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Video Information: 27.07.22, 'East-West Dialogue on Climate and Justice', organized by Bard College, USA.
Context:
~ What is Climate Change?
~ How to stop climate change?
~ What is the solution to global warming?
~ How can we control the increasing population?
~ How can spirituality solve the problem of global warming?
~ What is the most effective way of dealing with climate change?
~ How can population control help in dealing with climate change?
~ What is the solution to climate change?
~ How spirituality can stop climate change?
~ Climate change has no scientific solution
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
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⚡ Want Acharya Prashant’s regular updates?
Join WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va6Z...
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Want to accelerate Acharya Prashant’s work?
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Want to work with Acharya Prashant?
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➖➖➖➖➖➖
Video Information: 27.07.22, 'East-West Dialogue on Climate and Justice', organized by Bard College, USA.
Context:
~ What is Climate Change?
~ How to stop climate change?
~ What is the solution to global warming?
~ How can we control the increasing population?
~ How can spirituality solve the problem of global warming?
~ What is the most effective way of dealing with climate change?
~ How can population control help in dealing with climate change?
~ What is the solution to climate change?
~ How spirituality can stop climate change?
~ Climate change has no scientific solution
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00 (soft music)
00:03 - Welcome everyone to the second East-West Dialogue
00:06 on Climate and Justice.
00:08 My name is David Blochstein.
00:10 I'm the co-director of Solve Climate by 2030,
00:14 a program of the Bard College in New York.
00:18 This discussion with Acharya Prashant
00:21 of the Prashant Advait Foundation of India
00:24 is part of our worldwide teaching on climate and justice.
00:29 Acharya Prashant is a powerful voice
00:33 of socio-spiritual awakening in today's world.
00:36 He is an acclaimed Vedanta exegete
00:40 and author of over 80 books,
00:42 including the national bestseller, "Karma,
00:45 Why Everything You Know About It Is Wrong."
00:48 An alumnus of IIT Delhi, IIM, a medibod
00:53 and a former civil services officer,
00:58 he is an exponent, pure Vedantic wisdom,
01:02 a vocal warrior against superstition and inner weakness,
01:06 a promulgator of pure spiritual veganism
01:09 and an expounder of essential human freedom.
01:12 This discussion today is a follow-up to conversation
01:17 between Acharya Prashant and my colleague,
01:21 Dr. Evan Goodstein,
01:23 director of Bard's graduate programs in sustainability
01:27 and director of Solve Climate by 2030.
01:30 That conversation recorded in April of 2023
01:34 is available on the Acharya Prashant YouTube channel.
01:40 Today, Acharya will respond to questions
01:44 from students around the world,
01:46 including participants in Bard's internship
01:49 in social media for climate activism.
01:52 I'm delighted to welcome Acharya Prashant
01:56 and our student participants.
01:58 We thank you all for being with us today.
02:01 In a moment, I will be turning it over
02:03 to my friend and colleague, Anupam Chatterjee
02:07 of the Prashant Advait Foundation,
02:09 who will be moderating the question and answer session.
02:14 But I'd like to begin with a question myself,
02:17 which is that in this discussion between yourself
02:22 and my colleague, Eben,
02:25 you talked from a very deep spiritual perspective
02:30 and the need for personal transformation.
02:33 But yet, as we're looking at the climate emergency,
02:37 which is on us right now,
02:40 we've named our project Solve Climate by 2030
02:44 because the time is very short,
02:48 as identified by the Intergovernmental Panel
02:51 on Climate Change.
02:53 So how do we reconcile the need for immediate action
02:58 with the need for deep personal and societal transformation
03:05 that often takes longer than the time
03:08 that may be available to us?
03:10 So an easy question to begin.
03:14 - Yes.
03:16 And thank you, first of all, for having this discussion.
03:22 It's an easy question about a difficult situation.
03:27 You said inner transformation processes
03:34 are often long winding
03:36 and deliver results only in the long term.
03:41 So it's not really so that
03:48 inner transformation will necessarily take a long time
03:53 and inordinately long time,
04:03 considering that we are looking at 2030
04:08 as the threshold, as the cutoff year.
04:16 You see, look at it differently.
04:19 Apart from the inner transformation route,
04:28 we have tried everything else.
