Ecodharma: Chapter 1

[Doshin]

ECODHARMA: Chapter 1 (pages 19 to 30)

This first section overviews the environmental challenges facing us. As David Loy points out these are challenges that we created for ourselves and all other species that share the earth. You see these issues (e.g., climate change, extinction of species, degradation of water quality, loss of topsoil, etc.) on the news, in newspapers, magazines, television specials and many other venues. However, I have thought they were under emphasized, often only getting mentioned briefly in the news which frustrated me. However, that is changing. The 1960s brought a greater focus on the environment which was the genesis of the first Earth Day in 1970. These problems have been with us for a while and through neglect have grown to the challenges we face today. As David points out the Climate Crisis is part of a larger environmental crisis.

We have experienced regional wide ecological challenges in the past due to our inability to understand the ecology of the land. While reading this portion of the book I was reminded that in the United States the native plant communities of the Great Plains were plowed and planted to crops. In the 1930s successive droughts came and without the deep-rooted native grasses to hold the soil in place the farmlands withered, and the topsoil blew with the winds. This caused widespread hunger and poverty and by the end of that decade there was mass exodus of people out of the Great Plains. Though this example was very significant we are now dealing with issues on a global scale.

During a recent talk David Loy mentioned how we have lost contact with the natural world, the world we are interdependent with and that sustains us. Nature is not something separate to be only appreciated and admired on nature specials or when visiting national parks. We live within it. We are part of it. For 300,000 years humans were intimately connected to the natural world. Then our relationship began to change.

When did you become aware of the environmental challenges discussed in this Chapter?

Do the problems seem overwhelming? How do we collectively address them?

What do you think are the reasons humanity has caused environmental challenges we now face?


Doshin
st

[Juki]

I do tend to be somewhat pessimistic as to these problems getting corrected. The root source of all of the issues that Loy discusses in Chapter 1 is greed, one of the three poisons. And while it's tempting to place the blame entirely on institutional greed (industry, industrial farming, deforestation to build new houses that aren't really needed, etc.), an equal share of the blame has to go to all of us in Western countries who are wedded to a lifestyle that is not sustainable and never really was. Selfishness is greed, and the only real antidote for that is coming to terms with non-self, which is a lot to ask of a population that is overwhelmingly non-Buddhist.

But I do remember one of the earliest things we were told to worry about way back in the early eighties: the hole in the ozone layer. Back then, the problem was identified as certain aerosol gases, chloro-fluorocarbons, freon, and the like. Back then, people, companies, and even nations worked together, and an accord was reached. Nobody argued about it. And, lo and behold, once the use of the offending substances was greatly reduced, the hole in the ozone layer shrank a lot. It's still not completely better, but the improvement is truly impressive.

But right now, the element of the climate crisis that may prove to be the greatest obstacle is the current political "climate." We can see from the COVID response that people refuse to trust the scientific evidence the way they did back when we were dealing with the ozone hole, and the distrust generally falls along party lines, at least in the States (and I know there are political divisions by party outside the States as well). The big corporations and the wealthy have managed to convince middle class and lower class conservatives that addressing climate change will bring about the end of civilization as we know it, the end of the comfortable lifestyle we have all grown accustomed to for so many years. So, people resist change (again, a ripe chance to impart a few Buddhist values).

Until we get back to a situation where, culturally, we are willing to embrace shared sacrifice, I don't see us making much progress. Reaching that stage is going to take catastrophe and tragedy, by which point it may be too late.

Gassho,
Juki

sat today and lah

[Heiso]

Sorry - a bit of an admin point but unhelpfully, it doesn't look like the publisher has enabled page numbers for the kindle version - would you be able to give us kindle readers a description of which paragraph we're reading to? Thank you!

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah

[Doshin]

Sorry - a bit of an admin point but unhelpfully, it doesn't look like the publisher has enabled page numbers for the kindle version - would you be able to give us kindle readers a description of which paragraph we're reading to? Thank you!

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah

Heiso,

To the Means versus Ends subtitle. Does that help? Next week we will read from there to end of Chapter

Doshin
St

[Heiso]

Heiso,

To the Means versus Ends subtitle. Does that help? Next week we will read from there to end of Chapter

Doshin
St

That's perfect, thanks Doshin!

