Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi 2010.8.29 Woo Ju Memorial Library
1. Unbearable heat waves, large tracts of the Earth become uninhabitable
2. Floods & violent hurricanes, whole communities destroyed
3. Rising ocean levels (3-6 feet): ice sheets melt, island-nations & cities lost
4. Social chaos: nations collapse, anarchy reigns, the end of civilization
1. Land (droughts, floods, desertification, creeping sea encroachment)
2. Water (exhausted aquifers; vanishing glaciers; drought; water pollution)
3. Food (soil erosion, crop failures, diminishing yields, exorbitant prices)
4. Social stability (ethnic & religious conflict; regional wars; tyranny; failed states)
1. Population growth
2. Poverty
3. Global warming
4. Devastation of natural ecosystems (deforestation, biodiversity loss, etc.)
1. Dependency on fossil fuels (powerful role of fossil fuel corporations)
2. A reckless consumerist culture, including high consumption of meat (conversion of grain into animal protein)
3. Free-market economic system that exalts short-term profits and dividends above long-term economic stability (financial deregulation, housing crisis, rising unemployment, deteriorating health)
4. Domination of political systems & mass media by corporations
1. Greed (of carbon corporations, financial institutions, politicians)
2. Fear and anxiety in general population (over terrorism, economic security, job loss, housing)
3. Arrogance--national, social, racial, and cultural (“American exceptionalism,” “white is right,” scorn for values and cultures of traditionalist world)
4. Ignorance—“obscuration and distortion”—apathy, skepticism, and denial (e.g., 28% of Americans don’t believe that global warming is happening)
Saving the Earth Saving the Earth Redeeming Human CivilizationRedeeming Human Civilization
To avoid I-A & B, To avoid I-A & B, we must address II-A, B, C.we must address II-A, B, C.
1. Clearly understanding & explaining the dangers of II-A (all four are relevant, but here we’re concerned with global warming & its causes)
2. Clearly understanding & explaining the benefits of a transformed economy, social order, and culture—esp. transitioning to a green technology (encourages enlightened self-interest)
3. Awakening a sense of global human justice (ethics as a foundation; may include reparations to traditionalist world for damages incurred)
4. Inspiring universal love and compassion (enlightened altruism)
1. Break the grip of corporate lobbyists on politicians
2. Break the grip of corporations over the media
3. Replace politicians subservient to corporations with independents
4. Establish greater power balance in international bodies (e.g., UN) to give traditionalist countries a more prominent voice in decision-making
1. Rapid transition to green technologies (including transfer of green-technologies to traditionalist world)
2. Improving energy efficiency (retrofit bldgs, LED lights, electric cars, etc.)
3. Emergency measures to rectify environmental damage (flood control, fire fighting, rescue missions, including aid to traditionalist world)
4. Other types of assistance to the traditionalist world (poverty alleviation, food security, health care, birth control, education esp. of girls)
1. Reverence for the earth (honoring nature, adoration of the Divine Mother)
2. The celebration of human unity, affirming human equality
3. Cultivation of the higher consciousness (the meditative quest)
4. Change from an unstable, profit-driven consumerist economy to a sustainable economy that meets real needs & aims at sufficiency
