By Joe Mishan \u00b7 Adapted from a talk given to Jamyang, April 2022<\/p>\n\n
There\u2019s an old Zen story, from 9th Century China, which is characteristically pithy and somewhat challenging to unravel. In it a student approaches his master who is coming to the end of his life, and asks: \u201cWhat is the goal of a lifetime of practice?\u201d I suppose the student was hoping for some final revelation before his master passed on. But what came back was brief and apparently mundane. His master said: \u201cAn appropriate response.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
I would like to attempt to unravel this koan as an orientation as to how to respond (rather than react), to the climate and ecological crisis. What in our faith tradition speaks to this, and can hold us, as we face into this existential emergency?<\/p>\n\n
Zen teacher Pamela Wiess provides some insight into the what \u2018appropriate response\u2019 might mean. She says that the word appropriate is a condensation of three words in Chinese which are: \u2018meet\u2019, \u2018each\u2019 and \u2018teach\u2019.<\/p>\n\n
I think this is very helpful. To respond appropriately we need to really meet the crisis: which means to be fully awake to its reality. And the \u2018each\u2019 is that we need to notice and respond to its particularities; not to confuse it with just the average crisis. And the \u2018teach\u2019 part: we need to learn what we can from it. All these elements are interconnected and combine to give us a clearer platform from we can respond proportionally, effectively and with wisdom.<\/p>\n\n
It is of course understandable that we find ourselves often, maybe more often than not, not wanting to meet the crisis at all. To really face into the immensity, complexity, and mortal implications of the climate and ecological emergency is a continual challenge. We may understandably find ourselves wanting to escape into the myriad distractions our culture offers; into consuming, into our endless proliferating social media, and of course Netflix. In other words, into business as usual, which assumes that the future will look pretty much like the past.<\/p>\n\n
But ignorance or denial in the face of this crisis is a terminal disease. This is surely a tragedy given our capacity as a species for brilliance, for endurance and courage, for creativity, wisdom and love, so evident in so many fields and in so many cultures. The recent response to the Covid 19 pandemic was a powerful example of our capacity for adaptation, stoicism and generosity.<\/p>\n\n
I would like to make the case that Buddhists are highly qualified to meet this crisis. I will be speaking mainly from a Buddhist perspective because this is what I am most familiar with, but I want to bow to the deep wisdom of other ancient traditions and cultures, often marginalised by our culture, who hold a deep reverence for the earth, and wisdom and skill in living on it.<\/p>\n\n
The first level of meeting this crisis is to acknowledge the facts of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n
I will limit myself to saying that, even at the current global temperature increase of 1.1\u00b0C we are already experiencing life-changing impacts on people and on our ecosystems. Yet current policies presently in place around the world are projected to result in about 2.7\u00b0C to 5\u00b0C warming by the end of the century. These temperatures are barely survivable.<\/p>\n\n
Antonio Guterres the UN secretary general said at the COP27 climate summit last year: \u2018We are in the fight of our lives, and we are losing. We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator\u2019.<\/p>\n\n
James Hansen former director of NASA, has said that the Earth\u2019s warming has: \u201cbrought us to the precipice of a great tipping point. If we go over the edge, it will be a transition to a different planet; an environment far outside the range that has been experienced by humanity. There will be no return within the lifetime of any generation that can be imagined, and it will exterminate a large fraction of species on the planet\u201d<\/p>\n\n
There is little doubt in the minds of many in the scientific community that we are facing major social, economic and ecosystem collapse, whatever global action we now take: this is because a tipping points – the Amazon rainforest, the Ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica, permafrost in Siberia have been activated. For example melting sea ice in the Arctic reveals a darker surface and attracts more heat which melts more ice becoming a selfperpetuating loop. It really doesn\u2019t get much more urgent than this. Many of us may feel deep dismay and desperation when we see the lack of urgency in government, in the media, and in the financial and fossil fuel sectors.<\/p>\n\n
