Modern American death traditions have several key components, but the most environmentally damaging components are embalming of the body, the use of caskets*, and cemetery interment.

Embalming became a cornerstone of an American death during the Civil War as embalming allowed for the bodies of dead soldiers to stay intact on the long train rides home for burial. However, embalming’s ability to temporarily preserve a body is due to its ability to kill or inhibit decay-causing bacteria, but the damage also extends to other biological tissues. The main chemical responsible for this preservation is formalin (formaldehyde mixed in water), which is a highly toxic carcinogen and is linked to a variety of health problems. Combined with formalin’s long-term potency, the liters of formalin put into the ground with an embalmed body can leach into the surrounding ground contaminating the soil.

While not directly damaging, caskets and cemeteries also negatively impact the environment. The materials used in caskets, wood, plastics, metals, fabrics, and paints/varnishes, all create different environmental hazards in their production, transportation, and use. The use of grave vaults**, which are subterraneous boxes for the casket, further contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by using concrete and requiring fossil fuel powered machinery. However, these impacts are smaller when compared to the continual use of fertilizers and pesticides used by cemeteries to maintain the lush green grass appearance. The large amount of space, combined with the fertilizer-enriched water run-off and chemical hazards these cemeteries create, all contribute to prolonged environmental damage.

Source: Pexels

These negative impacts of modern funerals can be countered in two ways: swapping aspects of the burial for greener alternatives or changing the burial form entirely.

The option to use more eco-friendly substitutes is possible in many cases. Embalming, which is optional***, may not be used at all and if a body needs to be preserved short-term, keeping the body in refrigeration works well. Alternatively, if a body requires embalming, there are a growing number of non-formalin options available, such as the Enigma brand of embalming fluid, which provide similar preservation but with decreased environmental impact. As for alternative casket options, they can be made of recyclable and/or biodegradable materials or replaced by shrouds, and some careful planning prior to burial can allow for a non-vaulted and/or natural burial ground (burial grounds that do not have heavy maintenance). Some natural burial areas can even provide environmental protection to habitats; these are called conservation burials.

Overview of a traditional vs. natural burial // Source: Stephen J. Beard, designer: Nathan Butler 

The option to change the burial form often centers on what form the body is in when buried, an intact body or ash. Cremation is a better option than the standard American burial, but cremation has negative environmental impacts too. The heating of the body to around 1000°C for multiple hours requires prolonged burning of fossil fuels. Additionally, the high temperatures burn a variety of body tissues and substances creating different hazardous gases, including dental mercury, which is vaporized and released into the environment leading to health hazards in the surrounding area.

Many of the negative effects can be reduced by using different forms of cremation, forms which still create “ashes” but by different processes. Water cremation (aka alkaline hydrolysis) cremates a body by putting the body into a water-lye solution which over the course of a few hours leaves an intact skeleton that is then processed into ash****. The process requires the same amount of water consumption as a single person would use over a two-day period, needs a fraction of the energy of fire cremations, and has no direct GHG emissions. Another eco-friendly option that is still in development is promession, which would be a freezing cremation. The method would break down the body by freeze drying it, then vibrating the body making small pieces, which then have excess water and metal removed, creating ashes. Though this process is still developing, the process offers an energy efficient, non-toxin producing method for burial practices.

Overview of water cremation // Source: The Planet Magazine

Overview of promession process // Source: Design Boom

With life’s guarantee of death, the environmental impact of death will always be present, which is why greener options for burial are needed.

If you are interested in green burial options, the best plan is to explore what options are available to you – internet searches and local funeral homes are a good place to start. Other resources include, the YouTube channel “Ask a Mortician”, books, particularly “Grave Matters” by Mark Harris, or societies, such as The Green Burial Society of Canada.

Notes

* Fun fact: caskets are rectangular funeral boxes with hinged lids which differs from a coffin, a tapered box with a removable lid.

** Grave vaults are often sold as being required by cemeteries because it prevents the casket from collapsing underground, which keeps the ground level even, thereby maintaining a consistent lawn aesthetic

*** It is important to know that corpses, unless in rare circumstances, are safe; embalming is not a requirement to make a corpse safe to be near or touch.