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah

[Naiko]

I feel these environmental challenges have been like a gathering storm my whole life. I remember the first Earth Day, and learning about the ”population explosion” (and deciding then that I wouldn’t have children; I must have been 10 or 12), Love Canal, Three Mile Island, the ozone hole… but it seems like in the last twenty years, reporting and information has been more widely available and better described the vast scope of the problems.

Do they seem overwhelming? Yes, indeed. I don’t know how we can begin to address them if we can’t even collectively agree the problems exist. I read about a study recently that found that while many people are deeply concerned about the environment, they are unwilling to change their behaviors. I think bold action is needed, but I don’t believe we will willingly choose it. People don’t want change or to make what they perceive are sacrifices and government leaders don’t want to upset voters, donors and the economy. I fear that only catastrophic disruption or war over resources will spur change, but those changes won’t be very positive (ruthless, cruel, greedy people will grab what they can).

I agree with others that humans mistakenly imagine that we are outside of nature. We don’t acknowledge that we are animals. I think our way of looking at the world and solving problems hasn’t kept pace with our technology. We have in the past moved to exploit other resources when we’ve exhausted our immediate surroundings, but we’re running out of resources. Plus, our solutions can be tricky: automobiles were once hailed as a clean solution to the millions of kilos of horse manure produced daily, and plastic bags were invented to reduce deforestation from paper bag production.

I apologize for rambling. This stuff keeps me awake at night.
Gassho,
Naiko
st

[Shinshi]

Sorry - a bit of an admin point but unhelpfully, it doesn't look like the publisher has enabled page numbers for the kindle version - would you be able to give us kindle readers a description of which paragraph we're reading to? Thank you!

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah

On my kindle if you tap the bottom left corner you can cycle through a number of settings. Minutes left in the chapter, minutes left in book, a location tag, and page number.

That being said, on my kindle the page number for the beginning of Chapter 1 is 24, Means Versus Ends starts on page 34.

Gassho, Shinshi

SaT-LaH

[Tairin]

When did you become aware of the environmental challenges discussed in this Chapter?

Hard to say. I have known about the damage we humans have been causing for many years. I certainly didn’t know to what degree until much more recently.

Do the problems seem overwhelming? How do we collectively address them?

Absolutely the problems seem overwhelming. As I read this section I was thinking about how other people might react if they read this section. Loy paints a very bleak picture. I think most people would just not be able to cope with this message. Unfortunately hiding from it isn’t the right answer. We need people to see exactly what’s at stake.

Initially I thought this was a problem we could just make steady progress on. These days I am very much of the mind that the only solution is some radical change. Unfortunately I think the radical change will be very uncomfortable for most people. They are going to need to give up a lot of what is considered be normal life

What do you think are the reasons humanity has caused environmental challenges we now face?

Simple. Greed and ignorance.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Kokuu]

When did you become aware of the environmental challenges discussed in this Chapter?

I became aware of these issues in my teens in the 1980s when the big issue was acid rain, although global warming was also being talked about then. It led me going on to study Environmental Science from 1988-1991.

Do the problems seem overwhelming? How do we collectively address them?

I must admit that they do often seem overwhelming but not so much because of the problems themselves, but more because of how humanity is and is organised. We know the solutions to these problems which are basically all related to consuming less. But, I do not think that anything will change until there is a collective movement of sufficient size that it becomes necessary for political parties to respond to it seriously, rather than pay lip service to it while tinkering around the edges.

So, for me, the current collective action needs to focus on education and political pressure.

What do you think are the reasons humanity has caused environmental challenges we now face?

Essentially, a feeling of separation between humanity and nature, a separation which is fed by how our culture teaches economics and other fields, as if they were independent of the natural world. In Buddhist terms, greed and ignorance fuel our behaviour, together with anger against anyone who tells us that we as humans cannot live as we wish.


Thank you, Doshin.

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-

[Heiso]

When did you become aware of the environmental challenges discussed in this Chapter?

I think growing up in the 80s and 90s they were hard to ignore, for me anyway. It seems famines, nuclear disasters, the depleting ozone layer, leaded petrol - these were all things I grew up with.

Do the problems seem overwhelming? How do we collectively address them?

They can if I let them but I do think we have some power. Collectively through putting pressure on our politicians to legislate and directing our spending to green goods and services we can also apply pressure on corporations to change. But ultimately, as Kokuu said above, it comes down to us needing to change society to consume less and that is going to be the real challenge.

