Thanissara speaks at Light for Lima Candlelight Vigil in San Francisco

RALLY FOR A GLOBAL CLIMATE TREATY

CLIMATE JUSTICE IS A HUMAN RIGHT: RALLY FOR A GLOBAL CLIMATE TREATY
Wednesday, December 10, 2014 | 4-6pm Dag Hammarskjold Plaza | E. 47th Street, NYC (between 1st & 2nd Aves.)

Climate change is the greatest threat to basic human rights: food security, access to water, employment, housing, public health and the right to live in dignity.

On Wednesday, December 10th, International Human Rights Day, New Yorkers will gather to demand that world governments address the serious threat global warming poses to human rights, especially to people living in vulnerable communities throughout the world.

This event coincides with a UN meeting in Lima, Peru, a part of the 2014-15 negotiations for a global climate treaty that will stress the urgency of the climate crisis and highlight the human rights dimension of the struggle for climate justice.

We call on the US government to take decisive action to address the climate crisis in the US and to fully commit to a legally binding global climate treaty.

We support the call for a new Global Climate Treaty to be negotiated in Paris in December 2015 to explicitly require world governments to protect the human rights of citizens affected by climate change.

We call for developed nations to fully fund the UN Green Climate Fund to support developing nations in climate mitigation and a just transition to a green economy.

Join us on December 10th in NYC as we stand in solidarity with frontline communities in NYC and nations throughout the world.

SPEAKERS AND PERFORMERS (to date)
Roberto Borrero, United Confederation of Taino People; Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, Earth Guardians; Kevin Murungi, Global Kids; Jennifer Viechweg, Oxfam; Ray Rivera Figueroa, NYC Community Gardens Coalition; Christine Halvorson, Rainforest Foundation

Organizers: 350NYC.org | E-mail 350nyc@gmail.com

Co-sponsors: AmericanEthicalUnion;AuthorsforCauses;BronxClimateJusticeNorth;CampaignforPeaceandDemocracy;EarthGuardians;FoodandWaterWatch;
Fossil Free & Green NY; Global Kids; GreenFaith; Green Party of NYS; Left Labor Project; NYC Community Gardens Coalition; Responsible Endowments Coalition;
Sane Energy Project; Saving Souls Corporation; Show Up! America; Sierra Club NYC Group; Social Action Committee of Park Slope UMC; System Change Not Climate Change NYC; The Black Institute; The Mothers Project, United Confederation of Taino People; WESPAC Foundation; Widening Circles, NY, Manhattan Green Party Local

RSVP on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1517842085122273/ 

JOIN THE LIGHT FOR LIMA INTERFAITH VIGIL ON DEC 7

With our lights we can guide the way.

Candlelight interfaith vigil of prayer, witness, song, and meditation Sunday, December 7 at 4 pm
 in Union Square. 
At the vigil, representatives of different faith communities will offer one- or two-sentence prayers while lighting their candles (or solar lanterns). These lights will be symbols of our hope that the negotiations in Lima will be carried out in a spirit of love, compassion, and caring. To sign up to represent your faith community, please contact n.lorence2013@gmail.com and catherineskopic@yahoo.com. 
Sponsored by the #LightForLima NYC Interfaith Coalition
part of the #LightForLima project of OurVoices.net – “bringing faith to the Climate Talks” 
Co-sponsors (list in formation): GreenFaith, Sisters of Charity, Zen Center New York City Earth Initiative For more information, search #LightForLima interfaith vigil NYC on Facebook.

Part of the #LightForLima project of OurVoices.net

World leaders will come together in Lima, Peru this December for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 20/CMP 10). They’ll be working to establish the fundamentals of a strong, global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – an agreement that we hope will then be finalized in Paris in 2015.

These leaders need to know that we’re holding their work in our thoughts, meditations and prayers. As they start their work, join us in a vigil – 

• for strong action by world governments in response to the climate crisis, including meaningful progress in Lima

• for governments to fulfill and even increase their pledges to the UN’s Green Climate Fund, which will assist poor nations in dealing with the climate crisis

• for justice for the poor, who have done the least to contribute to the climate crisis, but are most vulnerable to its effects

As citizens of the so-called First World, we recognize our responsibility for having despoiled and destabilized the global climate. As people of faith, we recognize our moral responsibility to do everything we can to reverse the worst effects of our society’s wastefulness, and to work to restore Creation. We also recognize our special responsibility to our brothers and sisters the world over who are already dealing with the devastating impacts of climate destabilization.

