Mindfully green by Stephanie Kaza

Author:Stephanie Kaza
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Environmentalism -- Religious aspects -- Buddhism, [Christianity, etc.], Environmental degradation -- Religious aspects -- Buddhism, [Christianity, etc.], Human ecology -- Religious aspects
ISBN: 0834822636
Publisher: Shambhala
Published: 2008-08-05T16:00:00+00:00

ONCE YOU TAKE UP THE GREEN PRACTICE PATH,yOUSee that environmental caregiving is a lifelong task. The changes that need to happen may even take generations. We absolutely cannot do this work alone. We need the encouragement and inspiration of others. We need the guidance of those ahead of us on the path, those with green wisdom who can help us find our way. These wisdom sources can strengthen our practice commitment and challenge us to go further. They can demonstrate ethical integrity for us to emu- late. They can help us remember that others have taken up this work before us and made it possible for us to do the piece we are doing now. The green practice path is a long road with many kind beings along the way. Just as the obstacles are everywhere, so too are the teachers. They appear as we need them; we bring them forward with our calls for help. And we, too, in whatever stage of the green path, can be wisdom sources for others, passing the green spark along.

SEEKING WISDOM FROM OTHERS

When I was in junior high school I stumbled on a book by Joseph Wood Krutch called The Great Chain of Being. I didn’t really know what

Seeking Wisdom Sources

I d found; it was just another volume from the school library that looked interesting. As a young teen I read constantly, seeking solace in words and privacy from my rowdy family. Something about the spare, poetic language of this naturalist caught my attention. Krutch wrote with a gentle authority, based on hours of field observations, watching the desert rhythms and web of life. His stories revealed the grand beauty of life, the wholeness of nature. He was saying something very important that I had not yet run into in science class or church or listening to my parents. Though I was barely an adoles- cent at the time, I believe this was my first taste of green wisdom- seeking mind.

After I graduated from college, in the early days of the environmental movement, that love of nature was turned upside down with agonizing questions. Why were we killing the remarkable giants of the sea, the gentle blue whales? Why were we spraying dangerous toxins on the land ? What would really happen if the earth’s population doubled? And scariest of all, what about nuclear radiation? I, like many others, was desperate for thoughtful reflection on these difficult topics. I looked to Rachel Carson, Barry Commoner, Paul Ehrlich—the few lone scientists speaking out about the serious implications of ecological disaster. Maybe they could provide guidance in finding a wise path forward.

Still seeking wisdom, I returned to Krutch and discovered that he drew his philosophy from Albert Schweitzer, the German theologian who served as a medical missionary to Africa in the early twentieth century. Schweitzer’s selfless work and guiding philosophy earned him the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize. His book, Out of My Life and Thought (1931), offered me a grounding point as I tried to find my way through the environmental crisis.

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