Going Green on the Vedic Path
click for more discussions fromThe Vedic View thru the eyes of Arci Edwards
One of the teachings I received from my teacher which shape my understanding of "Going Green" is "Simple Living and High Thinking”.
Simple Living - let us meditate on that concept for a moment. First, let’s look at “Simple”: Unencumbered, direct, uncomplicated, free-flowing, honest, modest, unproblematic, free from ostentatious displays. To bring out more of the flavor of “simple” let’s look at some antonyms, things which “simple” is NOT : knotty, tangled, torturous, complicated, mazy, thickening, multiplex, convoluted, difficult, hard. Is there anyone who would consciously choose the latter as a way of life?Yet how many consciously choose the former as a way of life? Is simple living enough? What can come of it? What is the purpose of it?
How do we attain simple living? Being simple is a matter of accepting what comes on its own accord, not over-endeavoring for things which are not meant for us, and not judging our and others value by the accumulation of fruits from our efforts.
What is the value of simple living? Simple living affords us the time and peaceful lifestyle for high thinking. Simple living alone will not bring ultimate happiness; it must be utilized for the purpose of connecting to the Supreme Divine. When I look back in time, there is one period in our recent history when we can see these two things working, and we can see them NOT working.
This was the times of the 60’s and this wave of simple living high thinking existed in the hippy movement. There was such an explosion the high thinking, of truly searching out “Who I am?” “What is God?” “Why am I here?”, that quite honestly, there just wasn’t much time for anything else. The intense and burning desire to attain transcendental knowledge of the self necessitated simple living. Who could work 9 - 5 just to be able to buy a house or a car when the all important journey of self-discovery demanded their full attention. But overtime, the high thinking gave way lower influences. And the side-benefits of simplicity were sought in and of themselves, without the high thinking. Because simple living and high thinking are interdependent, when one fell, it was only time before the other lost its potency as well.
Now we are here again. Forty and fifty years later, charged with the same calling - simple living and high thinking. But this charge will fail again if we do not “use” simple living for its intended purpose.
Without high thinking, without focusing on our true identity as a part and parcel of the Supreme Divine, and as a servant to that Divine Source of all things, even the green revolution will be muddied by the tendency to exploit. “Going green" will be used as a status symbol, the Priuses and solar panels the icons of the new American success. To mold your lifestyle around profit, adoration and distinction, no matter what the color of energy used to obtain it - it is exploitation. And it is this exploitation that destroys the harmony of life.
One of the most devastating exploitations humans can participate in is one for which I have great passion to see cease. It is one of the most widespread destructive exploitations that exists on the face of the planet - affecting every plane of existence - physical, economical, ecological and spiritual - individually and globally. Albert Einstein declared that "nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth..." (did you hear that, NOTHING will benefit more - remember, this is coming from ALBERT EINSTEIN, theory of relativity and e=mc squared Albert Einstein) so, what does he say will be the most beneficial thing - "...the evolution to a vegetarian diet." We have molded our entire social mind-set and conceptual framework around this man’s theories, yet when he says "the most beneficial thing...", we disregard him. Hello? (We have all heard of the inconvenient truth - but this disconnect is the single most convenient ignorance)
Although the impact of meat-eating on the environment was not my impetus for becoming a vegetarian close to 30 years ago, (my heart more aligned with Pythagoras, (yes, the mathematician) who so succinctly pointed out "For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." If I seek to be love, how can I benefit by participating in and eating tortured flesh?), in the remainder of this writing I will to stick to how meat-eating affects our environment. There is so much evidence in regard to the environmental destruction caused by a meat-based diet, that any one who calls himself or thinks of himself an environmentalist or even remotely cares about the environment yet maintains a meat-based diet is really living in denial.
Ready? (Looking away, doesn't make it go away. Responsibility - that is one of the necessary ingredients for "going green")
The U.N.'s recent report on livestock and the environment could hardly be more sobering: 'The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global,' it declares. It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.
Wasted Resources:
Land: Animal agriculture takes up 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. Today, 70% of former Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and feed crops cover much of the remainder.An area of rain forest the size of 7 football fields is destroyed every minute for grazing.
Food: It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1pound of meat, and even fish on fish farms must be fed 5 pounds of wild-caught fish to produce one pound of farmed fish flesh.
Energy: Of all raw materials and fossil fuels currently used in the U.S., more than 1/3 goes to raising animals for food.
Water: You save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you do by not showering for an entire year.
Animal suffering: Caring for the environment means protecting all of our planet’s inhabitants. 10 Billion animals are slaughtered per year, that’s 27 million per day; 1.8 million animals are slaughtered per hour. Organic meat, free-range - words to make you feel better. If you want the truth about the impact of your food choice visit www.meat.org
Pollution:
Water: the run-off from factory farms pollutes our waterways more than all other industrial sources combined - killing entire river and marine ecosystems, destroying coral reefs, and, of course, making people sick. Imagine 89,000 lbs of excrement per second, 5 million tons per day just in the US - all without waste treatment systems
Air: According to a report by the California State Senate, “Studies have shown that [animal waste] lagoons emit toxic airborne chemicals that can cause inflammatory, immune, irritation and neurochemical problems in humans.”
Global Warming: the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined. Eating 1 lb of meat emits the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving an SUV 40 miles.
Refusing meat is the single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. Want to go GREEN? Go Veggie! Check out www.VegCooking.com for great ideas, free recipes, meal plans, and more! Check out the environmental section of www.GoVeg.com for a lot more information about the harmful effects of meat-eating on the environment.