**** Despite TV/film depictions of cremated human remains, remains do not fully become ash by burning. Burning breaks down the soft tissues and some smaller bones but larger bones, and teeth, with their protective enamel coating, are left behind. These bone fragments are then ground into ash.

This article is part of our March 2021 Western Student Editorial Series – a series that showcases the works of students in the Collaborative Specialization in Environment and Sustainability program. Read more articles from this series here!

The post A Greener Way To Go: Exploring Environmentally Friendly Death Practices appeared first on A\J.

Islamic Cosmology “We are not the centre of the Universe”

The Islamic philosophy of Tauhid (Unity of God) connects the entire creation to the Creator. A view that ultimately leads to an understanding that we are all connected, that we are all related and that we must work together for peace and environmental harmony.

Islamic Cosmology “We are not the centre of the Universe”

An Islamic worldview recognizes that the earth is not at the epicentre of the universe, rather, numerous worlds exists within the cosmos with Allah (Arabic word for God), as stated in the first Chapter of the Quran Surah Al-Fatihah(Chapter 1 Verse 2) being Rabbillallameen “Lord of All the Worlds” (note the plural on “world”). Imagine what the world can look like when we no longer see peoples of different races, nationalities, tribes, as “the other” because we acknowledge our common source? Quite a revolutionary shift in paradigm considering growing issues such as racism, terrorism, sexism and xenophobia. After all, we are comprised of particles, with all of our particles and the particles of the universe starting according to the Holy Quran when God created the Big Bang:

[21:31] Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass, then We[1] opened them out? And We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?

Beyond human relations, this connection also encompasses the need to respect every community of living beings (animals, plants, single cell organism) on the earth, which the Holy Quran states are also communities just like us:

[ 6:39] There is not an animal that crawls in the earth, nor a bird that flies on its two wings, but they are communities like you. We have left out nothing in the Book. Then to their Lord shall they be gathered together

Including living being(s) in other parts of the cosmos yet to be discovered or yet to reach us:

And among His[2] Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and of whatever living creatures He has spread forth in both. And He has the power to gather them together when He pleases.” (Ch.42 v.30)

While the cosmos comprises of material structures, stars, planets and galaxies, Islam also speaks of the spiritual world and identify spiritual beings (non-material) called Malaika (in Arabic-Messengers) or more commonly known in English as “Angels”. Unlike the common conception of Angels as “fairies” or literal winged creatures, Malaikas are spiritual beings that are ordered by God to govern and operate every aspect of the material world under natural laws (think of the forces that governs the properties of water, the characters of light, the place of the solar system, gravity etc) and the spiritual world, with no freewill to deviate from the course of its determined function. For every universal laws and functions, a Malaika exists to direct the laws. The believe in Angels (Malaika) is one of the six articles of the Islamic faith.

On a spiritual level, the task of Malaika includes among others intricate recording, organizing and moulding the imprint of human actions/deeds on their souls. Disregard the concept of the environmental footprint for a moment and think of the concept of “footprint of the soul.” This imprint which reflects our deeds will then be used as a record of our conduct which will make us accountable for our actions.For every action that a soul makes that goes beyond the prescribed middle path (the path of justice –adl), there is an unpleasant reaction. When numerous souls (i.e the collective society) foregoes the path of adl, the tangible impact felt by the rest of the society is then multiplied. In Islam, those who impart suffering on innocents including on animals will be recompensed. For example, a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) recorded in a Hadith[3]basically forbids acts such as trophy hunting, poaching of animals to have parts of their bodies sold as those who do so will be punished in the Day of Judgement:

Whoever kills a sparrow or anything bigger than that without a just cause, God will hold him accountable on the Day of Judgment.” The listeners asked, “O Messenger of God, what is a just cause?” He replied, “That he will kill it to eat, not simply to chop off its head and then throw it away.

The concept of Adl (justice) transcends our earthly boundaries and does not solely remain in the fallible justice system that exists in this current world. To ensure the rights of the “voiceless” (marginalized communities, animals, the land), Islam recognizes that Adl follows us as our souls move to the Hereafter after our passing (in Indigenous spirituality- the spirit world). While some individuals may profit and gain material prestige from destroying the natural environment, these imprints will continue to follow the soul (which is immaterial) and will be taken into account by God on the Day of Judgement.

