I’ve had a longstanding interest in Buddhism, in particular what it has to say about stress and our relationship with the environment.
What follows are some of my thoughts on this topic followed by a Buddhist prayer for peace, which I believe suggests a path forward for dealing with the environmental crisis:
If you click on this link, you will see some action at the HQ of Canada’s largest bank, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). The top video gives a general view of the demonstration.
If you open this link, from the 2.30 minute mark to the 4.40 mark, you will see the Rebellious Seeker cancelling his RBC credit card.
Rebellious Seeker
Ottawa
October 2020
The following two audio presentations offer separate Buddhist perspectives on the environmental crisis. The first is given by the Rebellious Seeker himself; the second are the thoughts of a friend.
Brief pauses within the presentations allow time for reflection on what has been said.
Buddhism and the Environmental Crisis
Ottawa
October 2021
Here in Ottawa a new hospital will be built. Our National Capital Commission (NCC), after a detailed study recommended that the hospital be built at Tunney’s Pasture. Then suddenly it was decided to place the hospital in a wooded area on our experimental farmland. At an Ottawa city council planning committee, many citizens spoke about this decision. Here is my 5 minute contribution:
Rebellious Seeker's contribution to NCC hospital location debate
Those who have studied water are seeing signs everywhere of an impending climate catastrophe.
First, some places have too much water. Because global warming has raised the temperature of the oceans, there is now more energy to fuel hurricanes and typhons. Recently in the Gulf of Mexico a category 4 hurricane, Ida, formed. It was so powerful that it rampaged through the entire east coast of the United States. Even in the northeastern states, the "tail" of Ida dumped record levels of rainfall in a very short time. These rainfalls were so unexpected that 50 people died trapped in their own homes and in cars on the road. Extreme rainfalls are now a global phenomenon, as seen in Germany and other countries.
I have always liked the slogan “Think globally, act locally”. Here is my contribution to it.
Think globally
This involves seeing things communally and radically, and also intensely.
Facing the future
I am running out of simple solutions for facing the future, but I do have some questions.
There is a storm brewing at the Experimental Farm. Plans are afoot to use 43 acres to build a world-class hospital there. It will be a massive structure, complete with 20 acres of parking, including a four-story parking garage. It will be a car driver’s paradise. No more tedious searching for that last limited parking space. To build this hospital, many trees will need to be sacrificed, about 600 by a recent count.
A good friend sent me a YouTube clip about a global quest to produce non-polluting energy.
I responded as follows...
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Hi John,
Interesting indeed. A fine example of the hope that "technology will save us". Nuclear fusion is definitely the supreme hope of these attempts. In theory, it is very appealing, but in practice it is most likely not achievable.
As a technologist myself, it is not easy to say that technology will NOT save us here. Why?
Imagine that we are on the Titanic….
Life is good. The champagne flows freely. We are having a wonderful trip. We are enjoying ourselves in good company. We are happy. We are in a positive mood. And then…
The ship’s captain appears and says, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just received information that to the best of our knowledge we are heading into an iceberg. Our best scientific data tells us that with a high level of probability, if we do not change course immediately, we are heading into a disaster!”
The weather is changing. We now have increased flooding in Europe and China, increased wildfires in Australia, Canada and the USA, and increased droughts in the western USA and the Sahel region of Africa. Things are not normal.
Every once in a while one comes across something that gives hope in a troubled world. Here is one that I have found. You may be interested in some of the powerful short videos in www.syriankids.ca .
There is in the Western religious world, a school of thought called the Course in Miracles (CiM). This teaching stresses inner peace and comfort, to the disdain of outer events and circumstances. This religious philosophy has various variations, such as for example, Christian Science.
Versions of this inner mysticism have arisen in other cultures and religions. The main characteristics are the seeking of inner peace to the exclusion of external circumstances, which are de-emphasized. It is the spiritualizing of everything. It is not so much anti-science but the going beyond science by neglecting the reality of the material world in seeking to fathom the deeper meaning of existence. However, this trend of thought can lead to religious fantasy. It can lead into an uncertain future. Neglecting clear warnings about the degradation of the physical world is the ultimate flaw of extreme inner mysticism.
See below some of my thoughts on this recurring religious tendency.
Isabel Allende is a creative, elusive genius who scans the decades of human history. She takes historical event which she knows intimately and then spins a human story upon it. She understands the fears and desires of both the rich and the poor.
Take a look at this. Then you will see why grandpa is so worried about the fate of his grandkids, and why we must act NOW!
Sir David Attenborough Presents: Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet - Documentary Preview, Apr 23, 2021
Listen to the troubled ones.
During the Syrian civil war, some Canadian groups welcomed Syrian families to Canada. A friend of mine who had many troubles of her own said, “What about the millions of refugees stuck on the Syrian border, what can we do to help them?”. And then she proceeded to try to do just that.
