Yet our political system continues to be in paralysis, incapable of passing even the most mild and rational legislation, again as though none of this climate catastrophe was happening. Yet world economists continue to talk calmly about growth rates of the economy and increased oil exploration and production, as though none of this was happening, as though growth could just continue indefinitely. A disconnect in that every day there are frightening and shocking news stories about the rise in temperatures and the rise in sea levels, about the melting of ice caps and glaciers, about the destructive weather, floods and droughts and storms, and the appalling rate at which biodiversity is collapsing as plants and animals are disappearing. So how are each of us is experiencing the profound changes related to climate that are going on around us? For me, I have to say that things often feel a little surreal.
So it’s important that we broaden our vision of what practice is, of the scope and depth of practice. David Loy, the author of our study book The World Is Made of Stories, makes the point that the division we may see between our own personal transformation in Buddhist practice and the larger collective social transformation is an artificial division. But we know that it matters that we walk.
So how much of an impact the march will make on world leaders and their policy decisions is something we may not know for years to come. One of the march leaders, Rabbi Arthur Waslow, says that he believes the march could be a turning point to face and to begin to heal our planet’s climate crisis, and he makes a comparison with the March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs in the summer of 1963, which helped to turn the debate about civil rights into public action. So we walked in solidarity with these communities.ĭid the march make a difference on public opinion and on policy decisions? We don’t know. That include communities such as those in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina it includes low-income neighborhoods near waste disposal facilities where there are high rates of cancer and where children go to school with asthma inhalers it includes island nations in danger of disappearing as sea levels rise. While the march was focused primarily on the urgency for action around climate change, it also sought to bring attention to issues of environmental justice, in recognition that some communities are already bearing a heavy burden from climate change and the degradation of the earth. To come out of our own private worry and distress over the state of our earth and to join with other like-minded people working towards solutions was tremendously energizing and empowering. So it was inspiring and uplifting to participate and to witness. One Jewish group had 100 people playing the shofar, the traditional rams horn, an instrument of great spiritual power, as they marched.
There was a lot of enthusiasm, of people coming together, organizations coming together in fresh and unexpected ways that open the door to possibilities. The march was huge and colorful and had a very good vibe. Over 1000 different groups from all over the country, and even internationally, converged on Manhattan for the march - schools, environmental groups, social justice groups, unions, and businesses. The Village Zendo, my sangha in NYC, marched in this event, along with other Buddhist groups and a wide range of spiritual groups, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu. So the People’s Climate March was a major event. And I’d like to start by giving you a brief report from the big Climate March in NYC last September. what can we do? I’d like to talk a little about climate change and our earth from a Zen perspective, and see what wisdom Zen Master Dogen might have to offer us. What is happening with climate change? What should we believe? What should we do …. Zen and Climate Change: Healing the Earthĭeep concerns about the earth are on the minds of many of us these days.