As people of faith we can make a difference. As humanity finally begins to grapple with this existential crisis, we must ensure that our actions are grounded in the values held by all faiths – respect for the natural environment, a passion to do justice for the vulnerable, and a deep love for one another.

VIDEO: Into the Streets (People’s Climate March + Flood Wall Street)

Click HERE to watch this excellent video on the People's Climate March and Flood Wall Street as directed by Meerkat Media Collective (meerkatmedia.org).

U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change and Clean Energy Cooperation | The White House

FACT SHEET: U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change and Clean Energy Cooperation | The White House

From The White House:

Building on strong progress during the first six years of the Administration, today President Obama announced a new target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.  At the same time, President Xi Jinping of China announced targets to peak CO₂ emissions around 2030, with the intention to try to peak early, and to increase the non-fossil fuel share of all energy to around 20 percent by 2030. 

Together, the U.S. and China account for over one third of global greenhouse gas emissions.  Today’s joint announcement, the culmination of months of bilateral dialogue, highlights the critical role the two countries must play in addressing climate change.  The actions they announced are part of the longer range effort to achieve the deep decarbonization of the global economy over time.  These actions will also inject momentum into the global climate negotiations on the road to reaching a successful new climate agreement next year in Paris.

The new U.S. goal will double the pace of carbon pollution reduction from 1.2 percent per year on average during the 2005-2020 period to 2.3-2.8 percent per year on average between 2020 and 2025.  This ambitious target is grounded in intensive analysis of cost-effective carbon pollution reductions achievable under existing law and will keep the United States on the right trajectory to achieve deep economy-wide reductions on the order of 80 percent by 2050... 

News items on this announcement:

U.S., China Unveil Ambitious Climate Change Goals
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/11/us-china-climate-change_n_6142978.html

The U.S.-China Deal Won’t Stop Climate Change. But It’s Exactly What We Needed.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/11/12/u_s_china_deal_on_emissions_reductions_won_t_stop_climate_change_but_it.html

Questions Over China’s Climate Change Plan

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/world/asia/climate-change-china-xi-jinping-obama-apec.html?_r=0

Politicians and Climate Experts React to U.S.-China Emissions Pact

http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/politicians-and-climate-experts-react-to-u-s-china-emissions-deal/

Earth Initiative Meeting at Zen Center of NYC on November 16 at 1 pm

[NOTE: Below is a message from Green Dragon Earth Initiative]

Hello everyone,

We hope you're enjoying this wonderful Autumn air and sky. This coming meeting (on Sunday, November 16 at 1 pm) is an important one as we'll begin our next area of study: Fire / Energy. During this coming year we'll focus our Earth Initiative work towards various subjects and actions that relate to energy. We'll form several 'action groups' that will each concentrate on different topics that will be suggested and chosen by all of us. 

Some possible areas of focus were provided through our meeting last month with Clare Donahue and Kim Fraczek from Sane Energy Project. They spoke about their work to diminish our reliance on fossil fuels and to encourage renewables on local, national and global levels, and how we might want to collaborate with them. We'll discuss this in more detail at our next meeting.

We want to continue to build from the great energy created at the People's Climate March, as the realities of climate change and our need to live together in a better way on this Earth become clearly apparent to more and more people around the world. The Earth Initiative is a wonderful way of merging our Dharma practice with our love and stewardship of the planet and all its humans and creatures. We are also exploring possibilities of working together with some of the other NYC-based Buddhist centers, and will share these developments on the 16th.

So do try to attend and offer your ideas and energy to our work together. It's just a couple of hours that you can offer in service to the Earth, which supports us in every moment.

Thank you for caring,

Shugen & the EI Planning Group


Green Dragon Earth Initiative
Zen Center of NYC Chapter
500 State Street, Brooklyn  NY 11217
Tel: 718-875-8229   email: zcnyc@mro.org
Web: www.mro.org/zesi/greendragon

NY Times article: U.N. Panel Warns of Dire Effects From Lack of Action Over Global Warming

Here are some excerpts from this 11/2/14 NY Times article by Justin Gillis:

COPENHAGEN — The gathering risks of climate change are so profound they could stall or even reverse generations of progress against poverty and hunger if greenhouse emissions continue at a runaway pace, according to a major new United Nations report.

