Sumeru News — Environmental Issues

Just finished the 2nd edit of Shinko Roshi's upcoming book, The Zen Priestess and the Snake: A Woman’s Path of Transformation and Healing through Rediscovery of the Great Mother Tradition and about to start the design process. Planning for an Autumn 2020 launch for her book.

I recently presented at the New Paths in Teaching Buddhist Studies conference in Toronto. My talk was entitled: Teaching the Buddhism of the Future, not the Past. It was about incorporating green practice path perspectives into all our teaching endeavours and syllabi. Prior to attending, I had opted to take the train to Toronto rather than fly, in order to generate a smaller carbon footprint. When the Tyendinaga protests in support of the Wetsuweten hereditary chiefs' objections to the Coastal GasLink pipeline blocked the rail lines, I was forced to choose between driving, flying, or taking the bus. The flight would...

The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies is sponsoring a four-week webinar series entitled Mindfully Facing Climate Change, starting in January 2020. Bhikkhu Analayo is the lead presenter. Here is the link to read more about the event (which is funded by dana): https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/resources/bhikkhu-analayo-mfcc/ At the bottom of the page, there is a further link to download a free PDF e-book of the same name, published by the Barre Center.

This morning I saw an article in The New York Times, How High Tech Is Transforming One of the Oldest Jobs: Farming It reminded me of a section on farming from my new book, Bodhisattva 4.0: A Primer for Engaged Buddhists, the excerpt from which I include here. Hopefully you read them and find them both valuable. FARM "The real cause of hunger is the powerlessness of the poor to gain access to the resources they need to feed themselves." Frances Moore Lappé We have enough food for everybody, but they can’t get it. They are like hungry ghosts. There is no...

Ecology, Ethics, and Interdependence The Dalai Lama in Conversation with Leading Thinkers on Climate Change Edited by John Dunne and Daniel Goleman Wisdom Publications (October 2018), 344 pages, ISBN: 9781614294948 When I first heard about this book, I was excited to have the opportunity to read and review it. The topic of engaged Buddhism and sustainable development in the face of climate change is of great importance to all of us, and I wanted to know more about what insights, advice and examples might be discovered from His Holiness and the other Buddhist teachers assembled in Dharmsala for the 23rd...