{"id":124813,"date":"2024-04-16T13:45:13","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T18:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joy.tergar.org\/?post_type=blog&p=124813"},"modified":"2024-05-20T18:37:27","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T23:37:27","slug":"stop-doing-to-help-planet","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/qa.tergar.org\/posts\/blog\/meditation-in-everyday-life\/stop-doing-to-help-planet\/","title":{"rendered":"What Can We Stop Doing to Help the Planet?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”0″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”5\/6″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-8″ el_class=”head-post”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

What Can We <\/span>Stop Doing<\/span><\/i> to Help the Planet?<\/span><\/h2>\n

By Mark Moore<\/span> \u2022 3 min read[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”sharepost”]\n\t\t\t\t

SHARE:\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/a>\n\t<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”Joy of Living” style=”outline” color=”peacoc” align=”left” el_class=”btn-post” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fjoy.tergar.org%2F||target:%20_blank|”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”1″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″][vc_column lms_has_clearfix=”0″][vc_single_image image=”126573″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1716248221964{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}” el_class=”hidden-xs”][vc_single_image image=”126575″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1716248239677{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}” el_class=”visible-xs”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”0″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”5\/6″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-8″][vc_column_text el_class=”subtittle-open-post”]Buddhist proverb advises, \u201cStop throwing stones in the water. Soon enough, the ripples will fade, the surface will return to calm, and once again, the moon will be clearly reflected.\u201d This is usually understood as a metaphor for what, in Mingyur Rinpoche\u2019s tradition, we call \u201cnon-meditation\u201d: less about doing and more about what we stop doing. The less we do to disturb the mind, the more the mind\u2019s nature manifests automatically.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Can we understand our relationship with <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> of nature in this way? What might it mean to \u201cstop throwing stones\u201d on a planetary level?<\/span><\/p>\n

Like the mind, the Earth is imbued with resilience, enabling it to return to harmonious equilibrium if only we allow it enough time undisturbed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when industry and combustion slowed for a time, we saw how dramatically air pollution dissipated in just two or three months. Skies cleared, and people in the plains of northern India enjoyed views of the Himalayas from their homes for the first time in their lives. That was a taste of what our world can be like when we simply \u201cstop throwing stones.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what can we do \u2014 or, more to the point, <\/span>stop doing<\/span><\/i> \u2014 to allow nature to return to equilibrium, as Rinpoche describes in this month\u2019s video<\/a>? Climate science shows that the most helpful things we can <\/span>stop doing<\/span><\/i> include two big ones:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0Stop<\/em> c<\/span>onsuming anything that requires burning \u2014 for example, anything made in a polluting factory or that crosses an ocean to reach us;\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0Stop<\/em> c<\/span>onsuming animal products, which in the aggregate contribute more to climate change than any other single cause when transportation and deforestation related to the meat and dairy industries are factored in.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/span>Stopping or even greatly reducing these two consumption patterns can do more to help nature recover than all other efforts combined. And there\u2019s much more we can do simply by <\/span>doing less<\/span><\/i>: we can buy less, fly less, drive less, use less nonrenewable energy, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

    GIVING UP VS. SIMPLY GIVING<\/b><\/p>\n

    The catch, of course, is that \u2014 whether we\u2019re talking about our own minds or the planet \u2014 to \u201cstop throwing stones\u201d means changing some habits. And when it comes to practicing compassion for our world, sometimes we feel as though we have to \u201cgive up too much.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    As I\u2019ve gradually thrown fewer stones over the past 30 years \u2014 and, in my \u201cday job,\u201d helped others do the same \u2014 one shift that has proven helpful relates to what Rinpoche says about <\/span>intention<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>volition<\/span><\/i>. The more we connect with compassion for the Earth and its beings as the intention, the more we feel the naturally arising wish to help however we can. We experience our \u201cdoing less\u201d not as \u201cgiving things up\u201d but simply as <\/span>giving<\/span><\/i>. We give nature the gift of undisturbed nature. We offer space and time for her to recover.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The more we experience ourselves as inseparably part of the whole of nature, the more it feels like the most natural thing in the world to take care of the whole world, the way a hand naturally does what it can to care for the whole body.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

    About the Author<\/h2>\n

    Mark Moore has led meditation retreats and sustainability programs in the Himalayas and beyond for a decade, including Joy of Living retreats for Tergar. Cofounder of Dharmalaya Institute in India and Earthville Institute in the US, he has been exploring wisdom traditions and sustainable development since 1995. An educator by day and artist and writer by twilight \u2014 editor and coauthor of <\/span>To Create the World That Ought to Be<\/span><\/em>,<\/em> Mark divides his time between the Himalayas and the Colorado Rockies. <\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”0″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”5\/6″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-8″][vc_column_text el_class=”icon-tittle-post”]<\/p>\n

    Monthly Teaching:<\/h2>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TTsyxFIRXp0″ el_width=”80″ align=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1713297757716{padding-top: 40px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row u_row_style=”1″ lms_row_has_bk_offset=”1″ lms_row_bk_columns_offset=”0″ u_row_enrollment_restriction=”0″ lms_row_bk_offset_section_classes=”bk-cielo-post”][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”5\/6″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-8″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text el_class=”free-text-blog”]<\/p>\n

    Joy of Living Online Training<\/h2>\n

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    Theory and practice of meditation, step-by-step.<\/h4>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”free-text-blog” css=”.vc_custom_1625157098798{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”]Learn meditation under the skillful guidance of world-renowned teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche at your own pace.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”txt-link-landing btn-mb20″]LEARN MORE <\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”92705″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/12″ lms_has_clearfix=”0″ offset=”vc_col-lg-2 vc_hidden-xs”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Like the mind, the Earth is imbued with resilience, enabling it to return to harmonious equilibrium if only we allow it enough time undisturbed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":126564,"template":"","tags":[182,183,25,65,184,185,186,187,188],"blog":[31],"class_list":["post-124813","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-compassion-for-the-earth","tag-mark-moore","tag-meditation","tag-mingyur-rinpoche","tag-outer-and-inner-nature","tag-reslilent-earth","tag-stop-throwing-stones","tag-sustainability","tag-tergar-guide","blogs-meditation-in-everyday-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qa.tergar.org\/posts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/124813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qa.tergar.org\/posts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qa.tergar.org\/posts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qa.tergar.org\/posts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qa.tergar.org\/posts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qa.tergar.org\/posts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124813"},{"taxonomy":"blogs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qa.tergar.org\/posts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog?post=124813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}