The Value of Buddhist Responses to Issues of Overpopulation, Overconsumption, and Environmental Degradation

Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Religious Studies Theses Department of Religious Studies 7-10-2008 The Value of Buddhist Responses to Issues of Overpopulation, Overconsumption, and Environmental Degradation James H. Hitchcock Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/rs_theses Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Hitchcock, James H., "The Value of Buddhist Responses to Issues of Overpopulation, Overconsumption, and Environmental Degradation." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2008. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/rs_theses/15 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Religious Studies at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Religious Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Value of Buddhist Responses to Issues of Overpopulation, Overconsumption, and Environmental Degradation by James Harold Hitchcock III Under the Direction of Jonathan Herman Abstract As the global population continues to increase at an alarming rate, the world, as a whole, now faces the issue of overpopulation. If the world’s natural resource consumption and environmental pollution/destruction continue at their current pace, then the earth will eventually no longer be able to sustain all of its inhabitants. Social change is the only way to prevent this. The world’s religious traditions possess particular motivational qualities with respect to people’s worldviews and behaviors. All of the world’s religious traditions are responding, in some way, to overpopulation. Traditions in isolation, however, do not address the complexities of the current ecological crisis. Overpopulation requires a broader approach that unites the respective responses. This thesis examines the value of responses to overpopulation from certain Buddhist intellectuals in the contemporary religion and ecology discourse concerning overpopulation while also underscoring instances of resonance between those responses and ones from modern Christian thinkers. INDEX WORDS: Buddhism, Overpopulation, Overconsumption, Environmental Degradation, Religion, Ecology The Value of Buddhist Responses to Issues of Overpopulation, Overconsumption, and Environmental Degradation by James Harold Hitchcock III A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2008 Copyright by James Harold Hitchcock III 2008 The Value of Buddhist Responses to Issues of Overpopulation, Overconsumption, and Environmental Degradation by James Harold Hitchcock III Major Professor: Jonathan Herman Committee: Kathryn McClymond Timothy Renick Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2008 iv Table of Contents 1 Introduction…………………………………………………………. 1 2 The Problem of Overpopulation…………………………………….. 8 3 Buddhists’ Perspectives on Overpopulation: Interconnectedness & Causality……………………………………………………………... 14 4 Resonance in the Modern World: Interconnection of Buddhists & Christians …………………………………………………………… 39 5 Religions & Ecology: Closing Thoughts…………...………………. 45 6 Bibliography………………………………………………………... 47 1 1. INTRODUCTION Human beings are continually becoming more aware of themselves as well as the world around them. As human understandings of the world evolve, human beings are becoming concurrently conscious of such things as, but not limited to, the complexity of our world, humankind’s place in that world, and the rapid destruction of the environment occurring throughout that world. This particular set of knowledge highlights, almost ironically, part of the history of human existence. As Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-coordinator of the Harvard University Religions of the World and Ecology Conference Series, observes, “Just as we become conscious that the Earth took more than four billion years to bring forth this abundance of life, it is dawning on us how quickly we are foreshortening its future flourishing.”1 Today, we are at countless intellectual crossroads. One such intersection is between our understanding of our own place in this world and our understanding of our own impact on this world. The combination of the awareness of humanity’s cosmological context in conjunction with knowledge of today’s environmental problems is central to current ecological discourses. In particular, the issue of overpopulation is one area in which human beings are beginning to explore such awareness. The rapid human population growth of the last century and its subsequent effects on the environment have led many scientists and scholars to conclude that the earth is overpopulated.2 The issue of overpopulation has evoked responses from a myriad of thinkers from different backgrounds, affiliations, and communities from around the globe. Some of the most 1 Mary Evelyn Tucker’s Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase p. 3. 2 Refer to the 2000 Earth Charter-www.earthcharter.org-& the 1992 World Scientists’ Warnings to Humanity-www.ucsusa.org. 2 significant and helpful of these responses come from within the world’s major religious traditions. The ecological discourse among the people of the world’s major religious traditions is a rich one. As former Director of the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions Lawrence E. Sullivan observes, “Religion distinguishes the human species from all others, just as human presence on earth distinguishes the ecology of our planet from other places in the known universe. Religious life and the earth’s ecology are inextricably linked, organically related. Human belief and practice mark the earth. One can hardly think of a natural system that has not been considerably altered, for better or worse, by human culture.”3 With this in mind, it is also a fascinating moment in history both for humankind and the religions of the world with respect to ecology. Thomas Berry, former Director of the Riverdale Center for Religious Research, describes the present historical period as the “terminal Cenozoic period,” commenting, “it seems that the human could come into being only at a period when the planet was at such a gorgeous moment in its expression of itself.”4 At the same time, because today many people within the world’s religions have currently turned their attentions to matters concerning the environment, it has prompted religious scholars, such as Tucker, Sullivan, John Grim, Duncan Ryuken Williams, and others to note that many of the world’s major religious traditions are entering what may be classified as an “ecological phase” in which the people of these traditions are now developing ethics concerning the environment.5 3 Lawrence E. Sullivan’s introduction to Buddhism and Ecology : The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds p. xi. 4 For a better explanation see Thomas Berry’s The Universe Story: Its Religious Significance. 5 Mary Evelyn Tucker describes this in Worldly Wonder: Religions Enter Their Ecological Phase p 9. 3 Recognition of the magnitude and complexity of the current global environmental condition in religious terms helps in identifying resources for potentially positive global transformations within the budding discourse on religion and ecology. Indeed, the world’s current environmental state calls for the religions of the world to respond, and thus enter their ecological phase. This thesis speaks to an audience established by the growing interest in that burgeoning discourse and the numerous academic conferences, series, and volumes on the subject, like the Harvard University Religions of the World and Ecology Conference Series.6 This thesis aims to join the modern discourse on religions and ecology by examining instances of environmental concerns from within Buddhism and Christianity, highlighting resonance between particular responses. Specifically, this work chiefly focuses on certain contemporary Buddhist responses to overpopulation, overconsumption, and environmental degradation, while underscoring significant resonance between those Buddhist responses and similar modern liberal Christian ones. This thesis examines the writings of ecumenical Buddhist spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist scholar-advocate Rita Gross, and Buddhologist and scientific scholar Joanna Macy--all of whom have written extensively on both Buddhism and environmental/population issues--as well as those of contemporary Christian theologians Sallie McFague and Rosemary Radford Ruether. These Buddhist perspectives convey the complexity of the Buddhist tradition, offer insights into the problem of overpopulation, and focus on both the notions of the interrelation of all things and causality. These three Buddhist intellectuals stand out from among the countless thinkers 6 This is not to say that the Harvard University Religions of the World and Ecology Conference Series is the only example of academic interest in the religions and ecology discourse, rather that it is arguably the best representation of the growing interest in the subject matter. 4 acting within the tradition in response to environmental issues because each is part of the landscape of what in recent years has come to be known as American socially engaged Buddhism--an umbrella term referring to the application of Buddhist values to social issues in U.S.7 This stream of Buddhism has found a particular niche in the United

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