Service by Lev Lafayette to the address by Dr. Hans Baer to the Melbourne Unitarian Church, April 07, 2013 Opening Words ------------- Starting on a poetic rendition, a prophetic vision from Isaiah Isaiah 24:4-13 - The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan. 8 The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent. 9 No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers. The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred. In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth. The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces. So will it be on the earth and among the nations.... Reading ------- Dr. Tran Tien Khanh, Dr. Tran Tien Huyen, Nguyen Quang, A Buddhist Perspective on Global Warming: Causes, Effects and Solutions. Presentation at the United Nations Vesak Day, May 13-16 2008, Hanoi, Vietnam "[G]lobal warming is basically caused by three poisons: greed, anger, and ignorance. Greed causes us to consume carelessly our limited natural resources, from energy companies that want to maximize their profits by building more coal-fired power plants that emit millions tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) to nations that want economic development at the expense of the environment. Anger comes in the form of aversion to conservation and sustainable practices. Ignorance causes us to think the permanence of all things and to ignore the serious effects of global warming, from severe storms and floods in recent years to submerged coastal areas due to sea level rise in the near future. Global warming can also be studied by applying other basic Buddhist teachings: the Middle Way, the Eightfold Noble Path and the principle of dependent origination. Due to the three poisons, a person may adopt extreme positions, (1) he/she is not responsible for global warming or (2) he/she cannot do anything about it. We should dwell neither in denial nor hopelessness, but should adopt a middle way and a pro-active approach. We should fully understand the causes and effects of global warming (right understanding) through our best efforts (right concentration), intentions (right intent) and wisdom (right view). We should investigate the wasteful habits and practices in our own life (right livelihood) and then apply the best solutions (right effort) and care for others and all forms of life on this planet (right mindfulness). Finally, we have to realize that we live in an interdependent world where anyone’s actions, however small, will affect everybody else and the planet as a whole." Introduction ------------ Dr. Hans A. Baer is Associate Professor in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He earned a PhD in Anthropology at the University of Utah in 1976 and was a post-doctoral fellow in the Medical Anthropology Program at Michigan State University in 1979-1980. He held regular positions at Kearney State College (1972-73); George Peabody College for Teachers (1976-1979); St. John's University (1980-1981); the University of Southern Mississippi (1981-83); and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (1983-2005). He has been a visiting professor at Humboldt University in Berlin, University of California – Berkeley, Arizona State University, George Washington University, and Australian National University. Hans has conducted research on the Hutterites in South Dakota, the Levites (a Mormon sect in Utah), African American Spiritual churches, alternative medicine in the US, UK, and Australia; sociopolitical and religious life in East Germany, conventional and alternative HIV clinics in a Western U.S. city, the climate movement in Australia, and a critical anthropology of critical anthropology of climate change. Hans has published 18 books, co-edited several special journal issues, and published some 175 book chapters and journal articles. Hans served on the editorial board of Medical Anthropology in 1998-2000 and on the editorial board of Medical Anthropological Quarterly in 1998-2006 and again since 2008. He served as an Expert Reviewer for the International Governmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (2013). One of his books, published last year, is the same title as this address: "Global Capitalism and Climate Change: The Need for an Alternative World System"; I have had the opportunity to read it (fortunately finishing yesterday) and - without giving too much away - it proposes a world system for democratic eco-socialism to what has been, and what we currently have. Closing Words ------------- The closing words are from William Morris's 'News from Nowhere', 1890. Morris has been described as the founder of the eco-socialist movement. "Go back again, now you have seen us, and your outward eyes have learned that in spite of all the infallible maxims of your day there is yet a time of rest in store for the world, when mastery has changed into fellowship — but not before. Go back again, then, and while you live you will see all round you people engaged in making others live lives which are not their own, while they themselves care nothing for their own real lives — men who hate life though they fear death. Go back and be the happier for having seen us, for having added a little hope to your struggle. Go on living while you may, striving, with whatsoever pain and labour needs must be, to build up little by little the new day of fellowship, and rest, and happiness.... If others can see it as I have seen it, then it may be called a vision rather than a dream."