Ven. Bhikkhuni Santussika on The People’s Climate March

The latest issue of Helping Hands, the newsletter of Buddhist Global Relief, features a piece by Ven. Bhikkhuni Santussika, on the upcoming People’s Climate March. In the article, in which she explains the intention of the gathering to “bend the course of history,” Ayya Santussika writes:

 As our Dharma practice deepens, it begins to inform and influence everything we do, including how we engage with the important moral and social issues of our times. At this moment in human history, the unrestrained extraction and burning of fossil fuels has brought us, in the industrialized nations, to a 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, mindfully experience the feelings that arise, and seek out appropriate action to extract ourselves from these destructive practices. We need to set a new course for our society towards wholesome, sustainable, and compassionate living. We cannot accomplish this through individual action, no matter how hard we try. The systems themselves must be changed. We need to come together in massive numbers to exert enough influence to make the systemic changes that are needed.

You can read the whole thing here.

The People’s Climate March will be held September 21st-22nd, 2014. Sign up to join in here.