Despite rising efforts in many countries to tackle the problem, the overall global situation is growing more acute as developing countries join the West in burning huge amounts of fossil fuels, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said here on Sunday.

Failure to reduce emissions, the group of scientists and other experts found, could threaten society with food shortages, refugee crises, the flooding of major cities and entire island nations, mass extinction of plants and animals, and a climate so drastically altered it might become dangerous for people to work or play outside during the hottest times of the year.

If governments are to meet their own stated goal of limiting the warming of the planet to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 degrees Celsius, above the preindustrial level, they must restrict emissions from additional fossil-fuel burning to about 1 trillion tons of carbon dioxide, the panel said.

Appearing at a news conference in Copenhagen Sunday morning to unveil the report, the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, issued an urgent appeal for strong action in Lima.

“Science has spoken. There is no ambiguity in their message,” Mr. Ban declared. “Leaders must act. Time is not on our side.”

Yet there has been no sign that national leaders are willing to discuss allocating the trillion-ton emissions budget among countries, an approach that would raise political and moral questions of fairness. To the contrary, they are moving toward a relatively weak agreement that would essentially let each country decide for itself how much effort to put into limiting global warming, and even that document would not take effect until 2020.

“If they choose not to talk about the carbon budget, they’re choosing not to address the problem of climate change,” said Myles R. Allen, a scientist at Oxford University in Britain who helped write the new report. “They might as well not bother to turn up for these meetings.”

“Human influence has been detected in warming of the atmosphere and the ocean, in changes in the global water cycle, in reductions in snow and ice, and in global mean sea-level rise; and it is extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century,” the report declared.

A core finding of the new report is that climate change is no longer a distant, future threat, but is being felt all over the world already. The group cited mass die-offs of forests, including those in the American West; the melting of land ice virtually everywhere in the world; an accelerating rise of the seas that is leading to increased coastal flooding; and heat waves that have devastated crops and killed tens of thousands of people.

The report contained the group’s sharpest warning yet about the food supply, saying that climate change had already become a small drag on overall global production, and could become a far larger one if emissions continue unchecked. The reported noted that in recent years the world’s food system had shown signs of instability, with sudden price increases leading to riots and, in a few cases, the collapse of governments.

Another central finding of the report is that climate change poses serious risks to basic human progress, in areas such as alleviating poverty. Under the worst-case scenarios, factors like high food prices and intensified weather disasters would most likely leave poor people worse off. In fact, the report said, that has already happened in some places.

Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton University and a principal author of the new report, said that a continuation of the political paralysis on emissions would leave society depending largely on luck.

If the level of greenhouse gases were to continue rising at a rapid pace over coming decades, severe effects could be headed off only if the climate turned out to be much less sensitive to those gases than most scientists think is likely, he said.

“We’ve seen many governments delay and delay and delay on implementing comprehensive emissions cuts,” Dr. Oppenheimer said. “So the need for a lot of luck looms larger and larger. Personally, I think it’s a slim reed to lean on for the fate of the planet.”

Louise Russell's Record of the People's Climate Train and NYC March

Ayya Santacitta on the People's Climate Train in Sep. 2014 (photo by Louise Russell)

For more terrific portraits and photos from the People's Climate Train and the NYC March by Louise Russell, visit: http://peoplesclimatetrain-louisesview.weebly.com/

Mindfulness and Climate Action – Conversation Archive Page!

To visit the archive of the “Mindfulness and Climate Action” conversations, CLICK HERE. This series of five conversations is being held October 5 through November 3, 2014. You can find resources and conversation recordings from the series. Here is what Thanissara had to say about these conversations recently on her wonderful blog:
As we have listened to each teacher over the last few weeks, it has felt like receiving a beautiful jewel of authentic truth, however challenging, alongside embodied, empowered and inspirational ways forward in response to the severe degradation of the Earth’s biosphere, lands, oceans and forests. Last Sunday it was wonderful to hear friends from England — Catherine McGee and Chris Cullen — and friend and founder of many visionary initiatives, James Baraz. I also appreciated Lou Leonard’s input and will post Lou’s contribution throughout the series in a separate blog post the last call on November 2nd.

Reflecting on the People's Climate March

(Note: This message is from peoplesclimate.org.)

There are an infinite number of stories from the People’s Climate March - and we want to hear yours. Take a few minutes and tell us why you were there. Tell us your favorite part of the march. Tell us what you’re going to do now that the march is over. SUBMIT YOUR STORY HERE.