This is the result of many influences. The large oil corporations Exxon and Shell have been highly effective in spreading disinformation on climate to reduce action. Governments are disinclined to pass legislation that might be unpopular and in any case do not concern themselves with much beyond the election cycles. For the media the climate crisis is not good copy. Climate change is an ongoing relatively slowly unfolding catastrophe and so rarely meets criteria for newsworthiness. Although individual weather events such as intense storms might gain a few minutes of air time, there is no regular coverage on mainstream media joining the dots and into a clear picture of an unfolding disaster. From an evolutionary perspective, our brains are not evolved to respond to threats which are not immediate, that don\u2019t seem intentional, or immoral (like terrorist threats), and which are not clearly visible. Climate change, deforestation, soil erosion and species extinction – these are all relatively slow and invisible if you are not looking directly. We come downstairs in the morning and it all looks pretty normal – the sun is shining and there\u2019s the cat and the cornflakes\u2026 and of course noone else seems to be panicking so why should we? This is the so-called bystander effect: inaction breeds inaction.<\/p>\n\n
It seems the first thing we need to do then is to wake up and to stay awake.<\/p>\n\n
This is not just a matter of being told the facts: these are relatively well known and accepted. What does Buddhism have to say about waking up and facing the reality of our predicament? The Buddhists among you may be feeling rather smug at this point: Buddhism is all about waking up you may be thinking! And of course you are right.<\/p>\n\n
\u2018Budh\u2019 means \u2018awake\u2019 in Pali: so Buddhism might be described as \u2018awakeism\u2019. But what are the practices that help us to do this?<\/p>\n\n
What in our practice and in our teachings holds us so that we can wake up to the unthinkable immensity of this crisis? I would like to point to two main qualities which are crucial in allowing us to to do so. These are two of the four brahmavih\u0101r\u0101s: compassion and equanimity.<\/p>\n\n
To start with compassion. It is compassion that orientates us to turn toward suffering rather than away. Here we are in the territory of the Bodhisattva, in particular of the deity Avalokiteshvara: she who hears the cries of the world. In many illustrations she is depicted with one of her legs extended, ready to rise to respond to the suffering of the world. Compassion has been described as the quivering of the heart in response to suffering. And it motivates us to act. As we do so we must hold our own suffering with equal tenderness: our anguish, our anger our anxiety numbness and dismay. No part left out. In this way we reduce the possibility of burnout which is an affliction common among activists.<\/p>\n\n
Compassion orientates us away from the immediate need to fix or solve (although this certainly has its place), so that we can provide a resting place, a home, for the reality of what we and others feel. This is what is referred to in western psychology as \u2018containment\u2019: a reference to the embracing arms of the mother holding an infant with loving care. It is from this more settled place that we can respond more effectively and wisely.<\/p>\n\n
Compassion is not always soft and caring however. It can be fierce. And this is brought to us by another deity, the Bodhisattva Vajrapani, the embodiment of \u2018fierce compassion\u2019. The figure of Vajrapani exudes flames and stands in the warrior pose. Fierce compassion edges closer to the energy of anger, but it is not anger, because fierce compassion is rooted not in the motivation to cause harm, but by the motivation to protect what is vulnerable to harm. This quality has particular relevance to activism. It offers a root for action that is powerful, determined and explicit without being aggressive.<\/p>\n\n
In the lived experience of compassion there is a strong connection to equanimity. Feldman and Kuyken [1] write: \u2018Compassion is a multi-textured response to pain, sorrow and anguish\u2026 The strands of courage, tolerance, equanimity are equally woven into the cloth of compassion.\u2019<\/p>\n\n
Equanimity comes at the end of the list of the Bramavirahas. This is because it holds or contains the others: it invites us to stay with, to make room for whatever is arising. There is a quality of fearlessness in this, conferred by it\u2019s proximity to compassion.<\/p>\n\n
In the open landscape of equanimity we may find our capacity to hold and allow the pain of awakening to the crisis, while the resonance of the compassionate heart moves us to do what we can to relieve the suffering of the world. And so the balancing energies of wisdom and love make it possible for us to remain resilient and responsive.<\/p>\n\n
Turning now to the \u2018each\u2019 element of \u2018meet\u2019 \u2018each\u2019 \u2018teach\u2019. Meeting this crisis as discussed above with open hearts and minds leads into the \u2018teach\u2019: it reveals what is unique, and what is familiar.<\/p>\n\n
There may be a temptation to react to the crisis as though it is just another issue of the many pressing issues of our time. One which we might want to discuss or not depending on whether one is an \u2018environmentalist\u2019 or not, or a nature lover, or an activist. Watching the news inevitably conveys it in just this way: another storm, another drought, another COP, just another story before we move on to an item about the royal family or a political scandal. Conveyed in this way there is an implied equality with other news stories. Except this not an issue like any other: this is about our very survival and the survival of life on Earth. As the title of Noami Klein\u2019s 2014 book says: \u2018This Changes Everything\u2019. Nothing can be the same now.<\/p>\n\n
