People’s Climate Prayer | Earth Holders in Action
Via Earthholder.org
Created in the US in 2015, Earth Holders is an affinity group within the Plum Village International Community of Engaged Buddhists, founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
In accordance with the UN climate negotiations November 30 through December 11, Earthholder.org has created a format for committed ‘earth practice’ as a global community. These commitments will be taken up by Buddhist and mindfulness communities around the world for this two week period. All who wish to do so are invited to participate.
People’s Climate Prayer – November 28th – December 11th
(image) We encourage you to take a moment during our two weeks of Climate Prayer, from November 28th – December 11th, to reflect on your lifestyle and make a personal commitment to reduce your environmental impact. When contemplation and action come together in the moments of our daily life, we enrich our daily life with love, meaning and connection.
1. Stopping
We invite you to take a quiet moment to reflect on your daily life and to select a number of concrete habits you can change in order to actively engage in protecting yourself and life around you. You may like to begin your reflection by spending twenty minutes walking mindfully in nature, or practicing sitting meditation in a quiet, peaceful place. We can walk with the Earth, breathe with the Earth, and listen to the Earth outside of us and the Earth within us.
2. Looking Deeply
Making a resolution to live in a different way is a way for us to express our deep love for our planet and for all life. The impact of every act of love is measureless. It resonates across space and time. Our actions as an individual are deeply interconnected with the collective. We are society and society is us. What is important is our intention: to live each moment with compassion and with awareness of what is happening to our precious home.
3. Contemplation in Action
The suggested actions below are inspired by the Five Mindfulness Trainings, the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. We don’t have to be perfect in following the commitments we select, but we can do our best, knowing that we are actively going in the direction of greater love, freedom and happiness for ourselves and our society.
4. The Art of Awakened Living(image)
Perhaps start with just three commitments that are significant for you.
Write them on a piece of paper and post them where you will see them – on the fridge, on the mirror, on your desktop.
Tell your family and friends what you are planning to do and ask for their support.
If the resolution is an action – take the first next step towards that action today.
If you resolve to change a habit, organise your life in such a way that supports the new habit. Cultivate a mind that is loving, patient and kind. It usually takes at least 21 days to establish a new habit.
We know that our actions will lead to collective insight, collective awakening, and collective change.
SUGGESTED COMMITMENTS BY EARTHHOLDER.ORG
COMPASSIONATE EATING
- Eat vegan 1, 2 or 3 days a week
- Become fully vegan
- Buy more local, seasonal food to reduce food-miles
- Buy at least ___% organic food
- Support a local farmer’s market
- Grow fruits and vegetables at home
POSITIVE ACTIONS FOR A HEALTHY WAY OF LIFE
- Switch to green electricity
- Divest from fossil fuels, especially for home heating
- Transfer finances to a “green” bank
- Join a local currency movement (a “Local Exchange Trading System” or “Timebank”)
- Offer to share resources (tools, equipment, transport) with neighbors; join a neighborhood cooperative
- Start or join a community garden
- Help plant native plants & trees, edible plants, flowering plants and fruit-bearing trees near where I live
- Consider shared housing or community-based housing programs
- Join a local Transition Town movement
ENERGY IS LIFE
- Replace all old light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs
- Turn computers & televisions fully off at night
- Only boil the amount of water I need, not more
- Use stairs instead of elevators
- Reduce heating at home to ___ degrees
- Reduce or eliminate air-conditioning at home
- Install a programmable thermostat at home
- Get an energy audit of my home and improve its efficiency
- Install energy-efficient insulation and windows at home
- Get a clothesline or rack to dry clothes naturally (avoid using the dryer)
- Install a solar or biomass water heating unit
WATER IS PRECIOUS
- Keep track of and reduce water use
- Take shorter showers
- Turn off water while brushing teeth or shaving
- Install a system to capture and store rainwater
- Install a system to re-use greywater
MINDFUL TRAVELLING
- Track car trips and organise my life in such as way as to reduce them (combine errands)
- Walk or bike to work ___ days per week
- Walk or bike to places within five miles
- Use public mass transport
- Use a ride-sharing service
- Arrange to work from home one day per week
- Drive an electric vehicle or fuel-efficient vehicle
- Have a car-free day once a week, or once a month
- Reduce flight travel; buy carbon offsets for flights
- Take vacations close to home
SIMPLE CONSUMING
- Compost kitchen waste
- Re-use or recycle to the maximum (including batteries, computers, old clothes, ink cartridges….)
- Use both sides of the paper
- Buy 100% recycled paper for printers & bathrooms
- Use biodegradable household cleaning products
- Stop paper bank statements and bills
- Say “no” to plastic bags – every time
- Buy second-hand, from used clothing or thrift shops
- Use the library instead of buying books
- Avoid buying disposable items, or items with extra packaging: about 33% of trash is packaging
- Meditate on everything I throw away for one month, and on what will happen to those items
- Discuss with my employer about tracking and reducing waste, increasing recycling, and reducing the workplace’s ecological and carbon footprint. Offer to help reduce the carbon footprint at work.
- Find out more about the products I buy – where they come from and the companies that produce them
- Create a boycott lists of all companies I do not wish to support. Share this information with others. Inform companies of my choices
COLLECTIVE AWAKENING AND DIRECT ACTION
- Spend time in nature, and meditate on my relationship to the ecosystem in which I live
- Meditate further on my consumption habits. See what other changes I can make to simplify my life
- Start or join a community that brings contemplation and action together (Eg. Earth Holder Sangha)
- Share what I am doing with those close to me, and help them see what they can do. Listen deeply to their response. Share information and views in a way that creates compassionate dialog
- Learn more about ecological issues. Find sources of information that educate, inspire and motivate
- Find out more about local, national, and international environmental organizations I have an affinity to
- Donate some of my time, energy and resources to these organizations
- Write articles and stories to help others get in touch with environmental issues and the natural world
- Write to political and business leaders, locally and nationally
- Attend or help organise non-violent direct actions to raise awareness
- Meditate on the world that my children will inherit. Look deeply to see if bringing children into the world feels appropriate to the current situation of life and the environment around me. Consider adopting a child
Thank you Ms Fabian for all that you are doing to bring all of us to a greater awareness. The seven principles article on engaged ecology was also very thoughtfully and beautifully written. I hope it gets widespread exposure and more and more of us can return to our deeper heritage as stewards and guardians of our sacred Earth. In gratitude.
Deepest thanks and peace in return.