The march was an incredible, beautiful moment — and we want to hear your take on it. CHECK OUT STORIES FROM THE MARCH.

Dharma Rain on People's Climate Train, Climate March & Flood Wall Street

C-Realm Podcast with Thanissara, Buddhist teacher and climate activist

A Final Image from the PC March

Here is a wonderful photo of Buddhist nuns Ayya Santussika and Ayya Santacitta during the March on Sunday by Thanissara:

NY Times article on the People's Climate March

Taking a Call for Climate Change to the Streets

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/nyregion/new-york-city-climate-change-march.html

Here are some excerpts from this New York Times article by Lisa W. Foderaro:

Legions of demonstrators frustrated by international inaction on global warming descended on New York City on Sunday, marching through the heart of Manhattan with a message of alarm for world leaders set to gather this week at the United Nations for a summit meeting on climate change.

Coursing through Midtown, from Columbus Circle to Times Square and the Far West Side, the People’s Climate March was a spectacle even for a city known for doing things big, and it was joined, in solidarity, by demonstrations on Sunday across the globe, from Paris to Papua New Guinea.

“I’m here because I really feel that every major social movement in this country has come when people get together,” said Carol Sutton of Norwalk, Conn., the president of a teachers’ union. “It begins in the streets...”

...From as close as the Bronx and as far as at least Rome, the demonstrators came in vast numbers. At one point early in the afternoon, the march came to a halt because the entire 2.2-mile route was full, and more than two hours into the procession, people were still setting out from the starting point near Columbus Circle.

Organizers, using data provided by 35 crowd spotters and analyzed by a mathematician from Carnegie Mellon University, estimated that 311,000 people marched the route. The signs that marchers held were as varied as the movement: “There Is No Planet B,” “Forests Not for Sale” and “Jobs, Justice, Clean Energy.”

The climax of the march came in the early afternoon. All along the route, crowds had been quieted for a moment of silence. On Avenue of the Americas at 57th Street, there was an eerie silence as marchers raised their arms and looked down.

Then at exactly 1 p.m., a whistle pierced the silence, setting off a minute-long cacophony intended as a collective alarm on climate change. There were the beats of the drums and the blaring of horns, but mostly it was whoops and cries of the marchers.

Last week, meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that this summer — the months of June, July and August — was the hottest on record for the globe, and that 2014 was on track to break the record for the hottest year, set in 2010.

HEADLINES ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S CLIMATE MARCH ON 9/21/2014

Hundreds Of Thousands Turn Out For People's Climate March In New York City (Huffington Post)

'Largest-ever' climate-change march rolls through NYC (USA Today)

NYC Climate Change March Rallies Over 310,000 (Newsweek)

Thousands of protesters, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, join People’s Climate March (New York Daily News)

Giant, Diverse Climate March Makes History, with Protests on Tap for Monday (AlterNet)

People’s Climate March draws 400,000 people before UN Climate Summit (NYU Student Newspaper)

New York Sees the Biggest Climate March in History (ABC News)

Thousands urge action on climate change in huge NYC march (NY Post)

Mindfulness and Climate Action: A Series of Online Conversations with Buddhist Teachers

An Initiative of One Earth Sangha, Buddhist Teachers Collaborative for Climate Action, and Conversations That Change The World from Maestro Conference

As part of Earth Care Week this October, the Dharma Teachers International Collaborative on Climate Change and One Earth Sangha will launch a set of five online conversations with leading Dharma and mindfulness teachers, listed below. This introductory series will be followed by a three-month online interactive program for aspiring “EcoSattvas” beginning Earth Day, April 22, 2015. Offered free to everyone with the invitation to donate, the conversations will be hosted by Dharma teacher Thanissara Weinberg and One Earth Sangha founders Lou Leonard and Kristin Barker as part of Maestro Conference’s Conversations That Can Change the World. We aspire to offer context, guidance and a practice to support this extraordinary journey, as we engage the immense struggle of our times with hope, fearlessness, and vision. To sign up, click here.

Join us, as together we can bend the course of history. See schedule below.

Latest from Thanissara: BUDDHISTS ROCK!