The Malaika is also tasked with governing the material “cause and effect.” For example,when humans pollute the water, pillage the earth, exploit people, maim the animals and disrupt the balance, there will be natural and tangible consequences. Islamic theology sees no contradiction between natural laws and spiritual laws, as they both arise from the same source. It is therefore natural that when individuals forego spiritual peace for excessive material and capitalist pursuits, the ravaged environment reflects this imbalance.  In a stunning verse 1500 years ago that forebodes climate change and its destructive powers,as well as the numerous social upheavals and wars, the Holy Quran states the importance of turning the behemoth of greed and corruption around:

Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what men’s hands have wrought, that He may make them taste the fruit of some of their doings, so that they may turn back from evil.” (Chapter 30 verse 42)

With Scientists such as Beddington coining the term the “perfect storm” to illustrate the food, water and energy crisis that is projected to occur in 2030, the question for us then remains,will we allow ourselves to wake up from our apathy and material stupor?

Unity by Learning and Respecting the Wisdoms of All the Great Teachers of the World

Another important component of Tauhid (Unity of God) and a tool to move people towards the route of peace is the believe in all the prophets of God (Islam’s 4^th article of faith). This faith leads us to search for the common wisdom shared by all beliefs and taught by the Great teachers from around the world.

Prophecies and revelations have been experienced by those spiritually inclined around the world and Muslims are required to believe in all of God’s messengers (Chapter 16 verse 36), which according to the Hadith amounts to approximately 124,000 messengers sent to communities/ nations from the early dawn of human civilization (only 25 prophets are named in the Holy Quran). 

Some of these great teachers or messengers include but are not limited to: Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and for some Islamic sects also include Eastern teachers such as Buddha, Lord Khrishna, Tao, and Confucious, Greek prophets such as Socrates, Indigenous prophets such as The Great Peace Maker (Mohawk), African prophets and others too numerous to mention or those whose names may be lost in the record of history. This central belief of acknowledging all of the Creator’s messengers serves as a force of unification between all tribes and peoples, the central idea of which is all long-lasting faith traditions have at their root truth and universal wisdom. In addition, it also teaches that humanity throughout time have never and will never be abandoned as we have been provided with equal opportunity to salvation when we utilize our conscience to return to the middle path, which is the path of balance and peace (Islam= Salam= Peace).

In Islam, Allah communicates via the medium of Malaika with those who are spiritually inclined. In Islam, Prophets are those who due to the quality of their pure souls are selected to teach others by receiving guidance directly from God. Similar to the transmission of sound to the ears by the presence of oxygen, or the need for light for the eyes to see, Malaika acts as a medium of communication from the Creator to His creation. Therefore, just as the ears need to be properly functioning to hear sound, and the eyes need to be healthy (and open) to see, In Islam, the soul needs to be clear or purified to communicate with God and most importantly, it needs to be humble. Purity of the soul is not connected to material wealth, academic knowledge, or worldly prestige. Rather, it is tied to humility, a character that can be obtained through respecting the land and fulfilling our responsibility as stewards/ vicegerents (Khalifa) of the land. As the Quran states:

And walk not in the earth haughtily, for thou canst not rend the earth, nor canst thou reach the mountains in height. [ 17: 38)

In a time of instant 24/7 connection, there is sadly a lack of spiritual connection, leaving a gaping hole that is then filled by excessive material pursuits and “stuff”. However, according to Islam, those who sincerely seeks the Creator, will find the Creator:

When My servants ask thee about Me, tell them, I am near, I do answer the call of the caller when he seeks Me. So they too should respond to Me… [2:187]

Communication also occurs through dreams. The Aboriginees of Australia and the Indigenous peoples of Canada have sacred traditions and reverence for dreams, and an understanding of the importance of the “Dream World”. This is also the case in Islam with some dreams acknowledged to be carrying messages of truth through symbolic meanings and some dreams containing prophecies. Most commonly known among the Abrahamic faith (including Islam) is the true dream of the Pharaoh which was interpreted by Prophet Joseph, foretelling seven years of abundance symbolized by seven plump cows followed by seven years of famine symbolized in the dream by seven lean cows devouring the plump cows. Muslim sages have developed books translating the meanings of dreams and Islam is not the only faith tradition to do so. It is the believe in Islam that all souls have the capacity to communicate with the Divine, yet this requires taking the path of reflection and simplicity.

