Glacier Melt
A Buddhist Response to Shrinking Glaciers
4/10/12
As a direct result of anthropogenic induced climate change there have been a number of observed changes to our environment and potential hazards created that threaten our planet. Along with increased storm frequency, abnormal precipitation patterns, and increasing sea levels that grab the headlines in the news, a very critical issue is threatening mountain communities across the globe. With each subsequent year global mean temperatures rise, mountain glaciers are shrinking2. This presents a significant dilemma to both the local populations that depend on seasonal melt water from the glaciers, and to billions of people in adjacent plateaus whose rivers are directly fed from said glaciers. This also creates a difficult moral predicament for the industrialized countries that are largely to blame due to their high contribution of greenhouse gases. These mountain populations have had very little impact in comparison, yet they stand to suffer the most since they generally do not posses the resources to cope with such a major potential water shortage in their remote locations. Thus, in principle, heavily industrialized economies will be responsible for stealing a basic human right, freshwater, from these people. This paper will analyze in detail the extent of the damage the melting of these glaciers could have and the necessary response needed by the global community to address climate change. In particular, I will examine the potential effect the proliferation of Buddhism could have in addressing these problems on a global scale and in considering our own responsibility to the planet. We find that through Buddhism a transformation could be made away from the modern consumerist culture, and a greater sense of obligation to the environment could be instilled, but to suggest that the religion is inherently the solution to our ecological crisis would be illegitimate.
By 2000 there were more than 1.1 billion people
4/10/12
As a direct result of anthropogenic induced climate change there have been a number of observed changes to our environment and potential hazards created that threaten our planet. Along with increased storm frequency, abnormal precipitation patterns, and increasing sea levels that grab the headlines in the news, a very critical issue is threatening mountain communities across the globe. With each subsequent year global mean temperatures rise, mountain glaciers are shrinking2. This presents a significant dilemma to both the local populations that depend on seasonal melt water from the glaciers, and to billions of people in adjacent plateaus whose rivers are directly fed from said glaciers. This also creates a difficult moral predicament for the industrialized countries that are largely to blame due to their high contribution of greenhouse gases. These mountain populations have had very little impact in comparison, yet they stand to suffer the most since they generally do not posses the resources to cope with such a major potential water shortage in their remote locations. Thus, in principle, heavily industrialized economies will be responsible for stealing a basic human right, freshwater, from these people. This paper will analyze in detail the extent of the damage the melting of these glaciers could have and the necessary response needed by the global community to address climate change. In particular, I will examine the potential effect the proliferation of Buddhism could have in addressing these problems on a global scale and in considering our own responsibility to the planet. We find that through Buddhism a transformation could be made away from the modern consumerist culture, and a greater sense of obligation to the environment could be instilled, but to suggest that the religion is inherently the solution to our ecological crisis would be illegitimate.
By 2000 there were more than 1.1 billion people