Compassion in Action

Melissa Hoffer on Environmental Policy

This EcoDharma Exploration featuring environmental lawyer and Tibetan Buddhist practitioner Melissa Hoffer took place on Sunday, January 23. Find the recording and resources below. We welcome your support for this program.

There has never been a greater need for collective response to ecological suffering. But many of us feel powerless to change our society’s destructive course. How might we awaken to new possibilities for engaged practice, for action in defense of all living beings?

EcoDharma Explorations are offered monthly for you to explore a particular aspect of EcoDharma as well as develop a sense of community. In this gathering on January 23, environmental lawyer and Biden political appointee Melissa Hoffer shared how her Buddhist practice inspires her work, spoke on US environmental rulemaking, and offered concrete avenues for impactful engagement.

Melissa Hoffer is an attorney specializing in environmental law. She currently serves in the Biden administration as Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency. She previously served as the chief of the Energy & Environment Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where she oversaw enforcement of environmental laws, protected ratepayer interests, and supported federal regulations addressing emissions of mercury, air toxins, and greenhouse gases. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Melissa served for over five years as a vice president of Conservation Law Foundation. She is a practitioner in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

     Pieces on One Earth Sangha

This program is donation-based, with no required registration fee. We welcome your contributions to support this program and the work of One Earth Sangha.

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One Earth Sangha and our featured speakers offer these explorations on a donation basis, with no required registration fee. We invite you to participate in the tradition of offering dana, or generosity. Your support makes these gatherings possible, and any amount offered is greatly appreciated.

Another way to support us is to share what this exploration has meant to you in a way that we can use in our materials. We invite you to share a “testimonial” here! (select “EcoDharma Exploration Participant” from the dropdown menu.)

Recording

More EcoDharma Explorations

Upcoming

Turning Toward the Darkness Without Bypass or Collapse

Jess Serrante will share what she's learned in her years of friendship with Joanna Macy and her own experience carrying this lineage forward. Come ready to be tender with yourself and each other. We won't leave with answers — but hopefully with a little more room to carry what's true, together.

Past

Social Transformation Begins Right Here

What can open up for the beleaguered heart and mind when we slow all the way down and just breathe? What does this body already know about the magnificent compassion of this Earth, even as we might struggle to receive it?

Past

Meeting the Paradox of Inaction with Compassion

What if we better understood each other? We have a responsibility to investigate our own perceptions about how others are feeling the challenge of existential crises. What possibilities might such understanding open up for us all?