Here's an excerpt from Thanissara's blog, written by her friend Gayle Markow: 

The Climate March is gonna be huge. Seriously. Huge. And it will transform the movement for change. This is gonna be a wild and interesting ride. Not just the march, which is gonna be Huge. But the next few decades. Because the Earth, and mainly the survivability of our human (and lots of other) species is Seriously at risk, like Never Before. We’re moving rapidly toward what they call the “tipping point” where it will be too late to reverse, to salvage things. It’s already not clear whether we’ve already passed that point, but there seems to be some hope that we haven’t, but that also we don’t have much time, actually hardly any time.

There is a tremendous sense of urgency here. It’s contagious, and at the same time, hopeful. Because people – in large numbers – have gotten serious. I think we might be witnessing the “hundredth monkey effect." Wow. So, anyway, that was my day. If you can, get out and demonstrate tomorrow, and then be sure to watch the news, and see what kind of news we make here.”

Thanissara adds (follow her on Twitter here):

Back to NY Insight for a moment. The day included speeches on climate, Dharma, and activism, by Ayya Santacitta ("we are in climate chaos and there’s nowhere to hide"), Ayya Santussika (who reported on the Climate Train, Tar Sands and the Climate Pledge), Bhikkhu Bodhi (who talked of transforming fear into samvega – urgency – and desire into fearless compassion), David Loy ("a shift of relationship to body, self and earth"), Wes Nisker (the mystery of our cosmological reality, conveyed with humor and lightness), Rev TK ("nuclear waste is like having no toilet in your house!"), and myself (journey out of denial and reading from The Heart of the Bitter Almond Hedge Sutra.) 

Read full post here. (Photos courtesy of Thanissara)

Sing for the Climate: Buddhists Rock this Anthem of the Climate Movement

Final Update: People's Climate March Info for Buddhists

For the NYC PC March on September 21, Buddhist Communities will meet on 58th Street between 8th & 9th Avenues, closer to 8th Avenue, at 12 noon. HOWEVER, the 8th Avenue entrance to this block will be closed, so please enter at 9th Avenue. (The official map showing “Interfaith” at 81st St is INCORRECT.)

Click here for all of the march info for Buddhists.

This is the banner that Buddhists for Climate action will carry in the march.

For those traveling by Subway, we assume the 59th St. Subway station will be very crowded and involve extensive delays. So we advise approaching our gathering place from the south and considering the 50th St. stations for the C train, the E train, or the #1 train. All other marchers will be assembling north of us, using stations at 66th St., 72nd St., etc.

58th Street between 8th & 9th Avenues is the block for the Interfaith Groups, and Buddhist communities will have our own flag to identify us – there will likely be a fair number of people in robes ;-). Also, there will be march volunteers to guide you.

Please be aware that if the march attracts the numbers that we hope it will, the block might become full well before the march starts. We’ll need everybody to be flexible and recognize that if you come to the march location late or the numbers are much larger than expected, you may not be able to march with our group. Arrive early!

The most important thing is that we all show up and march!

Some sanghas will be meeting at their centers or other meeting points and traveling to the march together. You may want to check with friends and sangha members to arrange meeting points outside of Columbus Circle, as the immediate march area will be quite crowded. Have a march “buddy” to make sure you are never too lost or alone. Also, make a plan of where you’ll meet your friends after the march in case you can’t find them and/or your phone battery runs low.

You are invited to:

• Bring hand-bells & hand-drums (be aware that sticks and metal rods are not allowed in the march);
• Wear a unifying color in your group (some people are choosing to wear white);
• Make/bring signs expressing Dharma messages.

Inspiring Images from the People's Climate Train, California to New York

Here are some photos taken along the way on the Climate Train as it went from near San Francisco through Chicago and arrived in Manhattan just a few days before the People's Climate March this Sunday, 9/21. All photos were provided courtesy of Sister (or "Ayya") Santacitta:

Reflections by Ayya Santussika: The People's Climate Train - A powerful and empowering experience

Ayya Santussika (at center) leading a discussion on the climate train. Photo by Ayya Santacitta.

All along the way, as we passed through this great country from sea to sea, we were reminded of the devastation of climate change and the pillage and poisoning of the land and water by the fossil fuel industry. For example, we heard about the impact of Bay Area refineries from indigenous leaders. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we smelled the smoke of the forest fires and saw it hanging in the air. In Utah and Colorado, we passed by long strings of tanker cars and open coal cars as we heard from young activists about the resistance to tar sands and fracking. 

