Global Warming and Karma

[jeremyg]

This past week i was thinking about the world. And how that everything the world experiences as a whole must be due to collective karma of all living beings on this planet. This i truly believe.

However I was also thinking if we do no recycle, waste water, waster food, waste electricity, and contribute to climate change and global warming, do we gain negative karma? I say this because we are directly, and also indirectly creating more suffering for others. Its quite a hard idea to wrap ones mind around, but what do you think?

[sonamdhargey]

Global warming are cause by green house gases that comes from heavy industry such as the meat production industry.

Fight Global Warming by Going Vegetarian.

Science shows that going vegan is one of the most effective ways to fight global warming.

A recent United Nations report concluded that a global shift toward a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change. Senior U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official Henning Steinfeld reported that the meat industry is "one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems." The official handbook for Live Earth, the anti-global warming concerts that Al Gore helped organize, says that not eating meat is the 'single most effective thing you can do' to reduce your climate change impact.

Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide together cause the vast majority of global warming. Raising animals for food is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide and the single largest source of both methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

Soure from: http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/global-warming.aspx

[kurava]

I agree with you sonamdhargey, global warming is the direct result of our selfish nature and short sightedness .

We only think of our own comfort and satisfaction of our own greed. Out of greed ,to maximize their profits in the shortest time, manufacturers only think of shot term solution without looking into the long term effects of their actions eg. depletion of natural resources, dumping of toxic wastes carelessly.

Years ago, we had been warned of the green house effect. However, we had selfishly thought - this would happen after we are long gone; leave it to others to solve. We did not even bother to reflect the "others" will be our own children or children's children.

Buddha taught us to take responsibility of all our actions because the effects of our actions will come back to us sooner or later; if not in this lifetime ,it'll be the next. Each of our actions are interconnected with actions of others. It never fail to amaze me how the Buddha's view transcends time and space.

Conceited mere mortals like us will need to suffer the consequence such as global warming before we embrace wisdom propounded by the wise one 2,500 years ago.

[jessicajameson]

This past week i was thinking about the world. And how that everything the world experiences as a whole must be due to collective karma of all living beings on this planet. This i truly believe.

However I was also thinking if we do no recycle, waste water, waster food, waste electricity, and contribute to climate change and global warming, do we gain negative karma? I say this because we are directly, and also indirectly creating more suffering for others. Its quite a hard idea to wrap ones mind around, but what do you think?

What you said is true, everything the world experiences as a whole is due to our collective karma.

My two cents: We have the individual karma to exist on this Earth. Out of all the planets and planes of existence we have the karma to be born on this planet, in whatever form it may be.

So if we are born in this world and create a negative impact whilst in existence, then we will incur the corresponding negative karma.

Thinking about what you said, perhaps signing up with the hundreds of campaigns out there which promotes reducing our carbon footprint would be the best step forward. It should be renamed "Less Negative Karma" campaign!

[Positive Change]

There is our individual karma and collective karma as a group. Both of which contributes of course to the larger picture. But I reckon Global warming falls under the category of collective karma. Natural disasters also fall under this. I do not think one person's karma is negative enough to cause such catastrophic results or can it?

Whatever the case is, we cannot say we live in doubt or ignorance anymore... in this day and age we cannot ignore the facts of the matter and we must do our bid for the planet. Not for ourselves but for the future generations. As cliche as it sounds, we are borrowing the planet from our kids!

[KhedrubGyatso]

All the world's problems are due to the three root delusions of ignorance, desirous attachment and hatred.
Due to the above , we indulge in self cherishing. We think we are most important and as a result our selfish attitudes create waste  and excesses to deplete our planet's natural resources. There is enough in the  world  for our needs but not our wants.Due to greed , we become thiefs of our planet's natural resources . We change the natural order and balance of things to suit ourselves through force, deception etc, disregarding others and  nature's delicate balance. Not being able to fufill our wants and greed , we become angry and promote hatred until  the whole world, as prophesised by Buddha will be consumed by the fire of hatred.
Global warming is only one aspect or manifestation of the result of living beings' collective negative karma.

[hope rainbow]

All the world's problems are due to the three root delusions of ignorance, desirous attachment and hatred.
Due to the above , we indulge in self cherishing.
We think we are most important and as a result our selfish attitudes create waste  and excesses to deplete our planet's natural resources.
There is enough in the  world  for our needs but not our wants.
Due to greed , we become thiefs of our planet's natural resources .
We change the natural order and balance of things to suit ourselves through force, deception etc, disregarding others and  nature's delicate balance.
Not being able to fufill our wants and greed , we become angry and promote hatred until  the whole world, as prophesised by Buddha will be consumed by the fire of hatred.
Global warming is only one aspect or manifestation of the result of living beings' collective negative karma.