Another component of Tauhid (unity of God) is a belief in the spiritual equality of men, women, and all nations, races and tribes.With the emphasis that one is favoured in the sight of the Creator based on his or her service to humanity. On equality of nations, races and tribes the Quran states:

O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female; and We have made you into tribes and sub-tribes that you may recognize one another. Verily, the most honourable among you, in the sight of Allah, is he who is the most righteous among you. Surely, Allah is All-knowing, All-Aware [49:14]

On the issue of spiritual equality of male and female the Quran states:

Surely, men who submit themselves to God and women who submit themselves to Him, and believing men and believing women, and obedient men and obedient women and truthful men and truthful women, and men steadfast in their faith and steadfast women, and men who are humble and women who are humble, and men who give alms and women who give alms, and men who fast and women who fast, and men who guard their chastity and women who guard their chastity, and men who remember Allah much and women who remember Him — Allah has prepared for all of them forgiveness and a great reward. [33:36] 

Nowhere is it permissible to consider one’s race, nationality, or gender as superior. These verses illustrate that despite our diversity of language, tribes and so on, we are simply asked to do goodto others. Thus, unlike a capitalistic/ materialistic worldview which promotes the idea of infinite economic progress, the need for new frontiers of exploitation and resource extraction, and the continuous need for profit despite collateral damage to the environment, Islam enjoins that an individual’s measure of success is judged by their spiritual evolution. This spiritual progress does require the spending of material goods such as money. However instead of encouraging the consumption of stuff on personal wants, the emphasis is put on individual sacrifice for the community, namely spending one’s wealth for alms and charities.

 Another fundamental of Islamic economic/finance is the prohibition of “interest”. The institution of interest promotes financial speculation and social injustice. The reason being is that interest does not promote the distribution of wealth to the poor and encourages hoarding. This injunction which is sadly not followed by “Muslim” majority countries is taught to ensure that no one and no nation will be entrapped in a cycle of debt that continues to multiply and therefore enslave them. Islam’s teachings against the institution of interest has the potential to free nations that have so far been entrenched in unequal structural adjustment policies and international debt, as they can never catch up with the multiplying interest rates (see the following chapters and verses for Islamic guidance against the practice of taking interest: 2:276; 2:277; 2:279; 3:131; 4: 162; 30:40).

Ata Raja – Minaratul Masih (Hindu Mohalla, Qadian)

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): A mercy for all humankind

There is none amongst the believers who plants a tree, or sows a seed, and then a bird, or a person, or an animal eats thereof, but it is regarded as having given a charitable gift [for which there is great recompense].” [Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Hadith KitabAl-Bukhari, 3:513].

One of Allah’s (God’s) characteristic is that He is Ar-Rahman (the Gracious) and Ar-Rahim (the Merciful). Islam encourages Muslims to emulate these two traits and Muslims believe that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the culmination of exemplary grace and was sent as a mercy for all humankind.

Unlike popular media representation of Muslims often painting over 1.6 billion peoples from hundreds of countries, cultures and background with one simplistic and broad brushstroke. It is important to understand that Muslims are not a monolith and that there are numerous schools of traditions, interpretations and sects. While the general population are mostly familiar with the Sunni sect and the Shiite sect of Islam, the Sunni sect can in fact be further categorized into numerous sub-sects with varying practices (Deobandi, Barelhvi, Sufi, Bohras, Wahhabi etc) and this is also the case with the Shiite sect. In Canada, there is a strong community of Ismaili Muslims (Ismailis are a sub-sect of Shiite Islam) led by His Highness Prince Shah Karim Al Husseini Aga Khan IV. The community is known for their magnificent Aga Khan Museum of Islamic Civilization which is recognized for its architectural beauty and environmental landscaping.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (established in Canada in 1966) is another muslim community established in 209 countries. It is a revival Islamic sect established in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India, who is considered by his followers as the prophesized Imam Mahdi (Guided Leader) and the Promised Messiah foretold by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) 1500 years ago. This community has been led by a spiritual Caliphate since the demise of its founder in 1908, and is currently headquartered in the United Kingdom.

