Forms and Opportunities for Engaged Practice
Despair is paralysis. It robs us of agency. It blinds us to our own power and the power of the earth. Environmental despair is a poison every bit as destructive as the methylated mercury in the bottom of Onondaga Lake. But how can we submit to despair while the land is saying "Help"?
— Robin Wall Kimmerer
No small part of our challenge is the pervasive poverty of agency. How often do we hear, including from ourselves, “but I’m just one person”? Yet both Dharma and sociology disagree. Our words and actions matter so much and indeed they are all we have.
Yet whether or not our actions make a big difference that we can actually see, feel, and touch is, in a way, none of our business. Our opportunity is to meaningfully respond. We can speak in ways that actually help. We can act in ways that are deeply rooted, skillful, strategic, and unattached to specific outcomes.
Featured Calls to Action
Featured Action Organizations
- Indigenous Climate Action: a coalition out of Ottawa, Canada seeking solutions to climate change by building a movement of Indigenous communities. Join them in asking City National Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada to stop violating Indigenous rights and fueling climate chaos.
- Banco de Basques: a Patagonia grantee based in Argentina advocating for a change in the way natural resources are managed, campaigning to create national parks while fighting deforestation, poaching, and dams. (en Español)
- EarthJustice: a San Francisco-based nonprofit environmental law firm wielding law and partnerships to protect people’s health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. In their words, they are here “because the earth needs a good lawyer.” Check out their action alerts here.
Featured Calls to Action
Upcoming
- Take one of the many steps listed on Stop the Money Pipeline’s current calls to action. Some of these are ongoing and some are time-sensitive; check back regularly for updates or join their newsletter (linked at the bottom of the page) to stay current.
- U.S.-based Interfaith Power and Light shares upcoming actions on their Public Policy Page.
- Stop the Money Pipeline: Send a letter to executives at big banks asking them to reconsider their funding of the Mountain Valley Pipeline
- People v. Fossil Fuels – Tell the Biden administration: No new fossil fuel leases on our federal lands and waters.
Ongoing Opportunities
- The David Suzuki Foundation offers comprehensive resources for engagement at the local government level. View guides on assessing your local government’s climate plan and working with local leaders on climate action. You can also check out their Act Locally page.
- Take a step from Don’t Look Up’s resource page. Click on a step and scroll down to see some helpful tips for each one.
- Check out WECAN’s recommended actions for governments and financial institutions that came out of Stockholm+50. Reach out to your local governments and financial institutions and urge them to adopt these changes swiftly. More resources from the conference here.
- Stop the Money Pipeline:
- Move your money and divest from fossil fuels
- If you are a college student, learn about and launch a reinvestment campaign
- Tell your government representatives and local financial institutions to put people and planet before polluters.
Featured Calls to Action
Upcoming
- #StopLine3: Check out the @stopline3 linktree for information about how to join the movement by donating, attending a workshop or rally, helping allies on the frontlines get supplies, and more.
- Oak Flat: US residents can ask your members of Congress to support and co-sponsor the Save Oak Flat Act.
- Sign the Multi-faith Climate Statement to be presented to world leaders at COP26 in November 2021.
Ongoing Opportunities
- Stop the Money Pipeline:
- Move your money and divest from fossil fuels
- If you are a college student, learn about and launch a reinvestment campaign
- Tell your government representatives and local financial institutions to put people and planet before polluters
Featured Campaigns
Talking About our Earth and Ecological Crises
Though most of us are concerned about climate change, we are not talking about it. Breaking our silence requires embodied awareness and skillful means, and is a form of engagement in itself.
A call to defend sacred land of the Western Apache
- Launched April 23, 2021
Mining companies are threatening to turn a sacred site into a copper pit. Many Apaches are working to defend their historic homeland, and you can help.
Opportunities to Counter Structural Greed
- Launched February 24, 2021
United around a set of equity principles, this broad coalition confronts the financial sector institutions that fund climate chaos. If you're looking for a way to counter institutionalized greed, this might be a place for your practice.
Restoration is a powerful antidote to despair. Restoration offers concrete means by which humans can once again enter into positive creative relationship with the more-than-human world, meeting responsibilities that are simultaneously material and spiritual. It's not enough to grieve.
It's not enough to just stop doing bad things.
— Robin Wall Kimmerer
Stories of Engaged Practice
- February 25, 2022
- Dipen Barua
- February 25, 2022
When illegal logging and poaching threatened their neighboring forest, a Buddhist community in Assam created a grassroots alliance to preserve it.
An Interview with Aidan Kankyoku
- September 28, 2021
- Kristin Barker
- September 28, 2021
26-year-old Buddhist activist Aidan Kankyoku speaks to the evolving landscapes of direct action, and daring to be a part of the shifts.
Reflections on a Public Act of Protest
- June 11, 2021
- Satya Robyn
- June 11, 2021
Psychotherapist, author, and Buddhist priest Satya Robyn offers a vulnerable account of mindful disobedience.
Go Deeper with Us
Menu