With Green Power Comes Green Responsibilities

Just finished reading a great post by a fellow Buddhist at Moonpointer.com as quoted below:

… As such, environmentalism and vegetarianism are aspects of Right Action in the Noble Eightfold Path (especially on the Bodhsattva path) – to not harm sentient life, and thus naturally, by extension, to protect their living environment. Is this not the practice of compassion and wisdom? It is definitely not all of the practice of the duo, but it is undeniably part of it – to the extent that if you neglect environmentalism and vegetarianism, your Dharma practice is definitely incomplete. With room for improvement, why not be more green – by being more animal and Earth-friendly? No one is demanding those uncomfortable to be green overnight. But practice makes perfect. (For full article, click here)

Too many are giving lame excuses to not do the right thing due to lack of understanding on Buddhist teachings. It’s bizarre how people can be selective on what they wish to do and not do by missing the essence of the teachings. When Buddha taught love and compassion, did he refer only to humans and not the animals that we eat on our dinning tables? When the Buddha taught Right Action, did he mean only not to do the ten unwholesome actions? Does it mean it is okay to destroy or neglect the Earth with our ignorance?

Religion aside, how can anyone in the right state of mind not save the environment and its animals if they have the power to? If you can ignore all the signs of global warming and the sufferings of the animals, you are, sad to say, living in your own deluded world.

Chopsticks = Choptrees

Today’s (Saturday, August 11 2007) Straits Times, WORLD section page 40, under the Slice of Life section:

Beijing announced the end of use of disposable chopsticks in China as part of the campaign for a 2008 “green” Olympics.

“Restaurants should (permanently) abandon the use of disposable chopsticks for the good of their health and environment,” the China Daily paraphrased China Cuisine Association secretary-general Bian Jiang as saying.

In other words, it will not be a temporary gimmick for the Olympics, it’s for real!

Quoting from New Internationalist:

China is severely short of trees only – 13.9 per cent of its 9.6 million square kilometres is covered by forest. Its amount of forest land per capita is ranked 121st in the world. Now 12 of the 40 state-owned logging companies have nothing left to fell. ‘The remaining 80 million hectares of natural forests will disappear in a decade if this felling continues,’ says Professor Shen Guofang, of Beijing Forestry University.

Thank goodness, finally a big country like China realised the danger of deforestation and the importance to cease unnecessary abuse of natural resources. I only wish Singapore will take up such measure to help the environment soon. We need to be as earnest as we can be in protecting the environment. Using disposable chopsticks is less about personal hygienic issue, and more about a global crisis now.

I have started to bring my own stainless steel chopsticks, fork and spoon along with me for use when food stalls or restaurants provide only disposable ones. You could also make a difference too – do consider it.