We have a big disconnect here, in our greening communities and our spiritual communities, as well. I implore you to do the research. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Ignore-ance is darkness and it leads us to the nasty side of existence.
"You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist
Simple Living - let us meditate on that concept for a moment. First, let’s look at “Simple”: Unencumbered, direct, uncomplicated, free-flowing, honest, modest, unproblematic, free from ostentatious displays. To bring out more of the flavor of “simple” let’s look at some antonyms, things which “simple” is NOT : knotty, tangled, torturous, complicated, mazy, thickening, multiplex, convoluted, difficult, hard. Is there anyone who would consciously choose the latter as a way of life?Yet how many consciously choose the former as a way of life? Is simple living enough? What can come of it? What is the purpose of it?
How do we attain simple living? Being simple is a matter of accepting what comes on its own accord, not over-endeavoring for things which are not meant for us, and not judging our and others value by the accumulation of fruits from our efforts.
What is the value of simple living? Simple living affords us the time and peaceful lifestyle for high thinking. Simple living alone will not bring ultimate happiness; it must be utilized for the purpose of connecting to the Supreme Divine. When I look back in time, there is one period in our recent history when we can see these two things working, and we can see them NOT working.
This was the times of the 60’s and this wave of simple living high thinking existed in the hippy movement. There was such an explosion the high thinking, of truly searching out “Who I am?” “What is God?” “Why am I here?”, that quite honestly, there just wasn’t much time for anything else. The intense and burning desire to attain transcendental knowledge of the self necessitated simple living. Who could work 9 - 5 just to be able to buy a house or a car when the all important journey of self-discovery demanded their full attention. But overtime, the high thinking gave way lower influences. And the side-benefits of simplicity were sought in and of themselves, without the high thinking. Because simple living and high thinking are interdependent, when one fell, it was only time before the other lost its potency as well.
Now we are here again. Forty and fifty years later, charged with the same calling - simple living and high thinking. But this charge will fail again if we do not “use” simple living for its intended purpose.
Without high thinking, without focusing on our true identity as a part and parcel of the Supreme Divine, and as a servant to that Divine Source of all things, even the green revolution will be muddied by the tendency to exploit. “Going green" will be used as a status symbol, the Priuses and solar panels the icons of the new American success. To mold your lifestyle around profit, adoration and distinction, no matter what the color of energy used to obtain it - it is exploitation. And it is this exploitation that destroys the harmony of life.
One of the most devastating exploitations humans can participate in is one for which I have great passion to see cease. It is one of the most widespread destructive exploitations that exists on the face of the planet - affecting every plane of existence - physical, economical, ecological and spiritual - individually and globally. Albert Einstein declared that "nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth..." (did you hear that, NOTHING will benefit more - remember, this is coming from ALBERT EINSTEIN, theory of relativity and e=mc squared Albert Einstein) so, what does he say will be the most beneficial thing - "...the evolution to a vegetarian diet." We have molded our entire social mind-set and conceptual framework around this man’s theories, yet when he says "the most beneficial thing...", we disregard him. Hello? (We have all heard of the inconvenient truth - but this disconnect is the single most convenient ignorance)
Although the impact of meat-eating on the environment was not my impetus for becoming a vegetarian close to 30 years ago, (my heart more aligned with Pythagoras, (yes, the mathematician) who so succinctly pointed out "For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." If I seek to be love, how can I benefit by participating in and eating tortured flesh?), in the remainder of this writing I will to stick to how meat-eating affects our environment. There is so much evidence in regard to the environmental destruction caused by a meat-based diet, that any one who calls himself or thinks of himself an environmentalist or even remotely cares about the environment yet maintains a meat-based diet is really living in denial.
Ready? (Looking away, doesn't make it go away. Responsibility - that is one of the necessary ingredients for "going green")
The U.N.'s recent report on livestock and the environment could hardly be more sobering: 'The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global,' it declares. It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.
Wasted Resources:
Land: Animal agriculture takes up 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. Today, 70% of former Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and feed crops cover much of the remainder.An area of rain forest the size of 7 football fields is destroyed every minute for grazing.
Food: It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1pound of meat, and even fish on fish farms must be fed 5 pounds of wild-caught fish to produce one pound of farmed fish flesh.
Energy: Of all raw materials and fossil fuels currently used in the U.S., more than 1/3 goes to raising animals for food.
Water: You save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you do by not showering for an entire year.
Animal suffering: Caring for the environment means protecting all of our planet’s inhabitants. 10 Billion animals are slaughtered per year, that’s 27 million per day; 1.8 million animals are slaughtered per hour. Organic meat, free-range - words to make you feel better. If you want the truth about the impact of your food choice visit www.meat.org
Pollution:
Water: the run-off from factory farms pollutes our waterways more than all other industrial sources combined - killing entire river and marine ecosystems, destroying coral reefs, and, of course, making people sick. Imagine 89,000 lbs of excrement per second, 5 million tons per day just in the US - all without waste treatment systems
Air: According to a report by the California State Senate, “Studies have shown that [animal waste] lagoons emit toxic airborne chemicals that can cause inflammatory, immune, irritation and neurochemical problems in humans.”
Global Warming: the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined. Eating 1 lb of meat emits the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving an SUV 40 miles.
Refusing meat is the single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. Want to go GREEN? Go Veggie! Check out www.VegCooking.com for great ideas, free recipes, meal plans, and more! Check out the environmental section of www.GoVeg.com for a lot more information about the harmful effects of meat-eating on the environment.
We have a big disconnect here, in our greening communities and our spiritual communities, as well. I implore you to do the research. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Ignore-ance is darkness and it leads us to the nasty side of existence.
"You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist
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