RSS Feed

Tag Archives: Keystone Pipeline

Update: Compassionate Earth Walk Crosses the Border

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Maia
Rev. Shodo Spring

Rev. Shodo Spring

I am just back from my journey to Thailand to teach a course for the Buddhist Education for Social Transformation Project… will write more about that soon.

For now, I want to share with you the following news that I received from Shodo Spring, who initiated the Compassionate Earth Walk earlier this year to address climate change from a dharma perspective and specifically to raise awareness about the Keystone XL Pipeline. Deep bow to you, Shodo, for your practice and wholehearted commitment to liberation for all beings.

Compassionate Earth Walkers enter United States after 23-day walk through Canada

July 31, 2013

Five walkers from the Compassionate Earth Walk have completed a 380-mile journey from Hardisty, Alberta to Monchy, Saskatchewan and returned to the United States to continue their three-month pilgrimage along the Keystone XL pipeline.

Read the rest of this entry →

1 Comment

Posted in Environment and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Support the Compassionate Earth Walk

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Maia

Hi everyone,

I am traveling through Thailand this month, on my way to Mae Rim to help out with the first-ever Buddhist Education for Social Transformation training. I am excited to be here, and grateful for the support I received from a number of you to make this trip! I’ll post some missives here during July to let you know how it’s going.

And a quick announcement while I’m on the road… just wanted to highlight this good cause that the Buddhist Peace Fellowship is currently fundraising for. There’s only one more week to donate, if this inspires you (the campaign closes on July 17). I’m going to contribute something… I hope you’ll join me!

For full information and to make a donation, see:  http://www.razoo.com/story/Bpf-Joins-Compassionate-Earth-Walk

Here’s an excerpt from that page:

The Keystone XL Pipeline (KXL) has been called “game over for climate change.”

Already the massive corporate extraction of tar sands and crude bitumen from Alberta, Canada (slated to be glugged through KXL to oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico, for predominantly foreign export), is poisoning First Nations territories.

As Buddhists, we seek to join the ongoing resistance and stand up against this carbon monster, even as we acknowledge the real economic concerns that may cause disagreement in affected communities — some favoring pipelines, some opposing them.

Would you like to see more Buddhists bring compassionate confrontation to this movement? Please support and share!

  • 90% of funding supports Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) organizing in Alberta.
  • 10% supports the Compassionate Earth Walk.

Enacting BPF’s first step on the path to a KXL-free world, photographer and Buddhist aneeta mitha is joining the two-day Tar Sands Healing Walk, followed by the Compassionate Earth Walk for its first three days in Alberta, Canada.

Organized by Cree and Dene First Nations and Metis, including people of the ACFN, the Healing Walk bears witness to the ongoing destruction wreaked by tar sands, and calls for healing of the land. Led by Zen priest Shodo Spring, the full Compassionate Earth Walk is a 3-month pilgrimage tracing the proposed route of the pipeline into the U.S. and through the Great Plains.

1 Comment

Posted in Bodhisattva Action Alert, Environment and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Action Alert: Join with Other Buddhists to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Maia

There’s a lot brewing around resistance to the Keystone XL Pipeline. In the last post here on TJC, Zen priest Shodo Spring wrote about her vision and plan to organize a “Compassionate Earth Walk” along the route of the proposed pipeline.

The Buddhist Peace Fellowship has organized an awesome phone conference tomorrow (Sunday), April 28, at 5 pm PST to give dharma activists a chance to learn about ways to engage with this issue at a direct level. BPF directors Katie Loncke and Dawn Haney ask:

What will be the role of Buddhists in this struggle?  What can we do to take direct action in defense of the earth, and in deep solidarity with those most impacted by the threat of the pipeline?  As Diné native organizer Firewolf Bizahaloni-Wong puts it, what’s needed are not only allies, but “accomplices.”

 

Shodo Spring will be on the call, as well as Diana Pei Wu and Jack Downey of The Ruckus Society (an organization of trainers in nonviolent direct action). Find out more about the call and watch a video with Katie and Dawn here.

HOW TO JOIN THE CALL

If you’re already a BPF member, you should have received an email message with call details. If you’re not a member but want to join so that you can access this call, visit this page. Members who can’t make the live call will receive a recording, and through BPF there will be opportunities to network with people in your area to continue the conversation and make plans.

 

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Bodhisattva Action Alert, Environment and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

On Finding an Appropriate Response to Climate Change

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Maia

This article was contributed by Shodo Spring, a Soto Zen priest who has organized the Compassionate Earth Walk, which will take place from July to September of this year. The walk will trace the Keystone XL route through the Great Plains. 

______________

A monk asked Yun Men, “What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?”
Yun Men said, “An appropriate response.”

For as long as I’ve been aware of climate change, I’ve been asking the question about an appropriate response. As far as I can tell, our culture is in the process of destroying itself, taking everyone else with it. When I learned permaculture, I realized that the problem was not technical – we already have the methods to sequester carbon, grow foods without fossil fuels, and generally live well by acting like the part of the planet that we are. The problem was spiritual. I am a Zen priest: that problem is my business. Still I did not know what to do. I signed petitions, learned to grow food, was active in my local Transition group, and got involved in local politics. When time allowed, I went to Washington and got arrested in front of the White House with 350.org – over the Keystone pipeline. Nothing was enough.

Read the rest of this entry →

3 Comments

Posted in Bodhisattva Action Alert, Environment and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.
%d bloggers like this: