Buddha's teachings offers three reasons why we are not taking action: greed, ignorance, and aversion. The dharma also offers a path to transform these three poisons into generosity, wisdom, and loving care. This path begins with our bodhisattva vow. Though we cannot know whether we will ultimately be successful, we can take responsibility for our own actions and live a life with integrity. It just might be contagious. And it just might save our planet for generations to come.
The Three Poisons
Plastics fill the bellies of whales. Run-off from factory farms pollutes our waters. And most harmfully, the burning of fossil fuels harms our health (especially for those who can't afford to live further from power plants) and releases CO2 which blankets the atmosphere, trapping in warmth and causing climate change. There is near scientific consensus that climate change magnifies powerful storms, floods, heat waves, and droughts and raises sea levels by melting the polar ice caps, all of which contribute to refugee crises (the world's most vulnerable populations will suffer most), civil war, and the mass extinctions of species. We are at risk of collapsing our earth's ecosystem. Even if there is only a fifty percent chance of the more dire predictions coming true, we are playing Russian roulette with human civilization. Yet US national policy actively undermines efforts to combat pollution and the climate crisis. Why?
Buddha understood human nature. He said that we suffer from 3 poisons: greed, ignorance, and aversion. All three are leading us headlong into harm. For example, ExxonMobil knew back in the seventies that greenhouse gases were a problem. Motivated by greed, they undermined climate science in order to maintain profits. Through their propaganda, Americans were kept ignorant about climate change for years. In fact, nearly a third of Americans, despite clear evidence, still believe climate change is a "hoax."
In the US we are also caught up in acquisitiveness, another form of greed. As Christian theologian Sallie McFague says, "We human beings are so embedded in the culture of consumerism that being asked to consume less makes us almost gasp. And we do; we stop for a moment, and then we get back in our cars and our airplanes, and continue on." In fact, 70 percent of Americans would not even pay $10 per month to combat global warming.
What is perplexing is that even though a majority of us now comprehend the devastating significance of climate change, few of us are willing to make sacrifices to address the issue, but we may misunderstand what is required. According to the NY TImes, “The main reason people reject the science of climate change is because they reject what they perceive to be the solutions: total government control, loss of personal liberties, destruction of the economy." We are ignorant of the alternatives.
Aversion to taking action may be the subtlest sticking point preventing Americans from dealing with climate change. The challenge sometimes seems overwhelming. Perhaps we just think the odds are stacked against us and can't imagine any way through, so we give up. It can seem like my actions make no difference in the face of powerful energy lobbyists. It is disheartening watching environmental regulations being overturned at this critical moment in history. Given the political challenges, it is common even for self-proclaimed environmentalists to slip into forgetfulness or resignation.
We may also be averse to taking personal risks. We may recognize that life on this planet is in jeopardy but feel hesitant to risk being called "alarmist." Thirty years ago, I wrote an email to friends asking for support in an environmental cause. One "replied all" with a scathing (and brilliantly funny) satire about tree hugging teachers. Nobody defended my appeal. I didn't write to that bunch of friends about the environment again.
But maybe the biggest challenge is that we are averse to doing the work of writing legislators, protesting, or even switching to renewably sourced electricity. After all, by the time the climate crisis really hits the planet, many of us will be dead and gone. Why make sacrifices now if we won't get to enjoy the benefits?
The Importance of Vow
Due to the power of the three poisons, awareness of the developing climate crisis is apparently not enough to inspire us to take dramatic action. We need some call of the heart that helps us transcend greed, ignorance, and aversion.
In Buddhism, our bodhisattva vow is to save all beings. When we first take this vow, we may do so out of self-interest. After all, what goes around, comes around. We drink the water and breathe the air. If we pollute them, we personally suffer. If we keep them clean, we suffer from fewer diseases.
But given the long-term projections involved in climate change, our motive needs to be greater than self-benefit. The Bodhisattva vow to save all beings transcends the desire for personal gain. The bodhisattva vow expands our circle of concern from limited self-centeredness to an infinite circumference that includes all beings throughout space and time. This commitment to save all beings, including our children's children, transforms greed into generosity and aversion into loving care.
In living for something bigger than what we think of as ourselves, we also learn a deeper truth. In caring for all beings, we awaken to the wisdom that we are "empty" of separate, fixed selves. We are not separate from the earth, sky, and rain. Indeed, we eat the food of the earth, breathe the air of the sky, and drink the rain. To care for the environment is like our left hand scratching our right. There is actually no gap between us and the environment. We are part of nature, and nature is in us, so we love and protect it. We love the way the bird sings in our own heart. The vow to save all beings is an expression of boundless intimacy with all beings and reflects the transformation of ignorance into wisdom.
Sometimes it makes us feel worse as we face into great challenges. But our bodhisattva vow to save all beings throughout space and time transforms our self-centeredness into a vast love that inspires us to do whatever we can.
Together Action
Environmental activism is an essential priority. If our environment renders life unsustainable, nothing else will matter. I am inspired by Greta Thunberg and many of her generation. Greta has exhibited the three virtues of generosity, wisdom, and loving care. Having learned about climate change, Greta stopped going to school in order to protest global warming. Driven by her vow to save future generations, Greta made significant personal sacrifices. Greta shows us that where there is will, there are ways to engage.
Most of us already know what we should do. Think globally; act locally. Insulate our homes, reduce fuel consumption, eat less meat, and waste less food and material goods (including plastic). We can also make donations to organizations fighting against climate change and for environmental justice, and we can join local protests and coalitions. And if we hope to save future generations, we must also support national and local representatives who will shift our energy production from fossil fuels to renewables, leading to a new clean-energy future, improved standard of living, and better local jobs and local economy.
We cannot know in advance what the outcome of our actions will be. But in caring for something greater than ourselves, we manifest our boundless true nature, and this is of immeasurable value.
It begins with our earnest vow to save all beings. Whether you have never made this vow or have made it a thousand times, you can take this bodhisattva vow right now. Consider repeating this every day: "I vow to save all beings throughout space and time." Let this vow touch your heart where all beings reside, and it will renewably energize our transformation.
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