04:31 That there is a climate catastrophe upon us
04:38 is not new information.
04:42 We have known it since at least four decades now,
04:47 if not more.
04:49 What have we been able to do in these four decades?
04:56 Not only has the climate crisis worsened,
05:03 the rate of worsening has actually accelerated.
05:11 So we are sinking
05:16 at an increasing rate of sinking per year.
05:23 That's how we are doing.
05:27 If that is what we are getting
05:31 from our conventional routes of crisis mitigation,
05:38 it surprises me how we still hold so much trust over them.
05:43 We talk as if the other routes,
05:51 which include legislation, regulation,
05:58 and so many other things,
06:04 as if those routes are tried, tested,
06:08 and have delivered results beautifully till now.
06:13 And we assume as if the spiritual process
06:20 is untrustworthy, unreliable,
06:23 and will necessarily take a long time,
06:28 if at all, if it delivers any results.
06:32 I'm saying, I'll repeat, keep the spiritual route aside,
06:37 and let's objectively, factually look at
06:41 what have the other routes given us,
06:45 except frustration, disappointment.
06:47 Our confidence in our own methods
06:53 needs to be checked, verified.
07:01 Verified.
07:02 And if we really test whether our confidence
07:08 in our governmental processes,
07:12 and legal and technical processes
07:17 is really well-founded.
07:22 Now let's come to the spiritual thing.
07:29 I'm not talking mumbo-jumbo, I'm not talking black magic,
07:33 but it is entirely possible, and it happens,
07:37 that clear communication of information,
07:44 information in its entirety,
07:47 is able to touch a person at such a deep place
07:57 that he is stirred into the right kind of action.
08:01 And when I'm saying the right information
08:06 in a holistic way needs to reach the individual,
08:11 this is hardly even spiritual in the conventional sense.
08:17 You know, when you say that a fellow
08:21 is on the spiritual route,
08:24 what you usually mean is that the fellow
08:29 is into some kind of esoteric methods,
08:33 or some kind of awakening of paranormal energies
08:39 is being attempted, these kinds of things.
08:46 When I'm saying that the spiritual route is the only route,
08:50 I mean none of that rubbish, that illogical stuff.
08:55 I mean simple dissemination of information in its entirety.
09:03 Now there lies the catch.
09:06 What do I mean by information in its entirety?
09:10 You see, we often look at the climate crisis in isolation.
09:18 We act as if we are otherwise all right,
09:23 generally okay, and somehow, incidentally,
09:28 an alien crisis has hit us
09:33 for no strong reason whatsoever.
09:40 So we want to treat it in a very peripheral way.
09:48 As if it is a skin infection or something
09:53 caused by a bacteria that has settled
09:59 on the surface of the body,
10:01 and the effect of that alien bacteria is only skin deep.
10:07 That's the mental model we hold
10:12 with respect to the climate crisis.
10:14 On the other hand, what I am talking of
10:17 is the right diagnosis of this crisis.
10:23 Is it just an external infection on the skin of mankind?
10:32 Or is it about our very blood having become toxic?
10:41 Is it an influence affecting us from the outside?
10:46 Or is it a malaise arising from the inside?
10:57 That's what I mean by the spiritual route.
11:02 So it is actually very scientific.
11:08 Right diagnosis is the prerequisite
11:11 for any kind of successful treatment.
11:14 Nothing per se spiritual about this statement.
11:21 It's very logical.
11:22 What I am proposing is,
11:28 for us to ponder on,
11:32 that climate crisis culture
11:38 and consumer capitalism
11:42 are one and the same thing,
11:47 and unless all of them are treated together,
11:52 the climate part just cannot be taken care of.
11:59 You treat one part of this trifecta,
12:07 and you'll find you're not succeeding even in 100 years,
12:11 as if we have 100 years, first of all.
12:13 But if you can look at the bigger picture,
12:20 if you can have the bird's eye view,
12:23 and you realize what really is going on,
12:25 then there can be a solution and a quick solution,
12:32 a powerful solution.
12:34 But what is the solution?
12:36 Mankind's very soul,
12:46 if you may call it,
12:48 for want of a better word,
12:51 you could say core,
12:53 or you could simply say mind,
12:54 the collective mind of humanity.
