March 18, 2012. 70-minute talk from Upper Hamlet in Plum Village, France. It is a rainy day today and we hear responses to a series of questions presented by a magazine in the UK on the topic of climate change and global warming.
- Do you believe humans can avoid a global ecological collapse, or are we driving ourselves towards one?
- The urban population across the world is growing. What if anything is lost by our increasing switch towards being an urban species?
- Are we a vulnerable species or one still in control of our destiny?
- There is strong support for engineered solutions to our ecological problems, for example reflecting the sun’s rays, sucking up carbon emissions, or lab-grown meat. Is this the right approach for us to be taking?
- Most of us in the West are still attached to a high-consumption lifestyle. We like to buy new and exciting things. Is there a strong enough alternative lifestyle out there that can convince us to leave this high-consumption lifestyle we have?
- Have we found a new narrative, one that can help us learn to live more sustainably before it is too late?
- What is the hardest part of the lifestyle you have chosen to live, and how do you attract young people to follow?
- Can we strive for financial and spiritual contentment, or are they mutually exclusive?
- Most environmentalists narrow down the problems we face into two issues: overconsumption and overpopulation. Where do you stand?
Answering Questions about Global Climate Change from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.