In a society increasingly driven by science and technology, world religions and the communities they inspire remain a vast and rock-solid political force. Going by the numbers alone, Pew Research Center estimated in 2015 that there were over 5 billion people of faith in our contemporary world, belonging to Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other faith-based cosmologies, including Indigenous and Native belief systems. Despite their outsized influence on so many aspects of our personal, social, and political lives, however, religious thinking and morality have struggled to gain a foothold in debates over a number of critical issues confronting our world today, including climate change and environmental justice, consumer capitalism, and solidarity struggles.
In this four-part series, host and climate correspondent Aman Azhar shines a light on how faith-based cosmologies inform and influence our political conduct, even in the most intimate of ways. These interdisciplinary conversations with thought leaders from different faith groups explore the intersections of religion and the politics of climate change. What sort of political actions do—and can—these worldviews inspire? Do the gods and followers of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism have a say in the future of our warming planet? If the answer is a resounding “Yes,†then why can’t we hear their voices more in popular media? Have they been muted? If so, why (and by whom)?
In Part 2 of this four-part series on interfaith approaches to climate change, Aman Azhar talks to Stephanie Kaza, educator and author of several books, including “Green Buddhism†and “Mindfully Green.†Besides exploring what personal and political action Buddhist values can inspire to fix our contemporary problems, such as climate crisis and runaway consumerism, this conversation also foregrounds the atrocious acts of violence against the ethnic Rohingya population in Myanmar—a Buddhist majority country. Set against this brutal political reality, Aman Azhar engages with Stephanie Kaza to ascertain if Buddhism as a political thought is in crisis, and whether it still holds any promise for our hyper-modern and gravely unequal world.
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** (Disclaimer: This video content is intended for educational and informational purposes only) **
People might be indulged in consumerism based on the same reason they follow New Age spirituality: panic. They want to live a better life but don’t know how, so they fall for the advertisements. New Age Spirituality deals with a range of religions and it naturally fishes more people. I wouldn’t say there’s anything wrong since what matters is not what to do, but how to do. However, I believe if they find inner peace one day by doing so, they would stop being obsessed. And that’s where they would stop 3Bs: buying, believing, bull-shitting.
doesn't religion often act as an enabler of capitalism, resource exploitation, fossil fuels, climate change, and inequality
These guys are way too anthropocentric. Humans are not the center of the universe. End human supremacy! Moreover, you can't talk about consumerism and human behavior without talking also about population. They are tightly coupled as the driver of environmental destruction. And, how about reparations for all the extinctions we've caused life on Mother Earth? Like giving 50% of the Earth back to other life.
A very western-based perspective of an eastern religion. Wonder what eastern scholars think of ther bull…. I mean analysis….
Buddhism practices is not made for political inatter of divided control methods to be used to story over with other people are harming and killing and doing as of the same so the following question; keep your interest inside you individually to move froward before moving someone else presepctive or mind; I will be demanded to be asking to be release and so other people from war on terror from your own denials and ignorance to be released asap. Its unjustified and ignorance to faith in Buddhism or Islamic or Christianity soon enough.
Climate change is a hoax! Fear mongering idiots!🤬
Faith us the excuse people give for believing in things for which they have no evidence, often in the face of direct evidence to the contrary.
#FreedomFROMReligion
if not for global warming we would be under ice
The folks at Real News Net will not say it – But, large parts of society, industrial civilisation is at a terminal stage. As it's happened various times in the last 10,000 years of so called civilisation. Now as conventional wisdom, faith and epic bad ideas are falling apart – the zombies of late-capitalism are embracing all sorts of slapdash ideas and hoodwink hope. Example Neo-Paganism, Faux Buddhism, meditation, veganism etc etc. Not Bad But Extinction, Climate Catastrophe, Methane and Pandemics do not care. Do not care about race nor numbers. Well that much said, it's hilarious – when Instead of facing extinction – they want you to believe " a vast and rock-solid political force." Thanks for reading, Adios!
Where do Buddha live? Not being people really worship a empty statue?
Corporate farming techniques are the Eco-cide!!!
This is just another load of b.s. end of!!!
Isn't China highly Buddhist and we know how they love a clean Earth.
I am loving this!
There is no climate emergency. Period