There is literally nowhere on Earth, and no species on Earth that will escape the impacts of the collapse of essential ecosystems, and possible extinction; and this within the lifetime of people alive today. We need a deep reassessment of the way we lead our lives, the way we think and relate to the Earth and each other. There is no alternative, no get out clause, no bargaining our way out of it. We meet it, we see its uniqueness so that we can respond with the urgency required or we take refuge in ignorance and delusion with catastrophic, potentially terminal consequences.<\/p>\n\n
Buddhism did not develop at a time when life on Earth was in jeopardy, but it nevertheless has passed down practices that help us to wake up and stay awake in the face of mortality. It encourages us to use our practice to face into the reality of our personal death. Larry Rosenberg has this to say about meditation on death:<\/p>\n\n
\u2018The contemplation of death is a wisdom practice. Wisdom has to do with seeing clearly, seeing things as they are, that is, coming to terms with the way things are. This contemplation is a wisdom practice in that it begins to direct and cultivate thinking that\u2019s in alignment with the way things are and, in particular, the way our body is, the lawfulness that our body is subject to.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
In developing a capacity to face our own ageing and death we appreciate in an intimate way the lawfulness of anicca. All things change. All things die and are reborn: people, civilisations, planets, solar systems, universes etc.<\/p>\n\n
And so our appreciation of the uniqueness of our time opens us into the universal. The appreciation that the possible extinction we are facing is, on a geological time-scale yet another collapse of life on Earth which has happened on five previous occasions. The Earth is not in danger and will endure; life will rise again, perhaps from the human equivalent of a bad bout of flu. This is the balance offered by the absolute dimension. Billions of beings on this planet are or will experience incalculable suffering, and many species, possibly including our own, will go extinct. And: all things in this universe are inherently impermanent: everything that is born will die, back into the vast mystery from which it emerged. Joanna Macy speaks of the wonder of this mystery. She writes:<\/p>\n\n
To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe – to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it – is a wonder beyond words.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
Holding in our hearts the suffering of this world and its inherent transience and insubstantiality we tread a path of love and wisdom which is inherently open and resilient.<\/p>\n\n
Teach: what can this crisis teach us?<\/h2>\n\n
For those who are willing to look, there are many things that this crisis is holding up to the light.<\/p>\n\n
We might point to the priorities of our political, corporate and media establishments which make them unwilling or unable to respond effectively. There is increasingly undeniable evidence that the radical change we need will not come from the power elite, but from the collective power of the millions of engaged citizens, NGOs and activist groups rising like a tide across the planet. The so-called Deep Adaptation movement [2] believe that the resilience conferred by a strong community will be an essential contributor to our species survival.<\/p>\n\n
Buddhists have a particular reverence for the collective, expressed as the third of the three jewels – the Sangha. People tend to seek out the faith communities at times of crisis. For example during the COVID-19 pandemic, online searches for the word \u201cprayer\u201d soared to their highest level ever in over 90 countries; and this is also the case in times of war or conflict. So our community is well placed, along with other faith groups, to provide a community and spiritual base for the population as our systems move towards chaos and collapse.<\/p>\n\n
Perhaps however, we might identify a more fundamental teaching offered by the climate crisis. So-called human exceptionalism, or anthropomorphism, influenced by the Abrahamic religions, and by the primacy of economic growth, has oiled the wheels of ruthless exploitation of our planet and the species who inhabit it.<\/p>\n\n
From a Buddhist frame human exceptionalism is based on ignorance of the way things are. Buddhism teaches that all things are interconnected, in a mutually influencing system. This is dependent coarising – or interdependence: \u201cif this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist\u201d. There is no independently existing essence of self (anatta): the apparently separate self is one level of reality only – relative reality. From an absolute perspective we and everything else in the universe are embedded within a web of causes and conditions. Th\u00edch Nh\u00e2t Hanh describes this as \u2018interbeing\u2019; we \u2018inter-are\u2019 with each other, with the Earth, with everything else. Systems theory, the Gaia Hypothesis and many traditional cultures also understand reality in this way. Quantum Physics is also showing us this. Henry Stapp, a physicist specialising in quantum mechanics, writes:<\/p>\n\n