This divergence of Muslims into different sects has been prophesized by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) prior to his death, and eventual unity and peace has also been prophesized when Muslims themselves will seek to return to Islam’s middle path of peace and balance. Yet despite the diversity in interpretations, the environmental teachings taught by the Prophet (pbuh) has led Muslims of all different sects to unite and promote initiatives to conserve, restore and to protect our natural environment. The commandment to protect the environment and the land is based on numerous verses in the Quran encouraging gratefulness to the Creator:

[6:100] And it is He Who sends down water from the cloud; and We bring forth therewith every kind of growth; then We bring forth with that green foliage wherefrom We produce clustered grain. And from the date-palm, out of its sheaths, come forth bunches hanging low. And We produce therewith gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate — similar and dissimilar. Look at the fruit thereof when it bears fruit, and the ripening thereof. Surely, in this are Signs for a people who believe.

Muslim youths are especially leading and reclaiming the middle pathto protect the environment as taught by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) 1500 years ago. For example, Khaleafa.com was founded by Muaz Nasir an alumnus of the University of Toronto and is a non-sectarian interfaith group to stimulate discussion and collaboration on environmental initiatives. This group runs the “Green Khutbah Campaign” a campaign encouraging faith leaders to devote the Friday sermon around Earth Day to teach about environmentalism. In the last four years, the campaign has garnered global support from organizations and mosques from over 20 countries. As Nasir argue,“Islam is rich in environmental teachings from both the Quran and the prophetic tradition, and it is only recently that we have begun to reclaim our history in this field.” 

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Canada is also working towards better environmental practices with properties and many of the Mosques LED equipped, using solar energy in the purpose built mosques, organizing tree planting initiatives and the running of a community orchard, organic greenhouse, and a windmill powered farm at Bradford, Ontario.The community is also actively communicating and learning from the wisdom of Canada’s Indigenous elders.

 According to the late 4^th Caliph of the Community, Mirza Tahir Ahmad, who has visited Canada on numerous occasions, “If you believe in the Creator you must also believe in his Creation. If you love the artist, you must also love his art.”

Global injusticeis at the root of environmental degradation and social upheaval. This quest for balance in Islam starts with the quest for justice and the spiritual struggle (jihad) to develop a microcosm of inner peace. This inner struggle (jihad) for peace needs to start first and foremost with Muslims themselves. It is possible to have an environmental, economic, and social revolution without bloodshed when actions are premised on a spiritual revolution that rejects materialism and greed and instead promotes charity and the distribution of wealth. At the level of an individual soul,this spiritual revolution starting at the personal level will hopefully grow collectively and radiate peace externally to the wider society, thus contributing to long-term environmental balance and honouring the true environmentalist legacy of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).

[17:36] And give full measure when you measure, and weigh with a right balance; that is best and most commendable in the end.

The author is a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and this article does not represent the official views of the Community

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Why did I do it? What possessed me to buy outside my foodshed? I’d like to deny responsibility, blame the whole thing on the fact that I hadn’t had my reusable mug of fair-trade, organic coffee, but I accept responsibility. Was it price? Was it laziness? Was it the seductive glow of glossy red tomato goodness?

The glaring fluorescence of Atlantic Superstore lights must have blinded me. How could I buy a shiny, temptingly red – and cheap – Mexican tomato when I knew I could purchase local, organic ones at the Halifax Farmers’ Market?

Why did I do it? What possessed me to buy outside my foodshed? I’d like to deny responsibility, blame the whole thing on the fact that I hadn’t had my reusable mug of fair-trade, organic coffee, but I accept responsibility. Was it price? Was it laziness? Was it the seductive glow of glossy red tomato goodness?

As an environmentally conscious Buddhist, I should have known better.

Later, as I was eating my flavourless sandwich and feeling guilty about the pollution my tomato’s transcontinental journey had produced, I wondered: Why do sustainable choices often seem so difficult?

Surfing the web for an answer, I came across a group of “locavores” in the San Francisco Bay area trying to live by the 100-mile diet. Their site lists some of the usual motivations for eating locally: reduce air pollution, support family farms and invest in the community. It also suggests that the distance our food travels equals our separation from knowing how and by whom it was produced, processed and transported.

