India Journal #2: Fires

After the Fire
James Crews

Let me endure whatever fires must
pass through here, must scorch my skin.
And if I have to feel the heat, let me
also trust that like the lodgepole pine,
the fire will open the parts of me
that are still closed tight, releasing seeds
I’ve been clinging to, hoarding for years.
Let me thrive in this new clearing
made at the center of my life, seeing now
how the necessary flames melted away
my resistance, revealing all that once
lay hidden, deep inside me.

As fires rage in Los Angeles, some public discourse focuses on political blame rather than addressing the underlying cause that is exacerbating the fire risks in so many places on our planet: climate change. Here in Jaipur, India, where air pollution reaches extreme levels. The constant burning of fires and the endless stream of cars, motorcycles, and auto-rickshaws contribute significantly to the problem, along with factories.
 
Despite India's commitments to reduce its carbon footprint, and several creative and promising programs in some regions, its overall rapid development and economic growth have led to an "insufficient" rating on the Climate Action Tracker. The United States fares no better, and given the incoming administration's stance, improvement seems unlikely. 
 
The Buddhist tradition offers a few different ways of understanding this crisis. One way is to see climate change as a consequence of the "three poisons": greed, hatred, and delusion. These forces shape both individual behavior and collective action across all political and economic systems, with certain extractive industries and more powerful countries disproportionately impacting the planet overall.  While many governments express strong intentions, changing systems and deeply rooted habits driven by these poisons proves enormously challenging. These same poisons fuel ongoing wars, which in turn devastate our environment. 
 
We have likely reached—or perhaps passed—a critical tipping point, suggesting these challenges will only intensify in coming decades. Buddhist teachings on appropriate response call us all to action. Each of us can identify two or three changes in our lives that could make a meaningful difference. Many of us have long been engaged engaged in such efforts, of course,

Such choices remain personal, contextual and and often involve tricky ethical trade-offs. It can be helpful to talk things through in groups dedicated to responding to climate change, without moralising, virtue signaling or climate shaming one another, all of which tend to shut important conversations down. Small actions do accumulate, and when we each make practical changes that work for our circumstances, transformation becomes possible. That could also include supporting organizations and leaders on the front lines of the big structural problems of our times (fossil fuels, biodiversity, water, etc.)

Speaking personally, we tend to be pragmatists focused on harm reduction that is actually achievable. For example: yes, it would be great for the climate if all humans became vegetarians (unlikely to happen), but efforts to encourage a larger number of people to simply consume less meat will actually have a bigger payoff in terms of the climate. 

Perhaps, the fires in LA will act as the fires in the James Crews poem.  Creating an opportunity for each of us individually, and perhaps society as a whole, to have parts opened that are still "closed tight and releasing seeds" of change.