Why Environmental Buddhism?

I live in one of the most conservative regions in the United States...even though it is in California. The far northern area of the great Sacramento Valley (Redding, Shasta County) is a ranching, logging, and former heavy mining area. One of the worst environmental Superfund cleanup sites - the Iron Mountain Mine - is just a few miles north of Redding.

When I moved to Redding, over two decades ago, I was surprised by the number of trucks that had guns in the rear windows and how in the fall of the year, hunters would take to the woods in droves and kill most anything that moved, including, sometimes, other hunters. Politically, Shasta County is one of the very few "red" counties in California and consistently votes the straight conservative ticket.

So...why is a tree-hugging Zen Buddhist who is an environmental and animal rights activist living in this hot-bed of uber-conservatives? Damn good question. The initial reasons were a good job offer and the desire to live near lakes, mountains, and rivers. Had I gone 50 miles further north (Mt. Shasta) or 150 miles to the west (Eureka, the redwoods) I would have found liberal havens to an almost 1960's extreme. Again, why am I Redding? Well, as the phrase goes, things are as there supposed to be.

I have always like the saying that "My job is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable." Redding is good for that as the majority tend to be philosophically opposite of my beliefs so it is good practice for me to sharpen my thinking and writing skills when I have such rich subject matter here. In other words, if everyone around me agreed with me or had exactly the same philosophies, I'd probably be pretty bored.

As for environmental Buddhism...the two are quite comfortably linked in that a peaceful, non-violent, non-aggressive attitude is necessary to reverse the extreme environmental damage that still continues worldwide. Violence is never appropriate and the Zen Buddhist path provides a good base to develop approaches that reduce the destruction and increase the respect for the land while decreasing the antagonism that so often accompanies environmental debates.

In defense of Redding (from a liberal perspective), there are a large number of Native Americans here who truly care for the land and can - and do - engage in preservation activities and attempt to keep a numinous perspective. On a related note, for a (far too) short period of time, I lived in Hawai'i and quickly noted and appreciated how the Kanaka Maoli (native Hawaiians) loved, respected, and cared for the "a'ina" or land. Of course, it was far more than mere land or ocean (kai) that mattered. It was the entire numinous relationship that was so important.