Alleviating the Climate Change Crisis through a Middle Way of Life

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It is an unavoidable truth that we are living during a major environmental crisis, where millions of our children are getting ill from food additives and other chemical pollutants, and many species are heading towards extinction. While the deep causes of this crisis are indeed human selfishness and ignorance of the natural laws of cause and effect, it is vital, like during any medical or humanitarian crisis, that we deal with the immediate dangers fist and then focus on alleviating the deeper causes, and establishing a preventive or environmentally sustainable lifestyle. Just as ethical rules of conduct, so simplifying and purifying our basic life requisites are the first stage of the environmentally sustainable way of life - the Middle Way between the two extremes of self-indulgence and self-injury. This way of life was taught by the Buddha 2500 years ago, but unlike then our basic life requisites are not naturally pure and environmentally sustainable, so we need to address these much more than it was necessary then. Hence to help others establish an environmentally sustainable lifestyle that is relevant to the modern world now, I have designed a workbook “Creating Environmentally Sustainable Communities through a Middle Way of Life”. It can be downloaded from the Buddhist Council website (www.buddhistcouncil.org), ‘Resources’ and ‘Lifestyles in Dharma’ section. The workbook is suitable for both individuals and community groups, to systematically examine and improve their personal and community life requisites and environment.

Stream: Human Impacts

Paper: , , “Alleviating the Climate Change Crisis through a Middle Way of Life”

Dr Danuse Murty has been cultivating a healthy lifestyle including yoga since 1971, and she has been seriously studying and practicing Buddhism since 1991. She has a BSc in applied mathematics and PhD in mathematical biology from University of NSW. She has experience in both scientific research and laboratory teaching of ecology, and her PhD and postdoctoral research contributed to the Australian and international global climate change programmes. In 2002 she left her scientific career for a more peaceful lifestyle of spiritual study and practice. Her latest interest is in how to alleviate the current environmental crisis by establishing environmentally sustainable lifestyle and communities. Last year she gave presentations on climate change and environmentally sustainable way of life to several Buddhist groups, and also at an interfaith Climate-Faith-Change forum and an NSW environmental educators conference. This year she presented her latest work at an interfaith ‘Moral Climate’ conference in Sydney.