I want to talk this evening about the climate emergency. And this is initially sponsored, actually, a few different resources, but an article in Buddhadharma by David Loy called, Can Buddhism Meet the Climate Crisis? and also a call that I received from another old friend and mentor, Joanna Macy. So David Loy was a speaker here a couple of years ago and is a Zen teacher, but also a scholar and a very eloquent writer about what's sometimes called engaged Buddhism. So the context for this is the existential threat to, if not all of human existence, to at least human existence as we've known it over the last few thousand years.

[01:13]

And there are numbers of existential threats and major issues that Many of us are concerned with nuclear waste. It's also an existential threat to human existence. Jan has worked hard on that, as I have for years. And also related to that, nuclear weapons and the control of our society by weapons manufacturers, the threat of, currently, of war. in Venezuela that echoes Vietnam and Iraq. Government officials said that we would invade Venezuela to get their oil. I mean, they're out front about it. Then there's also, of course, many other issues that deeply concern us. Racial discrimination, discrimination against women, health care, discrimination against LGBT people.

[02:21]

And in some ways, all of these are related. But I want to focus on the climate emergency. And I'm going to just start with David Loy's article, because he's specifically talking about the relationship of Buddhism and aspects of Buddhist teachings to our capacity to address this. So I'll just read a few things and talk about some of what he says. It is no exaggeration to say that today, humanity faces its greatest challenge In addition to burgeoning social crises, a self-inflicted ecological catastrophe threatens civilization as we know it. And according to some scientists, perhaps even our survival as a species, the climate crisis is part of a much larger challenge that includes overfishing, plastic pollution, hyper

[03:25]

Trophication, topsoil exhaustion, species extinction, which is massive, freshwater depletion, hormone disrupting, persistent organic pollutants, nuclear waste overpopulation. And so he mentioned some of the issues that are really all related to what the climate emergency is about. He says that these disorders are connected to a questionable mechanistic worldview that freely exploits the natural world because it attributes no inherent value to nature, or to us for that matter, since humans too are nothing more than complex machines according to the predominant materialistic understanding. Modern civilization is self-destructing because it has lost its way. There is another way to characterize that. humanity is experiencing a collective spiritual crisis.

[04:28]

So I'm starting with David's article, because he puts this really in the context of our concerns as Buddhists. If so, we cannot expect that. that what we seek can be provided by a technological solution, or an economic solution, or a political solution, according to David, or a new scientific worldview, either by themselves or in concert with others. Whatever the way forward may be, it will need to incorporate those contributions to be sure. But something more is called for. This is where Buddhism has something important to offer. Yet the ecological crisis is also a crisis for how we understand and practice Buddhism, which today needs to clarify its essential message if it is to fulfill its liberative potential in our modern, secular, endangered world. So David points out a number of problems in some of Buddhism, and I don't feel like there

[05:38]

so dominant in our tradition, but they are there. So just to say some of this, traditional Buddhism focuses on individual suffering due to one's individual karma and craving. Collective karma and institutional causes of suffering are more difficult to address, both doctrinally and politically. He says, I'm reminded of a well-known comment by the Brazilian Archbishop Dom Helder Camara. When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. Is there a Buddhist version? Perhaps this. When Buddhists help homeless people and prison inmates, they are called bodhisattvas. But when Buddhists ask why there are so many more homeless, so many people of color stuck in prison, other Buddhists may call them leftists or radicals, saying that such social action has nothing to do with Buddhism.

[06:42]

So one of the things he says is that He talks about the personal lifestyle changes, buying hybrid electric cars, installing solar panels, vegetarianism, eating locally, grown food, all of this green consumption, which he says is important, of course. But individual transformation by itself will never be enough to address the crisis that we face. So I'm just going to mention some of the areas that he talks about as potential obstacles in not just Buddhist teaching, but in all spiritual teaching, but also in Buddhist teaching. The idea of nirvana that we talked about this month in terms of the Buddhist power nirvana, which we celebrated, as escaping from the world of samsara, the world of suffering.

[07:46]

And the whole idea of not just nirvana but enlightenment as being about attaining some elevated level outside our ordinary world of consciousness. well, our ordinary world, including what's happening to our climate. So that's one. And then he talks about emptiness teaching, which is often misunderstood as being opposite of form. Of course, the Heart Sutra, which we sometimes chant, says form is exactly emptiness, but also emptiness is exactly form. Emptiness is not something that's outside of the phenomena of our life and of our world. He also talks about Western Buddhism's focus on psychology and psychotherapy. And we have a number of psychotherapists in our sangha. And of course, helping ourselves and each other individually is part of the practice. But it's not enough.

