Some of my recent contemplative practices have led me to ask: is there room for Buddhism in the Anthropocene? What will the role of religion be in addressing issues of climate change? What should religion’s role be? In the academic community we rarely talk about religion unless we are in some theology or religious studies class. In fact, it is often seen as unprofessional or inappropriate to bring religious beliefs into academic discussions. It appears that “having faith” isn’t as convincing as “knowing the facts”.
However, most of the world, including world leaders, is religious! Furthermore, most of our value-based judgments are based on religious teachings. Like it or not, a lot of our personal and political decisions are determined by our religious or moral beliefs. But is this a bad thing? I do think it is wrong for someone to try to impose his or her religious beliefs on someone else. For example, I don’t think we can justify denying gay couples the right to marry on the basis that the Christian Bible says that its “wrong”.
However, contemplative practice has helped me to realize that indulging in our religious beliefs can help us navigate our way through the Anthropocene. Our religions, or secular moral philosophies can guide us to make more responsible choices regarding the environment. I think that religious convictions are an untapped resource for environmental advocates. Religion helps us recognize that there is a purpose higher than ourselves. This humility, I believe, can help us recognize that we should think of how our actions affect others. For example, how our carbon emissions from driving here in WA affect grain yields in Africa.
I think that a lot of the conditions that led to the Anthropocene can be traced back to overlooking our moral intuitions, suppressing our religion. Perhaps if humanity had engaged in more contemplative practice during the industrial revolution we could have foreseen some of the environmental problems we face today. Certainly, Buddha would have warned us against basing our notions of progress on the accumulation of material possessions. I am not suggesting that we should base environmental regulations on religious teachings, but I do think it is wrong to keep our beliefs out of the conversation. The age of the Anthropocene will bring with it a lot of uncertainty; maybe our faith will be more valuable after all.