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

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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

Healing from Trauma, Emerging through Collapse

As we face the poly-crisis, how do we escalate our actions without escalating a worldview that keeps us from interdependence? How can we view injustice as a manifestation of collective trauma? How can the Dharma support us in a skillful response?

Upcoming

A Work that Reconnects Spiral Gathering

What might the Earth desire from us this Earth Day? Alex Julie guides a Work That Reconnects spiral practice to ground in gratitude, lean into grief, and clear our heart-minds enough to listen for the Earth.

Past

Standing in Fierce Compassion in this Age of Reckoning

As extractive systems collapse and uncertainty rises, how do we stay present and act with wisdom? This session explores Dharma teachings and meditative grounding for meeting grief and the call to disrupt and reimagine with courage.