[08:50]

It doesn't meet the deep interconnectedness that we start to experience as we do this sitting practice regularly. So it's not just about self-help. Our practice is about a deeper a connection. So I'll just read some of David's conclusions. Social engagement remains a challenge for many Buddhists, but the traditional teachings have focused on one's own peace of mind. On the other side, those committed to social action often experience fatigue, anger, depression, burnout. The engaged bodhisattva path provides what each side needs. Buddhism and Bodhisattva practices have tremendous resources to help with being able to respond to these issues, but also to address our own personal greed, hate, and delusion. So they're connected. Just a little more of what David says.

[09:53]

Engagement with the world's problem is not a distraction from our personal spiritual practice, but can become an essential part of it. The insight and equanimity cultivated by bodhisattva practice support, and by our meditation, support what is most distinctive about Buddhist activism, acting without attachment to the results of action, something that can be easily misunderstood to imply a casual attitude. Instead, our task is to do the very best we can, not knowing what the consequences will be. In fact, not knowing if our efforts will make any difference whatsoever. So this is part of the situation of this climate crisis. We don't know. how bad it will be. We know it'll be bad. It's already bad. It's already, you know, fires in California, polar air and temperatures coming down the Midwest from the warming Arctic, hurricanes growing more massive in the Southeast and all over the world, drought, famine, massive

[11:09]

climate refugee problems. So this is a challenge to how we see our practice and how we can be helpful. The second resource I wanted to mention is a declaration about climate emergency I sent to some of you. And it's still in process. It's sort of a working document. But Joanna Macy sent this to me. It's an activist and Buddhist teacher concerned about the future and future beings. So I'll read a little bit of this declaration of climate emergency rather than declaring immigrant emergencies or such things. This is a call to governments, religions, and educational institutions, business, city and town councils, communities, leaders in all spheres of society, to our families, and to each one of us.

[12:15]

We need to break silence and dispel all ambiguity by immediately declaring a climate emergency. A national and global demand to decisively respond to our planetary emergency has the power to focus Intention and overcome distraction overwhelm helplessness and denial. The moral authority of collective action has the potential to shape political policy and direct economic resources. to avoid the further collapse of our ecosystem and human civilization. But we need to act now. The reality of our dire situation is made clear by the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change, the report of 2017, that states that unprecedented changes are required if we are to avoid climate breakdown. So in the spirit of this, I'm talking about this because I think we need to talk about the situation. To increase political pressure, citizens need to be cognizant of our precipitous situation.

[13:19]

We are already witnessing major tipping points, massive globalized loss, extreme ocean warming, failure of reef systems and crops, floods, droughts, wildfires. Sixty percent of wildlife is already extinct. and we have reached near extinction of all insect life. If we continue burning fossil fuel and promoting animal industrial agribusiness, by 2030 a cascade of severe tipping points will begin to radically shift the world as we know it, even as early as 2040. So this is something that's not theoretical in the future. This is in our face. So I'm just going to read little bits of this, I don't know, declaration or manifesto or whatever you might call it. Declaring a climate emergency. Telling the truth is essential to change. We need governments and media to tell the truth. We need them to name that we are in a climate emergency.

[14:21]

We cannot leave this demand to activists who brave arrests and prison. Instead, we must reinforce their moral stance by normalizing sense of urgency, by sharing facts, by exploring radically new ways of being, by protesting, being on the streets, speaking out, and by being part of a a fast-growing international movement to drive government, industry, and business to act. And part of this that I want to emphasize is that this is a spiritual, moral issue. Just to say, our meditation practice, our teachings of Bodhisattva and Buddhist practices, inform a sense of ourselves and the world and each other as agents of helpfulness rather than harm.

[15:21]

We're having a precept ceremony next Sunday to talk about bodhisattva precepts to try and be helpful. and all the different ways, and to try and decrease harm. So this is part of our work. This is a spiritual crisis as well as a physical scientific crisis of the planet. So there's a lot in this declaration Well, just a little bit more. Bear in mind that none of us are experts when it comes to living within the sixth mass extinction and the Anthropocene we are in. We aren't presenting ourselves as experts, but as citizens alarmed by a planetary emergency while passionate about making the changes we urgently need.