\u2018An elementary particle is not an independently existing entity. It is, in essence, a set of relationships that reach outward to other things.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
This crisis is teaching us the life-threatening costs of our ignorance of this fact. Perhaps the most glaring, institutionalised embodiment of this reality is our economic theory, which promotes endless economic growth and the potential of the free market. This forms an integral part of an engine of destruction which is threatening life on Earth.<\/p>\n\n
In her book \u2018Doughnut Economics\u2019 [3] Kate Raworth writes:<\/p>\n\n
\u2018For over 70 years economics has been fixated on GDP, or national output, as its primary measure of progress. The fixation has been used to justify extreme inequalities of income and wealth coupled with unprecedented destruction of the living world.\u2019 (p25)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
This delusion of independence, is being challenged by intensifying weather events and dire scientific predictions. It is increasingly obvious that that our cities, our shopping malls, our cars and all the glittering promise of modernity do not confer protection from the impacts of a destabilised climate. Film footage of houses and towns swept away by floods or razed by wildfires makes this startlingly obvious. This is showing us in unmistakable terms that our obsession with the isolated metric of economic growth cannot be sustained in a living system; limitless growth, like cancer, kills the organism on which is grows.<\/p>\n\n
The mantra of growth is also being challenged by a growing number of campaigners and activists who are moving into a more worshipful relationship to this living planet.<\/p>\n\n
Inherent in this reverence is the realisation of interconnectedness with the Earth. Buddhism offers the means by which this truth might be realised beyond a simply cognitive understanding (although this is also important). The noble eightfold path is a road map to ethical living which has many similarities to the ethical life promoted by environmental organisations, which minimises harmful impacts on other beings. In the Theravada tradition, this path is summarised as sila (morality), samadhi (meditation) and prajna (insight).<\/p>\n\n
The practice of meditation reveals the continual arising and passing away of phenomena that might otherwise seem substantial and permanent. As Joseph Goldstein has put it, in meditation we can witness \u2018empty phenomena rolling on\u2019. This brings insight into the everflowing transitory nature of the world, the essential essencelessness of it all. But it is \u2018sila\u2019 or morality which brings juice as it were, to this insight so that we do not remain simply dispassionate observers. If there is no separation between ourselves and other beings then compassion, which is the root of ethical behaviour, naturally arises. David Loy [4] has coined the term \u2018ecco-sattva\u2019 as the modern manifestation of the Bodhisattva: one who lives in alignment with the calling of compassion and the ethical life.<\/p>\n\n
Engaged Buddhism<\/h2>\n\n
I have explored the particular orientation Buddhism can bring to the climate crisis through the lens of an \u2018appropriate response\u2019. How might Buddhists bring these rich offerings of wisdom and care into the world? I would like show how Extinction Rebellion Buddhists have been doing this for about four years as part of the wider Extinction Rebellion movement. But before doing so I would like to acknowledge the long and venerable history of Buddhist activism. The Buddha himself was very much engaged in politics and society, promoting women\u2019s equality, standing up against the caste system and opposing animal sacrifice. And it was Thich Nh\u00e2t Hanh who first used the term \u2018engaged Buddhism\u2019 in the 1960s during the Vietnam war, when his monastic community took the decision to take their practice into their wartorn country. There are many other Buddhist organisation who are engaged around the world, in protecting forests, setting up AIDS clinics working in hospices and prisons. In a discussion with Greta Thunberg in August last year the Dalai Lama said of the climate crisis: \u2018Prayer is not sufficient, we have to act. What happens depends on what we do.\u2019<\/p>\n\n
So to turn now to XR Buddhists, we have developed a form of protest which involves either walking or sitting meditation, or both.<\/p>\n\n
Comments from fellow activists in other groups suggest that our actions are both inspiring and calming. There is something very particular and impactful about a group of people sitting in silent contemplation in the midst of an often highly charged protest or on a busy city street; I think this is a manifestation of what the Buddha meant when he described Buddhism and Buddhist practice as \u2018against the stream\u2019.<\/p>\n\n