People came from as far as Venezuela and Alaska to join the train, from a wide variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, covering the span of generations from those in their twenties to those in their eighties. We had faith leaders on the train from many traditions. Each spoke about the importance of working to change our course and connecting to spirit to find the enduring strength with which to do it. 

Living together for four days, we covered a lot of ground, learning from one another, strengthening each other, building enduring relationships and deepening our spiritual resilience. We emerged informed, energized, ready and connected. It was an unforgettable experience.

-Ayya Santussika


To read Thanissara's latest blog post about the People's Climate Train, click here.

Moment of Silence During the March

At 12:58pm we’re holding a moment of silence in commemoration of the victims of climate change worldwide—and at 1:00pm we’ll sound the climate alarm.

The march is being led by communities directly impacted by the climate and economic crises, and indigenous groups from around the continent and the world. At 12:58, we’ll hold a moment of silence to honor those already lost or feeling the impacts. When you see people start linking hands and holding them above their heads, that’s the sign the moment of silence is beginning.

At 1:00pm we are going to end that moment of silence with a great, big noise—sounding the climate alarm that has been ignored for too long. You’ll know it’s time to ring that alarm and make as much noise as you can when you hear 32 marching bands blowing their horns and church bells ring from around the city (make sure bring your own noisemakers).

Coordinating tens of thousands of people in the streets like this is difficult—to help pull it off, please use your cell phone to text ALARM to 97779. We’ll send you a message that marks the moment of silence on Sunday and some basic instructions to help spread the word.

Here's an excerpt on the moment of silence from "Two Silences and a Big Loud Noise at the People's Climate March" by Bill McKibben in HuffingtonPost.com:

The second silence is more significant and more powerful. It will last two minutes, from 12:58 to 1:00 p.m., and it is in commemoration of those who are the first victims of the fossil fuel industry. Some of those will be on hand -- the march is being led by frontline communities and indigenous groups from around the continent and the world, people who've watched their lands and neighborhoods wrecked by tarsands mining or fracking wells or stinking refineries, or by superstorms and megadroughts. Far more of these frontline communities will be watching from afar, in the more than 2,000 solidarity demonstrations in 152 countries. For me, this will be the most powerful part of the day, a chance to reflect on all the people I've met in the 25 years since I started writing about this mess: the people dying of dengue in Bangladeshi clinics, or rallying in the Maldives to save their homes which sit a few feet above the seas; the people even this week dying in the flooded fields of Kashmir as record flooding wrecks their meager livelihood.

And not the people alone. Yes, this is the People's Climate March, but we rally as well for the rest of creation -- for the half of species on this planet that will blink out this century if we can't bring this scourge under control. It's not wrong to shed a quiet tear for the beauty of this sweet planet.

Nor for all those people we can barely imagine, who will have to live in a world we've degraded and impoverished. Climate change is one of the most destructive things human beings have ever done; this short silence is a moment to plumb the depths of sadness and despair that have brought us together. In the normal bustle of Manhattan this silence should haunt and echo.

To read the entire article, click here. 

Update from the People's Climate Train by Thanissara

Here's an excerpt from Thanissara's blog from aboard the People's Climate Train:

7.30am, Amtrak rail station, Emeryville East Bay, CA. We arrive into a swirl of people as a great buzz of excitement ripples around the station lobby. James Baraz and Wes Nisker are here to see us off. At the station – our first rally – banners and speeches from a 1^st Nation elder, Santiago, from Venezuela, Valerie Love – wondrous all-round organizer from Center for Biological Diversity – Ayya Santussika & Pennie Opal Plant 1^st Nation Cherokee who said we are the 'immune system' of the planet rising up... (To read more, click here.)

(l to r: James Baraz, Ayya Santussika, Ayya Santacitta, Milo Burn, Thanissara)

Climate activists boarding the People's Climate Train at the Emeryville Station.

Dharma in Action (Excerpt) by Ven. Santussika Bhikkhuni

At this moment in human history, the unrestrained extraction and burning of fossil fuels has brought us, in the industrialized nations, to the point where we are contaminating and pillaging the Earth to such an extreme that we are endangering all life on this planet. Nothing could be further from the intention and practice of dharma...

The dharma encourages us to take a hard look at what is happening and seek out appropriate action to extricate ourselves from destructive practices. We need to set a new course for our society toward wholesome, sustainable, and compassionate living.