I suspect we are at peak 'comfort' - the most comfortable we've ever been and may ever be - I'm not sure how we convince people who have grown accustomed to this level of comfort and ease to change. All I can really do is lobby, take part in groups like Extinction Rebellion and to tread as lightly on this earth as I can.


What do you think are the reasons humanity has caused environmental challenges we now face?

As others have said, greed and ignorance. But also fear of losing what we have.

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah

[Doshin]

I just read again the posts and thought about how to change the mindset of our species. There are some who are not aware of the problems, others are not concerned and then there are those who are passionate about making a difference. How do we get more people to understand the problems and take action?

However I do think there is a growing recognition of these challenges. Though I have spent a life working in conservation I am still part of the problem. Yes I recycle, have a solar home, conserve water in various ways, make donations to groups working towards solutions, spent a career and volunteer time on some of these issues….but I have lived within the comforts of modern society.

I have had discussions with people over the years about climate change and one theme that came up a lot is that the climate has changed before. My reply is yes it has, many times and will do so many more time. The difference is we now have billions of people and all the infrastructure and agricultural lands needed to support us. As Naiko points out in the past we just moved to a better situation. That is not workable anymore.

Any thoughts on how to change the larger collective view? Is that starting to happen?

Doshin
St

Doshin
St with all your thoughts. Thank you for sharing.

[Naiko]

Any thoughts on how to change the larger collective view? Is that starting to happen?

Doshin
St

Doshin
St with all your thoughts. Thank you for sharing.

That is the big question, isn’t? I suppose at some point we’ll reach a tipping point for awareness, if enough people are talking about it, if we can overcome the unfortunate information silos that exist now in media. It’s possible to go years only ever seeing views that reinforce your own. Your question reminded me of this challenge issued a few years ago: a journalist offered to take a climate change denier on a little road trip… Edited to add: what stands out for me in the video is that the discussion is respectful, and that common ground was reached by admitting, yes, the climate has always changed, but here’s what’s different now. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LeIujGcyQ20
Gassho,
Naiko
st

[Tairin]

but I have lived within the comforts of modern society

I think this is a big hurdle. Yes I see the climate catastrophe that we face I do things to reduce my personal footprint but I still live comfortably in a modern North American city and although I don’t live anything close to an extravagant lifestyle I know that I am still a part of the problem. I need to sacrifice more than many in the world due to my privileges yet it is hard to give up those comforts. How likely will it be for those that don’t see the problem to accept less? What about those that had nothing to begin with?

Sooner or later it will all be taken away.

Yes I am aware that this doesn’t sound very Buddhist


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Doshin]

Naiko…I appreciated the video.

Tairin…I hear you

Thanks for your thoughts.

Doshin
St

[DanM]

When did you become aware of the environmental challenges discussed in this Chapter?

I still clearly remember a teacher telling my class about the “greenhouse effect” when I was in primary school in the 90s. I heard about a lot of the other issues discussed here at a very young age too. Growing up in Australia the Great Barrier Reef was celebrated more or less as part of our national identity, and basically since then it has been dying. And that seems to be the overall trend for environmental issues, everybody has been well aware of what’s going on yet the problem has got exponentially worse in recent decades.

Do the problems seem overwhelming? How do we collectively address them?

For the most part it is incredibly overwhelming, but I do see glimmers of hope, particularly in younger generations, with things like the school strike and the increasing recognition of the interconnection of environmental and social issues.

In terms of collectively addressing this, I might be getting more political than some would be comfortable with on a Buddhist forum here, but we have to move to an entirely new social, political and economic model. Capitalism, as a system of infinite growth on a planet with finite resources can only destroy us and the planet. How we move to something new while avoiding violence and the kinds of authoritarian hells that were created by the revolutions of the previous century is another daunting challenge.

What do you think are the reasons humanity has caused environmental challenges we now face?
As others have said, greed. This is especially true of those of us in the global north whose consumption far outweighs (and comes at the expense of) those from developing countries, but truer still of the very richest 1%. Democratic institutions have been so eroded and undermined by vested interests that it is increasingly hard for those of us who want to address climate change (i.e. the vast majority of people) to do so. Individuals play a role, but we can’t ignore the systemic reasons that we are where we are.

Gassho,
Dan
ST