The Loss of Biodiversity

Something important is happening when scientists start talking about the good life. In principle at least, science has left discussion of values to religion and the arts. But in the ecological crisis, the long-held distinction between facts and values is breaking down. The environment is seen as a vast feedback system that’s being reshaped by human behaviour. Our individual actions are magnified on a planetary scale and reflected back to us as environmental change.

That connection between actions and consequences is the heart of ethics, but it’s not the role of scientists to tell us what our values should be. So where can we find an alternative idea of the good life? And what social narrative offers an environmentally sustainable understanding of what makes us happy?




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Global warming

Everyone wants to be happy; but when we look for happiness in immediate pleasures or prioritise our own interests over others, we turn happiness into an object that we think we can grasp. But Buddhism suggests that the grasping mentality is itself an important part of what makes us unhappy. If that’s true of individuals, it’s also true of society. In either case the alternative is fostering the conditions that support our long term wellbeing.

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager, is admirably impatient and rightly demands that we recognise climate change as a crisis that requires urgent action. But acting in ways that are effective in the long term means recognising that we need to think freshly and think big..................

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American poet Mary Oliver by Vishvapani

Many British people, even those who read poetry, might not have heard of the American poet Mary Oliver, who died on Thursday aged 83. But in the US she was loaded with honours and won a wide readership for poems expressing a distinctively modern kind of spirituality.

Her most famous poem is The Summer Day, which starts with the ancient religious question, ‘Who Made the world?’ Then the poet gazes at a grasshopper that’s landed in her palm as she walks through the fields, and reflects that the answer lies in engaging with what’s before her with care and curiosity. ’I don't know exactly what a prayer is,’ she says. ‘I do know how to pay attention’...........................



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The Space Race and Our Precious Earth by Jasvir Singh

This is likely to be an important year when it comes to the environment, be it by managing the impact of climate change, increasing the use of renewable energies, or reducing our reliance on single-use plastics. We have a short window of opportunity to change our own direction of travel when it comes to how we treat the world, and we should make the most of it whilst we still can.

As we enter this new Space Age with wonder and excitement, I believe that we would do well to keep at the front of our minds the precious and unique world we live on. After all, it’s still the only one we truly know.......................



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"Wise Speech" by Professor Mona Siddiqui

Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the University of Edinburgh, considers the impact of "hate speech" on recent events.



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Vegetarianism and veganism

This week we've heard from Oxford scientists that limiting carbon emissions and feeding a growing population should mean moving towards a more plant-based diet. The discussion's awkward but vegetarians have long argued that the choices we make around eating are intrinsically ethical. 

From a Buddhist perspective, what links these issues is the belief that the consequences of food production for both animal suffering and the planet are our responsibility. Not all Buddhists are vegetarian, but Buddhist ethics teaches that acting well means paying careful attention to the conditions from which things develop. Some Buddhist monks start a meal by reflecting on where the food has come from with a sense of gratitude to the farmers and cooks......................

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Climate Change

When I look at my own behaviour, I find that blandishments about living more simply don’t really prompt me to make lasting changes. Those only come from my underlying values, and to keep them in mind I reflect regularly on what Buddhism calls ‘The Four Reminders’..............................




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