Thank you KG for this post.
I do so agree with every point you make.

YES, global warming is karma, what else could it be?

And the debate will go on about karma when scientists say that the cause for global warming is carbon dioxide production, pollution, intensive industrialization, meat production, etc....
The thing is: IT IS ALL THAT AND IT IS KARMA.
How does karma manifest itself? By a "miraculous" global warming?
Of course it would have a material cause, just like rainbows have a cause, and yet are divine signs...
Only when we can let go of our materialistic minds can we see matter-less miracles...

The question to answer on this topic though is this one, I think:
"WHAT ARE THE KARMIC CAUSES TO REVERSE GLOBAL WARMING AND GLOBAL WORLD POLLUTION?"

[Q]

This past week i was thinking about the world. And how that everything the world experiences as a whole must be due to collective karma of all living beings on this planet. This i truly believe.

However I was also thinking if we do no recycle, waste water, waster food, waste electricity, and contribute to climate change and global warming, do we gain negative karma? I say this because we are directly, and also indirectly creating more suffering for others. Its quite a hard idea to wrap ones mind around, but what do you think?

Interesting question... well I'd say it's yes and no at the same time. Why? Here's my reasoning...

Global warming if you see it in a bigger picture, is the cause of our greed. How is it so? Let's be honest, do you really need to have 5 houses, 1 hummer and 2 more spare cars, on the airconditioning 24 hours a day, and eat meat (we all know that's one of the major cause of global warming too)?

So lets just do an equation... attachment = greed + -ve karma + global warming

Any objections? lol...

[pgdharma]

I think global warming or any natural disasters fall under collective karma. Raising animals for our consumption is one of the main problems of global warming caused by the emission of green house gases.  So the first step to fight global warming is to cut down our attachment to meat. By cutting down on meat, we will not be collecting the negative karma of eating meat and at the same time play our part in reducing global warming.
We must take care of this planet we are living now as in our future lives we may come back to this planet and it would not be a nice place to be if it is affected by the worsening of global warming.

[kris]

Whatever we do, the karma will come back.

If we abuse our nature, we chop down tree, we waste water, we waste food, etc, it will come back.

If we take care of our nature, we use what we need, we save water, etc, it will come back.

I felt that reincarnation is a very good way to "warn" people about saving resources on this planet earth, because YOU WILL COME BACK and don't think it will not affect you [Most of the people never believe that they will "come back" after death, so they just don't care about how they use the resources]

[nagaseeker]

Whatever we do, the karma will come back.

If we abuse our nature, we chop down tree, we waste water, we waste food, etc, it will come back.

If we take care of our nature, we use what we need, we save water, etc, it will come back.

I felt that reincarnation is a very good way to "warn" people about saving resources on this planet earth, because YOU WILL COME BACK and don't think it will not affect you [Most of the people never believe that they will "come back" after death, so they just don't care about how they use the resources]

kris , agreed with you and this make me think about what harm had we caused to our planet as a buddhist when we make incense offering to buddha : -
the process of making incense involve of chopping down trees  ,grind it to powder form , combined with tree leaves ..ect....how do we saving resources on this planet earth by doing so ?
and here comes another one : -
when we burned incense,it will cause damaging effects of incense smoke on the atmosphere. ( the Environmental Protection Agency has warned again that burning such incense outdoors is illegal and will result in large fines ).
With the EPA imposing such a ban, it is clear that just as burning incense outdoors poses a threat to the environment, burning incense indoors is extremely hazardous to human health. While often marketed as a method for promoting a sense of peace and purifying the air, incense simply masks odors by emitting large quantities of particulate matter. And because these particulates have a mere diameter of no more than two and a half microns (a micron equals one millionth of a meter), they are easily able to avoid filtration and make their way deep into the lungs.
now, making incense offering to buddha can gain merit while the karma could come back to us when we harm planet earth...

[Positive Change]

Whatever we do, the karma will come back.

If we abuse our nature, we chop down tree, we waste water, we waste food, etc, it will come back.

If we take care of our nature, we use what we need, we save water, etc, it will come back.