We cannot accomplish this through individual action, no matter how hard we try. Our energy infrastructure and our economic model itself must be rethought. We need to come together in massive numbers to influence the systemic changes that are needed.

Desperate to bring world leaders together in commitments of concrete action, the UN Secretary General has called a summit for September 23rd in New York City. In solidarity and support, organizations and individuals by the tens of thousands from across the US are planning to converge on New York on September 21 for the People’s Climate March, expected to be the largest demonstration for climate action in history.

[To read the full statement on the Tricycle blog entitled Dharma in Action: Our collective economic practices are endangering life on Earth. It’s time to set a new course through collective action by Ven. Santussika Bhikkhuni, click here.]

Join the PCM Thunderclap to promote the NYC March on 9/21

People's Climate March just launched a Thunderclap to promote the march -- click here to sign up with your Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr to join a huge simultaneous social media post on September 15th and make sure everyone knows that this is too big to sit out.

This September, world leaders are coming to New York City for a landmark Climate Summit at the United Nations. But we shouldn’t trust those leaders to take action on their own -- we need to prove to them that the world’s people demand action right now.

With our future on the line and the whole world watching, we’ll take a stand to bend the course of history by taking to the streets to demand the world we know is within our reach. A world with an economy that works for people and the planet; a world safe from the ravages of climate change; a world with good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities.

Join us on September 21st in New York City for a climate march bigger than anything before.

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/15841-people-s-climate-thunderclap?locale=en

Mobilizing for the People's Climate March by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Excerpt from "Moving From a Culture of Death to a Culture of Life: Mobilizing for the People's Climate March" by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi (Truthout | Op-Ed):

On September 21, concerned citizens from all across the United States, and from many other lands, will be converging on New York City for the People's Climate March, billed to be the biggest climate march in history. The immediate occasion for the march is the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations for a summit on the climate crisis being convened by the UN Secretary General. The march's purpose is to tell global leaders that the time for denial and delay is over, that we have to act now if we're going to secure the world against the ravages of climate change. The annual COP climate conferences have repeatedly turned out to be cop-outs, carnivals of deception launched with grand rhetoric, but ending in stalemates or hollow promises. People are ready to march in order to show that this won't do. We must recognize that climate disruption is real, that the consequences of inaction will be catastrophic and that the need for swift and effective action is overwhelming. Preserving the crucial life-support systems of planet Earth simply won't be possible with the tiny baby steps that have so far been taken. If we're going to emerge intact, what we need at minimum are binding and enforceable commitments to steep cuts in carbon emissions coupled with a mass-scale transition to renewable sources of energy.

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Excerpt from "Buddhism and the People's Climate March" by Seth Zuihō Segall

Excerpt from The Existential Buddhist's recent post entitled "Buddhism and the People's Climate March" by Seth Zuihō Segall of the White Plains Zen Center:

Buddhism has a role to play in this world-wide emergency (of climate change). As Buddhists, we recognize the reality of impermanence, the fragile interdependence of the web of life, and the interplay of causes and conditions. We recognize the importance of seeing things as they are, and our responsibility for the care of all beings. We understand karma — the ripple effects of our actions on others and ourselves throughout space and time. 

All of our understanding as Buddhists impels us to act with compassion and responsibility. There are things we can do on an individual level to mitigate risk — weatherizing our homes, installing solar panels on our roofs, swapping out incandescent light-bulbs for LEDs, buying more fuel efficient vehicles. But those individual actions, useful as they are, are not enough to make a real difference. We must also work together collectively to change the way we produce and consume energy on a regional, national, and international scale.

It may already be too late. Even if the industrialized nations step up to the plate, the rising nations may not. But we have to start somewhere. Every journey starts where we are. Every successful international movement — consider the abolitionists and suffragettes — starts with individual acts of conscience and a dedicated minority that persists until it prevails. Sitting back and doing nothing because someone else may fail to act is, on the other hand, a guarantee for planetary disaster.

So our little sangha — White Plains Zen — will be marching alongside other Buddhist groups from the New York area — groups like the Brooklyn Zen Center, the Buddhist Council of New York, Buddhist Global Relief, the Downtown Meditation Community, The Interdependence Project, New York Insight, the Rock Blossom Sangha, the Shambhala Meditation Center of New York, the Shantideva Meditation Center, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, the Village Zendo, and Zen Center of New York City, and alongside representatives from other faith communities.

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