[16:27]

We are primarily focused on influencing political power, democratizing and empowering citizens, citizen assemblies who can act in our nation and nature's collective best interests. So there are many resources, many people working on this. I want to have time for discussion. And I'm glad that Joe is here, who works with Extinction Rebellion. A third resource that I'll mention is this magazine article by David Wallace Wells. It's in New York Magazine. He has a new book out called The Uninhabitable Earth, talking about the effects of the climate catastrophe. But this article is called The Cautious Case for Climate Optimism. So there are things in it that I'm not sure about, but I'll just read little bits of it.

[17:30]

He goes a lot into the science of what must be done now, but just to read some parts of this. To the extent that we live today under clouds of uncertainty about the future of climate change, those clouds are overwhelmingly not projections of collective ignorance about the natural world, but of blindness about the human one. And they can be dispelled by human action. The question of how bad things will get is not actually a test of the science. It is a bet on human activity. How much will we do to forestall disaster, and how quickly? He also says, no matter how hot it gets, no matter how fully climate change transforms the planet and the way we live on it, it will always be the case that the next decade could continue more warming and more suffering or less warming and less suffering.

[18:32]

Just how much is up to us and always will be. So he goes into some of what is happening. And I don't know how much I need to say about that. But I'll say a little bit, and then he talks about the response. He talks about extreme heat waves in India, even in the northern latitudes. Heat waves will kill thousands each summer. The leader of the Marshall Islands spoke for many of the world's island nations when he used another word to describe the meaning of two degrees increase in temperature. He called this genocide. The best case scenario is alarming enough. Two degrees could be terrible.

[19:33]

But it's better than three, at which point southern Europe would be in permanent drought. African droughts would last five years on average. And the areas burned annually by wildfires in the United States could quadruple or worse from last year's million plus acres. So he's talking about the incremental increase in warming. If the task of reversing all that seems incomprehensibly big, it is. The scale of the technological transformation required dwarfs every technological revolution ever engineered and human history, including electricity, telecommunications, and even the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago. By definition, it dwarfs them because it contains all of them. Every single sector needs to be rebuilt from the foundation, since every single one breathes on carbon like it's a ventilator.

[20:37]

He goes into some detail about some of the scientific responses and things like the carbon tax, the Green New Deal, and negative emissions, things like natural or carbon captive ideas. that some people are working at technologically. So some of what he says, I don't know. It's rather technical, and I'm happy to share this with other people. But he looks at this and says that things are possible and it's challenging. And some of the fixes are insufficient. But all of them together can make a difference.

[21:41]

So I'll just read some of his conclusion. No single solution alone is sufficient, but the solutions, plural, are here already. A climate activist often says, we have today, as climate activists often say, we have today all the tools we need to avoid catastrophic change. It's true, a carbon tax and government action to aggressively phase out dirty energy, even outright ban much of it, a new approach to agricultural practices, a shift away from beef and dairy and global diet, public investment in green energy and carbon capture. We just need to choose to implement them, all of them, and quite fast. So there's more here, but maybe that's enough. Again, this is a technological problem. It's a problem of physics and science, but it's also a spiritual problem. How can we act, speak, be aware in a way to support

[22:50]

the kind of change we need. So I'm glad to have Joe back here. It's been a little while. But Joe is very involved in Extinction Rebellion, which is one of the organizations that are trying to respond to climate catastrophe. So I want to call on you first, if you can say some things briefly. And then just to open this up, we have a little bit of time for people to respond. Okay, so I guess I'll start by, I'd like to tell a story of how I kind of, I guess it became radicalized enough to want to really put myself together. So the story is that I was teaching a science course, and this student, she saw me as the person who reflected the nature of that.

[24:26]

I could do whatever you are, me, and teach the kids how to grow. And so we were on a break, and she, I guess she kind of invited me, and she just, out of the blue, just asked me, you know, she said, are we really, is everyone really And like the IPCC report that gives a very inclusive, scientific, agreed upon set of metrics that are How old was she, roughly?

[25:28]

And kind of saying, well, there's a lot of different possibilities, and it's really hard for science to... watching it unfold in the UK.

[27:23]

rule, which is a sort of algorithm of and our methods are as radical as they are.

[30:50]

Basically, completely disrupting the status quo as often and as trying to really put the message out there in very, very stark terms, very blunt terms, that it really is a crisis emergency.

[32:04]

It should be treated as a climate emergency. And that we don't necessarily rage and so trying to pivot on that anger and rage and turn it into love, a form of action.

