal is by far the most
polluting and most dangerous source of atmospheric carbon.
Wisely utilized, wind power, solar power, tidal power, and
geothermal power can provide all the electricity that we require
without damaging the biosphere. Since up to a quarter of world
carbon emissions result from deforestation, we must reverse the
destruction of forests, especially the vital rainforest belt
where most species of plants and animals live.
It has recently become quite obvious that significant changes
are also needed in the way our economic system is structured.
Global warming is intimately related to the gargantuan
quantities of energy that our industries devour to provide the
levels of consumption that many of us have learned to expect.
From a Buddhist perspective, a sane and sustainable economy
would be governed by the principle of sufficiency: the key to
happiness is contentment rather than an ever-increasing
abundance of goods. The compulsion to consume more and more is
an expression of craving, the very thing the Buddha pinpointed
as the root cause of suffering.
Instead of an economy that emphasizes profit and requires
perpetual growth to avoid collapse, we need to move together
towards an economy that provides a satisfactory standard of
living for everyone while allowing us to develop our full
(including spiritual) potential in harmony with the biosphere
that sustains and nurtures all beings, including future
generations. If political leaders are unable to recognize the
urgency of our global crisis, or unwilling to put the long-term
good of humankind above the short-term benefit of fossil-fuel
corporations, we may need to challenge them with sustained
campaigns of citizen action.
Dr James Hansen of NASA and other climatologists have recently
defined the precise targets needed to prevent global warming
from reaching catastrophic “tipping points.” For human
civilization to be sustainable, the safe level of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere is no more than 350 parts per million (ppm).
This target has been endorsed by the Dalai Lama, along with
other Nobel laureates and distinguished scientists. Our current
situation is particularly worrisome in that the present level is
already 387 ppm, and has been rising at 2 ppm per year. We are
challenged not only to reduce carbon emissions, but also to
remove large quantities of carbon gas already present in the
atmosphere.
As signatories to this statement of Buddhist principles, we
acknowledge the urgent challenge of climate change. We join with
the Dalai Lama in endorsing the 350 ppm target. In accordance
with Buddhist teachings, we accept our individual and collective
responsibility to do whatever we can to meet this target,
including (but not limited to) the personal and social responses
outlined above.
We have a brief window of opportunity to take action, to
preserve humanity from imminent disaster and to assist the
survival of the many diverse and beautiful forms of life on
Earth. Future generations, and the other species that share the
biosphere with us, have no voice to ask for our compassion,
wisdom, and leadership. We must listen to their silence. We must
be their voice, too, and act on their behalf.
Ecological Buddhism
BBC
Worldwide Solar
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2007 © The Zen Society. All rights reserved.
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