By: Alena B.
If you are on this website and reading this article, then I’m sure there is no doubt in your mind that our natural world has suffered - is suffering - and needs to be better protected. So then maybe you started exploring: How exactly do corporations affect climate change? What can we really do as individuals to be more sustainable? I don’t know about you, but sometimes I become so overwhelmed with this inevitable doom scrolling that it can be hard to see any action as truly capable of fostering the change we need.
It’s true - the necessary cultural shift towards sustainable living and climate action is a slow and daunting process. However, recently I was handed a book titled The Yin and Yang of Climate Crisis. It led me down a new path of exploration, this time on the link between mindfulness and global sustainability. I present these findings to you with the aim that it will provide the same hope it did me, at a time it is so desperately needed.
Religion is one of the most instrumental factors in determining individual environmental attitudes, but unfortunately it has often served as a divisive influence. However, Buddhism, which is at the root of the recent mindfulness movement, emphasizes values that promote sustainability. In fact, it has even been referred to as an “environmental religion”. Such values in Buddhist teachings include: interconnectedness, which holds that both humans and nature are dependent on each other; ahimsa, or the idea of “do no harm” to any form of life; and karma, which holds that if we harm the planet through selfishness or greed, we will feel the consequences in our rebirth. All of these concepts work together to promote mindful behavior towards the environment and build a sustainable relationship with nature - one where humans are not dominant, but rather appreciative of all the beauty in the natural world.
Now, I was actually raised Buddhist, so having grown up with these values, I wasn’t exactly surprised to hear about their relationship with sustainability. However, I was surprised to find the abundance of evidence on the subject matter. For one, mindfulness can be neurologically linked with environmental consciousness. A 2019 study conducted in Switzerland found that everyday pro-environmental behavior is explained by individuals having increased activation in the lateral prefrontal cortex - the area of the brain associated with self-control - allowing these individuals to remain consistent with sustainable intentions (Baumgartner, T. et. al, 2019). Interestingly, meditation is tied to activating and increasing the thickness of the prefrontal cortex. This means that by meditating, or in general being more mindful, you are activating the very part of the brain that creates pro-environmental behavior. Considering the fact that meditation is one of the fastest growing trends in America, with 14.2% of Americans reporting regular practice in 2017 compared with only 4.1% in 2012, this finding indicates that subconscious foundations for sustainability are already starting to spread (Clarke, Barnes, Black et al., 2018).
Building on these neurological effects, I see mindfulness as being a catalyst for both individual and corporate environmental activism in the US, just as it has been in other countries. In terms of individual actions, mindfulness encourages us to cultivate intrinsic moral values that manifest as daily pro-environmental practices. This has been shown to be true in Australia, where a 2016 study revealed Buddhists to be the most actively engaged with climate change issues, compared with both Christian literalists and non-literalists (Morrison, Duncan, & Parton, 2016). In terms of corporate greed, which is undeniably one of the largest contributors to environmental deterioration, mindful thinking encourages the questioning of unchecked power structures. The effects of this are seen in China, where companies in areas of concentrated Buddhism reported higher corporate environmental responsibility, which is a corporation's reduction of environmentally adverse behaviors and increase of beneficial ones (Du, Jian, Zeng et al., 2014). Maybe mindfulness could provide a mechanism for environmentally conscious behavior to seep through hierarchical structures, even ones as deeply rooted as those in American.
So, if, like me, you have ever felt a sense of hopelessness for what seems like the inevitable fate of the environment, I encourage you, too, to be mindful. Be mindful of your own environmental practices and sense of interconnectedness. But also be conscious of how to spread this mindset, because it could be capable of igniting a movement that finally leads to the protection of this (pardon the pun) buddhaful planet.
