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Written by Jonathan Maslow
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Monday, 30 May 2005 |
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A
couple years back, I made a pilgrimmage to Kyoto in Japan to learn what
the city the treaty was named after is actually doing about curbing
greenhouse emissions. One day I took a bus and traveled up into the
cedar forests surrounding the ancient city to visit a Buddhist priest
and local environmental activist at his temple. The temple occupied
high, wooded ground where the head waters of the Kyoto River rushed
from the earth, a lush and lovely spot.
The priest had led a successful
campaign against a proposed dam downriver, only to lose another fight
against a waste incinerator in the vicinity. We sat on the floor and
drank green tea as I interviewed him. He said to me, “You know, if
human beings would only accept a material level of prosperity equal to
1950 or 1960, we could all survive without destroying the environment.”
To
me, that’s religion: a guide to moral behavior without all the dogma
and costumes. I think my Buddhist priest’s pearl of wisdom relates to
Lu’s comments about using technology and human political will to reduce
our energy footprint.
Now, if I can manage it, I’m going to try
my first link. It’s an item I noticed in the magazine Green Car
Journal, where GM and Weekly Reader are offering a curriculum on fuel
cells for schools. You can download the program for teaching purposes
at www.gmability.com/education.
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