Z is for Zen

The final letter in the alphabet of climate solutions

And here we are, at the very end of ‘The alphabet of climate solutions’, 26 topics and 26 corresponding books later we are wrapping up our book club with a beautifully apt book about Zen buddhism and how we can apply its principles to climate action. We have loved having you all on this journey. Occasionally throughout the past two and a half years, we would find out that you’ve read our newsletter by a quick comment you make when we meet you for coffee or on an online meeting, but those little nuggets have kept us going, more than you could ever know. This, and our wonderful book club online gatherings, which were always full of beautifully inspiring conversations were the reason we didn’t give up before the letter K or Q or X or any of the other hard letters. We found a climate solution topic for every single letter of the alphabet, and here we are, we made it, with you, thank you. So without further ado, here are our take aways from the very last book of the alphabet:

Zen and the art of saving the planet by Thich Nhah Than

All of us have to become buddhas for our planet to stand a chance. Collective awakening is made of individual awakening. You have to wake yourself up first, and then those around you have a chance. Peace, awakening and enlightenment always begin with you.

The planet will always need to be saved. We may be afraid we will not be able to save the planet in our lifetime and that we can never do enough but the truth is that the planet will need to be saved countless times for eons of time. It’s impossible to save the planet once and for all, or on our own.

The concept of interbeing can wake us up to our power. In the idea of ‘self,’ there is the idea that I am this body, this body is me; or this body is mine, it belongs to me. But this notion does not correspond to reality. When you look deeply into your body, you see that your body is a stream. You can see your parents and ancestors in that stream, you can see not only human ancestors, but animal, plant, and mineral ancestors. There’s a continuum.

The ‘Five Rememberances’ are part of a buddhist meditation to face our fears and impermanence. They are away to accept and embrace our own suffering. Breathing mindfully, in and out, deep and slow, can give us stability as we repeat:

1. I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.

2. I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health.

3. I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

4. All that is dear to me and everyone I love is of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

5. I inherit the results of my actions of body, speech, and mind. My actions are my continuation.

We need to wake up to the fact that if we continue the way we are living right now, then the end of our civilisation is certain. Only by waking up to this truth as a human species will we have the insight and energy we need to change our way of life. We have to learn to accept that the extinction of many species on Earth, including humankind, is possible. But, if humans have appeared on Earth once, humans can appear again.

Suffering and happiness inter-are. They depend on each other. There cannot be one without the other. We have to find a way to face our suffering and transform it into happiness and compassion, just as we use the place where we fall to help us stand up.

We need to transform our individual and collective fear. If you can generate the energy of calm, acceptance, loving kindness, and non-fear and togetherness to the situation. Technology alone is not enough to solve the problem. It needs to go together with understanding, compassion, and togetherness.

Mindfulness is not only for the quiet of the meditation cushion; it is for the three-dimensional reality of our daily life. We need silence, sitting still, and time in nature, but we also need a framework for being mindful in our way of working, consuming, speaking, listening, loving, and interacting with the world.

We need to cultivate the art of non-violent resistance. In engaged action, you don’t have to die to get your message across. You have to be alive in order to continue. We can get sent to prison, we can protest. But, even if our protest is very strong, we have to remember that protesting may not be able to remove the fear, the anger, and the craving in those we are protesting against. Real protest is to help them wake up and take up a new direction. To do that is real action.

‘My friends, we know everything is impermanent, and so is war.’ The worst enemy is despair. We must keep hoping. Our practice of calming and looking deeply nourishes our hope. So many people are ready to be something and to do something for the cause of peace and social justice, of protecting the planet.

Goodbye for now (not for good)!

Maybe you were expecting the link to get tickets to our next book club at this point in the newsletter? Well, we have something a little different for you this time. If you follow us, you’ll know we’ve reached the end of our Alphabet of Climate Solutions book club. Yep, we made it to the letter Z and aptly used the topic Zen for our book club closing. It was a book of reflection, a good time to breathe and digest everything we’ve learned so far, the conversations we’ve had and the people we’ve been lucky enough to meet, and who’ve enhanced our learning on the various topics we’ve chosen. We’ve also reached the end of the year and so for now it feels a good time to say au revoir. And The Future is not closing its doors for good. We’ll still be here, and working in the background discussing what to bring to you next, and meanwhile, we’re taking a breather and some time to concentrate on our own projects.