12:56 That's what I mean by soul.
13:00 Gone sick, that needs treatment.
13:03 And I'm not dealing in metaphors,
13:06 needless euphemisms, no.
13:10 This is the most direct way of stating it.
13:12 We do not know who we are.
13:15 We do not know what we are here for.
13:18 Therefore, we endlessly consume.
13:23 We procreate.
13:25 We live meaningless lives.
13:29 Because we do not know ourselves,
13:32 and therefore the right purpose to life,
13:34 therefore we run after miscellaneous identities,
13:38 power, freedom,
13:41 and so much else.
13:44 And all that is externally manifested as climate change.
13:50 So climate change is nothing
13:57 but a gross and tangible representation
14:02 of what is sick in our very hearts.
14:06 And if you do not treat the sickness
14:11 where it really lies,
14:13 there is no point giving superficial treatments.
14:21 Like applying ointments to the skin.
14:26 When the symptom on the skin
14:37 is just representative of a problem far deeper.
14:43 The good news is this far deeper problem
14:49 is actually easier to solve.
14:52 Because the other routes have all conclusively
14:58 anyway failed.
15:00 Hence, the only route remaining
15:06 has to be the only easy route remaining.
15:10 We don't have an option.
15:12 If you don't have an option, how can you call
15:14 the only available option as difficult?
15:20 It has to be taken as easy
15:21 because there is nothing else possible.
15:23 Tell people that they need to tackle climate change
15:31 and they'll be indifferent.
15:32 Everybody is indifferent.
15:34 Tell people that they are missing out on
15:41 the essence of their own life.
15:44 Then they will listen because we all are
15:47 basically selfish people.
15:50 Climate crisis appears far too general,
15:55 a bit too far in time,
15:59 and not so severe that it cannot be negotiated.
16:06 You tell the common man on the road
16:08 that global temperatures will rise by an average
16:12 of two degrees centigrade.
16:16 You'll not find him collapsing in shock.
16:21 Two degrees rise in mean global temperature.
16:28 He'll say, "Fine.
16:29 "Fine, I'll adapt.
16:33 "I'll get a better air conditioner.
16:36 "I'll take a longer vacation.
16:46 "Or I'll simply bear it.
16:48 "It doesn't matter so much."
16:50 You may tell him of the other changes
16:52 and drastic effects that are possible.
16:55 Rising sea levels and entire cities will be threatened
16:58 and ecosystems will be washed out.
17:01 And the negative feedback loop,
17:07 the whole thing will keep worsening.
17:09 Glaciers will be gone.
17:11 We do not know what will happen to aquatic ecosystems.
17:14 You tell him all these things.
17:15 Was he ever in the first place interested in these things?
17:20 You're talking to, let's say, a 35-year-old man.
17:24 In his 35 years, and I'm talking of the average man.
17:27 There will be exceptions always,
17:29 but let's look at the average case.
17:31 In his 35 years, when has he demonstrated
17:36 any ecological sensitivity?
17:40 How will he suddenly become sensitive today?
17:44 We will have to realize that the climate crisis
17:48 is nothing but the sickness of our personality
17:54 coming out in the open.
17:57 For far too long has it remained concealed.
18:03 But now the cat is out of the bag.
18:10 And we would be just continuing
18:14 our primitive tendencies of self-deception
18:19 if we do not admit the climate crisis for what it really is.
18:25 It is a crisis of insane consumerism.
18:36 And we consume because we know nothing better to do.
18:40 We consume because we have a life to live
18:47 and we do not know what to do with the 70, 80, or 90 years
18:51 and average lifespans are rising across the world.
18:55 People are living up to 100, lots of them.
19:04 People are living for long
19:08 and have huge disposable incomes.
19:11 There are so many countries
19:13 that have millions of millionaires now.
19:16 The USA obviously being the foremost.
19:21 Millions of millionaires, so much money,
19:26 so much money and so much time.
19:27 The fellow is going to live for 80 years, 100 years,
19:30 110 years.
19:32 What will he do?
19:34 He does not know what to do with life.
19:36 And every bit of action arising from ignorance
19:43 is carbon intensive.
