THE EARTH PRECEPTS
Honor the
Earth, upon which all life depends.
This is the simplest, most basic of the Precepts. It contains all the others. As every Buddhist practitioner knows, simplicity is the most difficult practice. To honor the biosphere is to vow to treat it with appropriate gratitude, respect, care, and love. It is to say: “My life, my very being, is an unearned gift, given by the biosphere. Thank you. In gratitude for my life, I will care for Life. I will care for you.”
Consider the consequences of all environmental actions over
at least 100 years.
Despite the great pride that human beings take in our rationality, we are chronically careless of consequences over any biologically meaningful time frame. Even the most far-sighted individual rarely thinks more than five or ten years ahead, and most corporations are now driven by quarterly profits. Quarterly: a time span of three months. It is no mystery why, over and over again, we fail to recognize environmental disasters until it is too late. We simply aren’t paying attention. In taking responsibility for the Earth, we must try to anticipate the consequences of our actions over the time frames that Gaia’s processes require. One hundred years is certainly a minimum estimate.
Do
not destabilize the Earth’s
atmospheric or aquatic
systems.
An essential step in awakening to our relationship with the Earth is recognizing that the atmosphere and the oceans are not infinite and unchanging. These dynamic systems constantly cycle oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water around the planet, creating the Earth’s climate. Despite their immense size, the atmosphere and oceans are not immune to our influence. A critical case in point is the sharp rise in carbon dioxide levels due to our unquenchable combustion of fossil fuels. Because carbon dioxide absorbs solar radiation, it contributes to global warming, which threatens to disrupt every human and natural process on earth. If we are to preserve a stable biosphere, we must preserve the self-regulating chemistry of its atmospheric and aquatic systems.
Do not depend upon energy sources that cannot be replaced.
At
the present time, our dependence on non-renewable energy is almost
absolute: 80
percent of the world’s energy consumption comes from the
burning of
fossil
fuels. The
Fortunately, renewable energy technologies, from solar to wind power to biofuels, are ready and waiting. To take full advantage of these alternatives, we need only insist that they be favored with economic incentives that reflect their advantages; or, put another way, that non-renewable energy sources include a surcharge to reflect their true costs. Since those costs include the alteration of global climate and grievous injury to the systems that sustain all life, it is hard to imagine a surcharge that would be too high.
Do
not remove
living resources, including soil, trees, and marine life, faster than
they
The essence of this precept is sustainability. But what does this often-misused term really mean?
First, we must insist that sustainability is an ecological, not an economic term. For example, so-called “sustained” yields in agriculture may be due only to ever-increasing inputs of chemical fertilizers. Such agriculture is not truly sustainable. Second, we must work with care to account for all the variables in a particular “sustainability” equation. For example, a sustainable logging plan must preserve the health of the river that runs through the forest, as well as replace the trees that are cut. Finally, we must be clear about the time span encompassed by the term. The time span for sustainability must be “forever”—or at least that tiny slice of forever that it is within human powers to predict, which is on the order of a few centuries.