I felt that reincarnation is a very good way to "warn" people about saving resources on this planet earth, because YOU WILL COME BACK and don't think it will not affect you [Most of the people never believe that they will "come back" after death, so they just don't care about how they use the resources]

This is so true... we are actually destroying our own futures if we keep on this self destructive path and ruining our planets natural resources. However, it is also presumptuous that we will have the chance to come back in human form.

If we do not transform our minds, I am pretty sure most of us will go to the 3 lower realms. We are in the most opportune condition now... make a change now and ensure we DO RETURN in yet another opportune condition to further our practice.

[triesa]

kris , agreed with you and this make me think about what harm had we caused to our planet as a buddhist when we make incense offering to buddha : -
the process of making incense involve of chopping down trees  ,grind it to powder form , combined with tree leaves ..ect....how do we saving resources on this planet earth by doing so ?
and here comes another one : -
when we burned incense,it will cause damaging effects of incense smoke on the atmosphere. ( the Environmental Protection Agency has warned again that burning such incense outdoors is illegal and will result in large fines ).
With the EPA imposing such a ban, it is clear that just as burning incense outdoors poses a threat to the environment, burning incense indoors is extremely hazardous to human health. While often marketed as a method for promoting a sense of peace and purifying the air, incense simply masks odors by emitting large quantities of particulate matter. And because these particulates have a mere diameter of no more than two and a half microns (a micron equals one millionth of a meter), they are easily able to avoid filtration and make their way deep into the lungs.
now, making incense offering to buddha can gain merit while the karma could come back to us when we harm planet earth...

Wow, Nagaseeker, doesn't this sound like a vicious cycle?

I guess as long as we are born in this desire realm as a human, we are bound to collect good/bad karma simultaneousy, sometimes good karma more and bad karma less, and sometimes bad karma more and good karma less.

I thank jeremyg for starting this post, because this is indeed a serious topic that we should start paying attention too before it is too late. Definitely there are karmic consequences of whatever we do to the earth out of either our selfishness, ignorances, or attachments.

We should seriously start educating our children regarding this, school should start an active campagin of how as citizens of the world, we can play our part in contributing to  a cleaner and more condusive environment to live. This must be a topic that the government of every single country should start in their school curriculum.

[dondrup]

The environment that all sentient beings live in arose from the causes that they have created individually and collectively in the past.  For example on the Planet Earth, every human or animal has different living conditions. Some live in luxury like the gods whereas some live in harsh conditions like the hell beings.

I fully agree with what KhedrubGyatso had said: “All the world's problems are due to the three root delusions of ignorance, desirous attachment and hatred.”  These three poisons of ignorance, attachment and anger are the causes for earthquakes, droughts, extreme weather conditions, thunderstorms, floods and global warming.

Our environment is constantly changing moment to moment due to ripening of collective karma of all sentient beings living on Planet Earth.  No matter how insignificant our negative action is, it adds on to the karma.  Global warming does not happen overnight, it had built up over the last few decades.

Yes I do agree that when we ignorantly waste our natural resources like water, food, electricity, we are depriving ourselves and others of those resources in the future.  We are causing harm to not only ourselves but others.  And that’s negative karma!

[negra orquida]

Definitely, global warming is the result of our collective karma due to our actions arising from the 3 poisons.  If we want to illustrate this without using the word "karma" or "3 poisons", the value chain for global warming can be explained as follows:

Some contributors to global warming:

Demand for meat - Particularly in affluent societies (especially where there is strong fast food culture) where consumption of meat is very high, this inevitably results in mass breeding of livestock.  Moreover a lot goes wasted due to meat being easily obtainable and affordable.

Demand for products of convenience - for example if you walk into Daiso, you will see a lot of innovative and cheap products which we don't really need, and that are made out of plastic.  Actually if you just walk to any shopping mall or flea market stalls... how many of those things are what we NEED? trinkets, things that seemed like such a good idea at the time, ornaments.. We are greedy for cheap things which look pretty and makes us feel good in the short term.

Demand for convenience - simplest example is choosing not to use public transport.   Ok fair enough that not every country's public transport system is awesome, but if everyone REALLY cared for the environment and the carbon footprints they are making and thought about the future generations from the start, there would be much better public transport systems and less private cars on the road, definitely.

Demand for profit - because everyone wants gain so much that they forget to weigh/ignore the expenses of obtaining such gains to others... we supply whatever the masses demand even though it is detrimental to them and the environment e.g. cigarettes, Styrofoam packets.