See below an important news item that may have slipped below the radar with all the other news occurring, i.e. the G7 meetings, Israeli/Palestine tensions, etc.
However the above item may be the most important of all. This report is from a very reputable group of scientists. If true, we are all like passengers on the Titanic. Being warned that we are heading towards an iceberg, it would be inappropriate to say, “Do not bother us now, we are having such an enjoyable trip”.
If we all make radical changes, our fate could be altered, but can we make the massive, global and rapid changes required?
The recent article entitled “Why free countries must support Israel” (Ottawa Citizen, May 27, 2021) misses the main point. The root of the problem with Israel and Palestine is that Israel is occupying Palestinian land and is mistreating Palestinians.
First, watch the video of a mother bear trying to guide her four cubs as they cross a busy road. One thing that adds to the merriment is the commentary of the woman describing the scene. As you watch the video, perhaps you will not only be amused, but also shocked by the women’s language, especially since it was spiced up by the words “Jesus Christ”.
<Mother bear guiding cubs across the wrote with Scottish commentary>
This reminded me of the power of swearing. The most powerful and commonly used swear words are those that challenge the most cherished beliefs of a community. Therefore, in highly religious societies, religious swear words are the most frequently used. In the video “Jesus Christ” is a powerful swear word, apparently used frequently in Catholic Ireland. In Quebec, under the dominance of the Roman Catholic church, the preferred swear words were “sacristan” and “hostie”. These words targeted the sacred Mass ritual of the church.
Why is this so? Because the whole point of a swear word is to express one’s frustration, to shock and to get attention. Therefore, the more holy and revered is the source of the swear word, then the more likely it is to achieve the swearer’s purpose.
The situation in Gaza is now beyond horrible.
I have been to Gaza 3 times. Here are my brief reflections:
I was there on the day that the Oslo Peace Accord was signed (1993) and restrictions were lifted. There was dancing in the streets, and everyone roamed about freely.
Later I was there for a water conference with Gazan personnel. Tensions were building. Hamas was organizing.
It is now almost universally accepted that unless we make drastic changes, we will be heading into an environmental disaster. What should be our personal response to this?
To see the talk , click the link below and use the corresponding passcode.
<Click here for meeting recording>
Access Passcode: b^2U*J5^
In this talk, I put forward the experience of Viktor Frankl, a holocaust survivor, as an example of one who can help us face an uncertain future. He came out of a terrifying past and we are facing an uncertain future. (Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, 1948)
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There are some occasions where plastic water bottles could be justified. For example if there has been an accident or a breakdown in the water supply system, or if there is no reliable water distribution system, plastic water bottles may be temporarily required.
Hard plastics have some useful qualities – they don’t rust or corrode, and they last a long time. There are some good applications for hard plastics. We are not talking about long lasting hard plastic here, we are talking about single-use throw away plastics.
The whole World Water Day celebration that is referred to can be seen on the blog:
The Rebellious Seeker spoke at the recent World Water Day. Two themes covered were the following.
1. A global water crisis is emerging. This is now occurring in some of the major cities of the world, starting with Cape Town in South Africa. It is better to act now on this in order to avert a major crisis later.
Take a look at this well documented video.
2. Bottled water is a very poor choice for drinking water in most areas that have well regulated municipal tap water.
To see how the bottled water industry arose and how to combat it see this video clip.
Greetings to you all,
I now take it as a given that we are marching towards an environmental catastrophe. The exact time of an irreversible tipping point is not certain. It could be sooner than we think. In the meantime, a viable therapy in the face of such a situation is to do what we can to make this world a better place. Let us at least try to mitigate a coming environmental crisis.
We have a choice to make. Involved in this choice there are two possible world views.
The first world view is that in the past, life was short and brutish. It was marked by hunger, diseases, wars and extreme hardship. This has been the view of Malthus, Hobbes and Darwin and many others. In this view we have escaped from a horrible past. With our modern civilization we are advancing to a better future. Steven Pinker in his writings popularizes this world view.
An opposing world view is that ancient forager cultures by cooperation and nature-based living actually had a more satisfying existence than we have. At first glance this seems hard to accept, so blinded are we by our modern conveniences. However recent writers who have studied ancient cultures reveal a much different picture. An awareness of the trashing of the planet makes us open to see our modernism in a new way. This different view of the world is being espoused by Christopher Ryan (Civilized to Death) and Paul Hawken (Blessed Unrest).
Here is our dilemma. We have evolved from a very different past. Some of us privileged ones do enjoy benefits of a “modern” culture. However, in the process we are destroying the only planetary home that we have. We love this planet and all life in it. At the same time we grieve its loss. Can we experience joy and pain in the same song?
Let us all carry on as best we can,
Rebellious Seeker
February 15, 2021