19:46 If you do not have a real purpose to live for,
19:53 then you will live out of your whims, tendencies, emotions
19:56 and they all have a huge carbon footprint.
20:02 You do not know what to do in life,
20:03 you will produce a lot of kids.
20:05 I know I'm generalizing.
20:07 But then the climate crisis too is a general crisis,
20:14 is it not?
20:15 So let's keep the exceptions aside.
20:17 Let's look at the common man.
20:21 And we talk of-- - I'm sorry, go ahead.
20:26 - I can't hear you, you said something?
20:30 - I was just gonna say, I mean, it's a powerful answer.
20:34 And it makes me realize that the thing about
20:39 the climate catastrophe that is in front of us
20:46 is that it's putting those questions
20:52 in front of individuals in society
20:55 and that this may be actually the opportunity
21:00 to make the real shifts in who we are
21:05 that we need to be making otherwise
21:09 and that we wouldn't recognize that.
21:11 - So if I may venture that far,
21:16 I would say the climate crisis is challenging us
21:23 to answer questions we should have answered
21:26 several centuries back.
21:28 You could even say it's a crisis of philosophy.
21:33 It is just proving that the philosophies
21:39 we have based our lives on since long
21:43 are inadequate, actually false.
21:47 We could not answer those questions then
21:53 and there was nothing and nobody
21:58 to conclusively tell us in our face
22:03 that we do not know the answers.
22:05 Now we have a very, very tangible proof available,
22:10 a proof of our inadequacy in the form of this crisis.
22:13 So we need the right understanding,
22:23 we need to know who we are and why we exist
22:25 and that determines our economics,
22:29 that determines our very lives.
22:31 Is it not true and is it not obvious
22:37 that the shape of the economic structure
22:42 that we have, the entire economic system
22:45 of the entire world, that's what is producing
22:51 the carbon in the atmosphere?
22:55 We have philosophies that have no space for compassion.
23:04 We do not want to look inwards,
23:11 we do not want to know what should be
23:12 the right relationship between man
23:17 and the world he inhabits.
23:20 And that's why we are living in an absolutely awkward way.
23:25 Our lives are bizarre.
23:32 They are bizarre and they are producing a lot of gas,
23:37 like the fart of the cattle that's responsible
23:48 for so much of the carbon concentration
23:52 that represents in a very dramatic way
23:56 a picture of our lives.
24:00 That can be changed, all that can be changed.
24:06 People can give up flesh consumption,
24:16 it takes an instant.
24:18 There are people and I know several thousands of them,
24:26 optimistically I could say there are lakhs of them
24:30 who have given up flesh consumption
24:33 in a matter of days, weeks, a few months.
24:38 And we very well know that flesh consumption
24:44 and dairy, they are either the largest
24:49 or the second largest cause of carbon concentration.
24:55 And that cause can be addressed in a jiffy
25:01 because the climate crisis is a crisis
25:05 of the choices we are making.
25:07 And since we are the chooser,
25:09 the choices can immediately change, a lot of them.
25:13 A few are structural that may take a little more of time,
25:16 but there is a lot that can be immediately done
25:19 if we can show the total picture to the human being
25:24 and the total picture must include his own face.
25:30 If the climate crisis remains something outside
25:35 of ourselves, we'll not be too interested in tackling it.
25:39 It is a crisis inside of us, not outside of us.
25:44 If it is shown to be a crisis inside of us,
25:46 I know I'm repeating these ideas, but I think I need to,
25:50 so I'm taking that liberty, I hope you'll pardon.
25:53 It's a crisis inside of us.
25:58 And when we see that it's a crisis inside of us,
26:02 we'll be more interested in tackling it
26:04 because as we said, we are all selfish people.
26:07 Let's use that selfishness constructively.
26:10 - Yeah, well, thank you.
26:16 That's a powerful answer.
26:18 And one that I think we all do well to heed.
26:24 We have students who've been also thinking
26:30 and have questions that are also powerful questions.
26:33 So I think we should yield to them to ask some questions
26:38 that will, I think, enlighten all of us.
26:43 So Anupam, do you wanna call on the first student, please?
26:46 - Yes, definitely.
26:47 - Sure, David, thank you.
26:49 [MUSIC PLAYING]