At their core, all religions are based on the foundation of compassion. Even secular humanism, which admits to no God, is based on compassion. That is a powerful basis for unity, not division.
...There are two kinds of denial that have become part of our psychological response: 1) the denial that it is even happening, which is rapidly becoming impossible to sustain given the evidence, and 2) the denial that our personal consumption patterns need to change in...
Carbon Tax and Dividend is like Gandhi agitating for an Oppression tax to be levied on white train travelers, to be collected and redistributed equally to all white train travelers in the form of dividends, so that they have an economic incentive to reduce their...
Paul is right. The Earth is Full and we better understand that our adolescent growth spurt is over and that we need to adjust to an age of limited growth with an ever increasing maturity.
...It turns out that it is far more important to change what people eat than how they cook their food.
...When climate scientists continue to consume animal foods, while talking about catastrophic weather events in the coming decades if we don't make policy changes, I personally find it difficult to take them seriously.
...The human impact on the carbon cycle is much bigger than we thought. But on the flip side, this also means that the carbon sinks of the natural world are much more powerful than we thought.
...Second hand diet is not such a well known social behavioral issue even though the harmful effects of second hand diet are far worse than the harmful effects of second hand smoke.
...Every atrocity committed by humans stems from an underlying absurdity in their belief systems. The belief systems may be traditional and cultural, but as Brian McLaren points out, "Uncritical loyalty to your ancestors may implicate you in a crime against your descendants."
..."While Climate Change is a symptom, the fever that our Earth has contracted, the underlying disease is the disconnection from Creation that plagues human societies throughout our Earth.
We, the undersigned, pledge to heal this disconnection by promoting and exemplifying Compassion for all Creation (my emphasis) in...
We, the undersigned, pledge to heal this disconnection by promoting and exemplifying Compassion for all Creation in all our actions.
Signed:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Bishop Geoff Davies, Executive Director of South African Faith Communities' Environment
...Climate change is a symptom while the extinction of Life is the true underlying disease that needs treatment.
Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth (AIT) focused on the wrong problem.
..."I don’t understand how there isn’t—millions of people can all of a sudden go out in the streets in the United States and begin destroying things, I don’t know. That may perfectly happen. You know, the situation is absolutely dramatic. " - Manfred Max Neef
...Here's the text of Jim Hansen's statement from Freedom Plaza and some editorial commentary.
...Of all the stories in Hindu mythology, the one about the cosmic fig tree is among the most profound.
...It is virtually certain that the behavioral transformation that is needed would include repudiating the current abuse of Life, especially by the affluent community. If affluent humans begin nurturing Life instead, the earth will begin to heal from these self inflicted wounds.
...In her book, "The World is Blue", Dr. Sylvia Earle, the National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, uses the analogy that Life is like a PC and human beings are wantonly destroying various components in the PC, without realizing that the PC could crash as a result.
...It was a good milestone for vegetarian activist DIXIE MAHY, President of the SAN FRANCISCO VEGETARIAN SOCIETY, to see her efforts come to fruition in a BOARD RESOLUTION on Tuesday, April 6, 2010
...In his book, "Domination of Nature," William Leiss traces the destructive impact of modern civilization on Life to pervasive attitudes originating with Sir Francis Bacon in the 17th century. Countering the defeatism in 17th century society towards natural disasters in the form of the...
In Oct. 2008, Dr. James Gustave Speth, the dean of Environmental Studies at Yale University wrote, "All we have to do to destroy the planet’s climate and biota and leave a ruined world to our children and grandchildren is to keep doing exactly what...
Human civilization is reaching the limits of the traditional linear economic model which supposes the planet to be an infinite source for industrial raw materials and an infinite sink for industrial waste. Fortunately for us, much of this waste never left the planet and can...
As the US Northeast experiences record snowfalls during this winter, Vice President Al Gore has been the butt of jokes from those who argue that Climate Change or rather, Global Warming, isn't happening.
...Here's my (personal) beef with meat
By James E. McWilliams
I gave a talk in South Texas recently on the environmental virtues of a vegetarian diet.
http://www.earthpolicy.org/index.php?/plan_b_updates/2009/update84
By Lester R. Brown
For the 193 national delegations gathering in Copenhagen for the U.N. Climate Change Conference in December, the reasons for concern about climate change vary widely.
What are your views on India's role and contribution at the Copenhagen conference?
India has a unique global role straddling the industrialized nations and the developing world and could potentially be the bridge builder between these two groups at Copenhagen.
Dairy consumption is a sleeper item in the whole diet issue and hasn't received much attention in environmental circles. Of the 1.3 billion heads of cattle worldwide, 320 million are in India where cows are mostly allowed to live out their natural lives and beef...
Climate change is not a problem because of temperature increases, or weather changes or melting sea ice in the Arctic. It is a problem because it impacts Life.
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