What are we up to?

Tash

I’m still decluttering of course. I love the work that I do and am still a magpie at heart. I love helping people make space in their homes and enjoying the new found organisation, energy and freedom this brings. I also still love rehoming surprising new things that come my way. Embracing living with less stuff is empowering and can be a cheaper way of life. I’m now spending 2-3 days every week at our family farm. I have a vision for the land to be a haven for wildlife while still making an income from it. I have many ideas and the changes I’m currently making are small, like chipping away at the edges, but we already have some areas of permanent grassland to protect the soil, some field margins with flowers and some strips of seed mixes that the wild birds love. A biodiversity assessment revealed some very happy, diverse and therefore ancient hedgerows, as well as some impressive old oak and beech trees that need protecting from modern farming. I will be focussing on making more change in the coming months, especially as spring approaches and the opportunity to push back against the use of fossil fuels and intensive farming becomes more real.

Lisa

I have started my own business Rebel Patch in April this year – I collaborate with artists to create limited edition art patches to repair, customise and upcycle the clothing we already own. I started it to give people more options, tools and skills to engage with their clothing and combat fast fashion and the consumerism that comes with it. If you want to follow my journey of building a creative movement for radical repair you can do so here. I have big plans for 2024 and would love your support! Sign up to my mailing list on the website to be kept updated.

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We are so grateful to everyone who has joined us on our learning journey. We loved reading, discussing and sharing thoughts and stories with you all and looking forward to what is next for this community we have created together. If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see next from us please don’t hesitate to reach out via commenting or replying to this post, sending us an email to hello@andthefuture.com or messaging us on Instagram. Before we say goodbye for now, we thought we’d give you the compiled list of all of the topics of the alphabet and the corresponding books that we read. Just in case you find yourself with some spare time during the holidays and want to have a little deep dive. Let us know which topics transformed you the most and which ones you didn’t like.

A stands for activism – book: Be the Change by Gina Martin

B stands for biodiversity – book:  Extraordinary Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson

C stands for climate justice – book: What white People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri

D stands for degrowth – book: Less is More by Jason Hickel

E stands for energy – book: Manifesto by Dale Vince

F stands for fair fashion – book: Loved Clothes Last by Orsola de Castro

G stands for gathering – book: The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker 

H stands for healing – book: Do Earth by Tamsin Omond

I stands for indigenous knowledge – book: Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta

J stands for (garden) jungle – book: The Garden Jungle by Dave Goulson

K stands for kindness – book: Human kind by Rutger Bregman

L stands for language (a collaboration) – book: Secrets of a Vanishing Country by Pelin Turgut with a workshop led by the author

M stands for mushrooms – book: Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

N stands for nature conservation – book: Feral by George Monbiot

O stands for ocean conservation – book: Future Sea by Deborah Rowan Wright

P stands for play (a collaboration) – book: Play by Stuart Brown, with a workshop led by Lucy Hawthorne

Q stands for queer ecology – book: A Natural History of Transition by Callum Angus

R stands for revolution – book: Blueprint for Revolution by Srdja Popovic

S stands for systems change – book: Ideas to Postpone the End of the World by Ailton Krenak

T stands for (a just) transition – book: Working-Class Environmentalism by Karen Bell

U stands for Us – book: Citizens by Jon Alexander

V stands for Vestpod (a collaboration) – book: It’s Not That Radical by Mikaela Loach

W stands for women – book: Witches by Sam George-Allen

X stands for climate anxiety – book: Turn the Tide on Climate Anxiety

Y stands for youth – book: Birdgirl by Dr Mya Rose-Craig

Z stands for zen – book: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh

Have a wonderful rest of the year and see you online or in the streets in 2024!

Lisa & Tash