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A Buddhist Perspective on Global Warming: Causes, Effects and Solutions Trần Tiễn Khanh, CEO, AMI Environmental, USA ABSTRACT Among all religions today, Buddhism is widely recognized as the most scientific one. This paper will analyze global warming from a Buddhist perspective. First, global warming is basically caused by three poisons: greed, anger, and ignorance. Greed causes us to consume carelessly our limited natural resources, from energy companies that want to maximize their profits by building more coal-fired power plants that emit millions tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) to nations that want economic development at the expense of the environment. Anger comes in the form of aversion to conservation and sustainable practices. Ignorance causes us to think the permanence of all things and to ignore the serious effects of global warming, from severe storms and floods in recent years to submerged coastal areas due to sea level rise in the near future. Global warming can also be studied by applying basic Buddhist teachings: the middle way, the Eightfold Noble Path and the principle of dependent origination. Due to the three poisons, a person may adopt extreme positions, (1) he/she is not responsible for global warming or (2) he/she cannot do anything about it. We should delve neither in denial nor hopelessness, but should adopt a middle way and a pro-active approach. We should fully understand the causes and effects of global warming (right understanding) through our best efforts (right concentration), intentions (right intent) and wisdom (right view). We should investigate the wasteful habits and practices in our own life (right livelihood) and then apply the best solutions (right effort) and care for others and all forms of life on this planet (right mindfulness). Finally, we have to realize that we live in an interdependent world where anyone’s actions, however small, will affect everybody else and the planet as a whole. Practical solutions to global warming will be described. These include steps that an individual, a private business and a government can take to minimize the effects of global warming, ranging from energy conservation measures to alternative renewable energy sources such as biofuels, wind and solar, and sustainable development policies. For the last several years, members of Tuệ Quang Foundation together with international environmental defense organizations have mounted legal challenges to stop the building of coal-fired power plants in several states throughout the United States. These efforts and our program to grow environment-friendly plants in Vietnam, e.g. the Moringa plant for fighting malnutrition and the Jatropha plant for producing biodiesel will also be discussed.
Biography of Dr. Tran Tien Khanh Dr. Khanh Tran was born in Hue. Following his graduation in 1970 from the French Lycee Jean Jacques Rousseau in HCM City, he went to study abroad at the University of California. After receiving his MS and BS degrees, he completed in 1978 his PhD research in Environmental Engineering at UCLA. Since 1975, Dr. Tran has been active in the field of environmental impact assessment, especially air pollution modeling. Since 1980, he has formed his private consulting firm named AMI Environmental. He is a leading authority in air quality modeling and health risk assessment. He has served as a technical consultant to US government agencies, utilities and multinational oil companies. He had performed air pollution studies for the Los Angeles region, oil and gas development in California and Alaska and several power plant projects. In recent years, he has served as an air quality expert with environmental defense organizations such as Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council in legal challenges to proposed coal-fired power plants in several states throughout the US. He has also performed wind energy development projects for the US Department of Energy. For the last several years, he has been actively involved in researching and developing a computer-based software package for translating the Chinese-based Buddhist texts in the Taisho Tripitaka into Vietnamese and other Western languages such as English and French. He is currently Vice President of Tue Quang Foundation that has started a multi-year program to develop a Vietnamese Tripitaka. |
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