[33:49]

So anyway, so that's what the talk does, it pivots on that moment of Yeah, if I can just add some things.

[34:55]

And then I want to open this up for any other responses. But I just thought I'd read the demands that you have on the flyer. And there are flyers out front. And I hope you'll bring us more of them. One, governments tell the truth about the ecological crisis. I would add that media should start telling the truth. Zero emissions drawdown by 2025. Participatory democracy. A just transition that prioritizes the most vulnerable. So yeah. I really appreciate what you're doing. And just to say something about, again, the spiritual side of facing grief. Yeah. I mean, grief isn't even a strong enough word. It's this threat to any future. Or there'll be some future. As the cautious optimist says, there'll be some humans doing something. It really, this has the potential to really devastate anything that humans have known about how we lived together for centuries, at least, if not much more.

[36:03]

So, in terms of facing Grief facing all of this situation. It's the same with the personal grief when a loved one or someone we know passes. How do we not become numb? and to respond. And there are different ways to respond. There's not one right strategy or one right way to respond. We each have our own ways of responding. But groups like this, I think, are really helpful. So thank you for coming and sharing this. So we don't have so much time, but I want to open this up a little bit for anyone who has further comments or responses. Please feel free. Just so international. and basically do a procession.

[37:21]

Typically with XR, it tends to be like an institution kind of waits, basically acknowledging the level of biological annihilation. So, and our, what we're working on is basically delivering that procession to state governments downtown, and then much an open conversation within the group. So, you know, it will look like peaceful but

[38:25]

So there's a long history of nonviolent social, effective social action. I was involved in opposing the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Yeah, it's a spiritual tradition within our culture. Other comments on this or any other aspect of our situation? Yes, Suzanne. If you have a flyer for it that you can put out or a link, I can... I tried to get a bunch to break the day. Okay, well, if you can send it to me or to Dylan maybe to put out for the... We can spread it through the sangha.

[39:44]

Yeah. Part of the discussions. It's really nice because they kind of combine different parts of the city while doing it, and then there's a discussion after every screening. And then usually, you know, what are the actions you're going to take? It's very action-oriented. That's the way that the books are screened. Thank you, Suzanne. Other comments? Before I came to Ancient Dragon, I came from an activist tradition, a lot of non-hierarchical politics, and part of what made me feel welcome here was your emphasis on action. This is the podcast that was the door for me, first coming here. My question about this, because I'm attracted to it, obviously, is from my experiences, how are you all to have the joy and energy to keep this up?

[41:11]

Because if you're putting yourself out to do this kind of action, joy and energy get sapped really quick. And things, normal responsibilities of your life, it starts to get a little haywire. So how do you do that? And I'm asking that because I want that to be a question. That's part of how this moves. And how do you avoid, for lack of a better phrase, internal drama of folks with politics that they want to prove to other people in the group, which becomes more important than getting things done, and everybody clicks, and who's more hardcore than the other person, So I'm offering those questions because that's why I got off the train a little bit. So, yeah. Good questions, and I don't know.

[42:17]

So XR has a lot of principles and values, and one of them is for generative culture. The idea that it's essential that we Not only help each other, get out of jail or whatever. So I don't know, but I agree that it's got to be a practice. You've got to figure out how to make that, keep that up front, just as much as the activism part. So this is one of the really important things that our practice, Buddhist practice, has to offer to people who are willing to go be out there trying to help.

[43:32]

Our BPF Chicago chapter is looking at how we can help foster meditation and meditative awareness for activists. I've done meditation for activists. I'd be glad to help if you're interested in that for Extinction Rebellion. But really, one of the things that doing this kind of upright sitting regularly provides is a kind of resilience, a kind of flexibility, a kind of steadiness to not get caught up in anger and rage, but to transform that energy, to not get overwhelmed and burnt out, but to kind of support maintaining energy, as Dylan was saying. So yeah, there's so much more to say, and we're running a little late, but I don't want to shut down that discussion. If others have things they want to say, Jan? Yeah, so we have numbers of things like this that we can announce.

[45:02]

We'll skip that for announcements. But if you have something. Yeah. But I did want to say that I've been reading two papers. One was put out by the George Washington University Yeah, and the Fukushima meltdown is still happening. There's lots more to say, obviously, about all of this.

[46:11]

But maybe let's do our closing Bodhisattva vow chant, and then we can have announcements. So we chant that three times, the four vows, I think next to the last page of the chant book.

[46:26]

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