Before and after our actions we gather to meditate, to connect with our group and to ourselves. We remind ourselves of our motivation for our action and of our deep commitment to our faith tradition. This helps to hold us in what are sometimes quite challenging circumstances, such as facing ranks of police or a hostile public.<\/p>\n\n
It is my belief, based on my years of activism in XR, that Buddhists have at their disposal invaluable teachings that can stabilise and sustain them. The perspectives of the absolute, of anicca and annata, can support our capacity for equanimity in the face of even this most existential of crises, while the relative perspective awakens our hearts into compassion from which powerful action can take shape in the world.<\/p>\n\n
I would like to end with a quote from a friend in Extinction Rebellion Buddhists, published on our website:<\/p>\n\n
\u2018I think activism has helped me develop deeper metta, equanimity and even insight. I notice that I generally feel much less angry about these issues than I did. And I\u2019m glad not to be so angry! Anger can be a positive energy for me, but can also take me into tiredness and depression.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
\u2018I\u2019ve done a lot of reflecting on the impermanence of everyone and everything I love – including the beauty and impermanence of the natural world itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
I\u2019ve been almost forced to clarify: what do I really think, what are my values, what do I really care about? I\u2019ve been almost forced to look after my heart, to nourish and connect with my spiritual inspiration – a deeper energy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
And my heart has opened, keeps opening more, to the power of sangha. The extraordinary beauty of other people\u2019s idealism, which inspires and sustains me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
I feel free, richer, happier, and more authentically myself. I do actually feel like I have been touching the Earth more – coming into a closer relationship with reality both internally and externally.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
And so in this way, guided by our wisdom teachings, and with the inspiration of the Bodhisattva before us, we offer ourselves to the world, as they say in Zen, with gift bestowing hands.<\/p>\n\n
References: [1] Feldman, C., & Kuyken, W. Compassion in the landscape of suffering. Contemporary Buddhism, (2011) 12(1), 143-155. [2] See for example: Jem Bendell, Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy, Revised 2nd Edition, released July 27th 2020. [3] Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics, Random House 2017. [4] David Loy, EcoDharma, Wisdom Publications 2018.<\/p>\n\n
\n\nAbout the author<\/h3>\n\n
Joe Mishan is a psychotherapist in private practice and a meditation teacher in the Vipassana tradition. He is co-founder of DANCE London (Dharma Action Network for Climate Engagement) and Extinction Rebellion Buddhists. More recently he has become active in the Deep Adaptation movement.<\/p>\n\n
This article first appeared in EBU Magazine #10 \u2013 Ecodharma<\/a> (Spring 2023). Download the full issue as PDF or browse all issues<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joe Mishan unravels the Zen koan of the \u2018appropriate response\u2019 \u2013 meet, each, teach \u2013 to show how compassion, equanimity and engaged Buddhism can hold us in the face of the climate and ecological emergency.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"dsgo_overlay_header":false,"dsgo_overlay_header_text_color":"","dsgo_overlay_skip_top_bar":false,"_designsetgo_exclude_llms":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebu10-buddhism-meets-the-climate-crisis-3x2-1.avif",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebu10-buddhism-meets-the-climate-crisis-3x2-1-150x150.avif",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebu10-buddhism-meets-the-climate-crisis-3x2-1-300x200.avif",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebu10-buddhism-meets-the-climate-crisis-3x2-1-768x512.avif",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebu10-buddhism-meets-the-climate-crisis-3x2-1-1024x683.avif",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebu10-buddhism-meets-the-climate-crisis-3x2-1.avif",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebu10-buddhism-meets-the-climate-crisis-3x2-1.avif",1200,800,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebu10-buddhism-meets-the-climate-crisis-3x2-1-18x12.avif",18,12,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"moritz","author_link":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/author\/moritz\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Joe Mishan unravels the Zen koan of the \u2018appropriate response\u2019 \u2013 meet, each, teach \u2013 to show how compassion, equanimity and engaged Buddhism can hold us in the face of the climate and ecological emergency.","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ebu10-buddhism-meets-the-climate-crisis-3x2-1.avif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europeanbuddhistunion.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6534"}],"curies":[{"name":"\u0432\u043f","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}