When looking at an orderly pyramid of Mexican tomatoes in a supermarket, I realized that I didn’t see the damage I was doing by choosing a cheap, conveniently accessible and shiny red tomato. The full costs were hidden from sight. Was the answer simple ignorance?

It couldn’t be. I understood the arguments for eating locally long before I felt the desire to buy that well-travelled tomato, but I still bought it. As Adria Vasil observes in Ecoholic, “You know you’d rather eat food that’s good for the health of the planet. … But let’s face it, most of the time we reach for whatever we’re in the mood for and what’s on sale.” The problem is that although there are many good reasons to buy local and organic food, “reason” is rarely in charge when it comes to buying stuff – “desire” is.

Knowing better doesn’t guarantee improved buying habits because our desire for cheap, convenient commodities is powerful, and, in one of those twists of fate, unsustainable products inevitably seem to be cheaper and more convenient than the sustainable ones.

Unfortunately, knowing my Mexican tomato’s travel itinerary wasn’t enough to curb my desire for it. It will take more than knowledge to tame my wanton consumer ways. But what?

Still feeling guilty, I did what any practising Buddhist does when stuck in a quandary: I sat my butt on a meditation cushion.

Initially, I wanted to blame the system. If the price of tomatoes included the costs of production and transportation, then a Mexican tomato should cost more than a local one. Problem solved.

Not so fast. On further reflection, it seemed to me that green economics – while crucial – do not fully address the psychology of our unsustainable consumer habits. My Buddhist instincts compelled me to dig down to the root causes of my action – to understand my desire. So as my body digested the tomato – as the fruit miraculously shed its own identity and became part of me – I tried to apply Buddhist philosophy to my question.

I wish I could say that I discovered an easy solution, but I didn’t. However, I did find that Buddhist philosophy provides a unique way of looking at how we might transform our commodity-driven desires that oftentimes result in unsustainable practices.

According to Buddhist tradition, transforming basic desires requires something radical. It asks that you change your basic understanding of the way things exist. In other words, to change your desires you first have to alter the way you look at the world. Long-time Buddhist teacher Judith Simmer-Brown says, “According to Buddhist teachings, it is never enough to address desire. … When the relationship between desire and ignorance is understood, then we can see that the way to transform desire is to transform ignorance.” In this context, Simmer-Brown uses the word “ignorance” in its Buddhist sense, where it refers not simply to a lack of knowledge, but to something more fundamental: a mistaken perception of reality.

And what is this mistaken perception of reality that we must transform? According to the Dalai Lama, it’s our belief that beings and things inherently exist. Buddhist scholar Jeffrey Hopkins explains that inherent existence “… refers to our ordinary sense of the way that things exist – as if they concretely exist in and of themselves, covering their parts.” For many folks, my tomato is simply the glossy red round object that the cashier weighs and stuffs into a plastic bag. What we believe we purchase is a whole tomato that is an independent, easily-exchangeable commodity. In fact, the entire buying and selling of tomatoes operates on the basic assumption that tomatoes inherently exist.

For Buddhists, however, on a fundamental level the tomato has no self-presence. Its individuality dissolves into what the Dalai Lama calls “a complex web of interrelated causes and conditions.” The seemingly independent tomato is completely reliant on conditions we would normally consider external to it. For example, think about how my tomato came to be ecologically. Consider all the causes and conditions that, as the locavores note, “produced, processed and transported” it: sun, moisture, soil, farmers, trucks, fossil fuels, pollution and so forth. All of the complex causes and conditions that made my purchase possible are part of the tomato. Remove any of them, and poof – the tomato and this situation never arise.

Now take this thinking a step further. Not only is the tomato incapable of coming into existence by itself, it is also incapable of remaining in existence by itself. For example, any produce manager will tell you that tomatoes require certain conditions to avoid disintegration. The temperature must be in the right range, the pressure on the tomatoes’ skin cannot be too great and so on. The more you think about it, the more you see that, as Buddhist scholar Francis Cook says, “… to exist in any sense at all means to exist in dependence on the other, which is infinite in number. Nothing exists truly in and of itself, but requires everything to be what it is.” You can imagine a tomato as an independent object – you can even imagine you’ve bought it – but you can never isolate that tomato from the universe that supports its existence.

The independent tomato we perceive then, is like a mirage – a misinterpretation of experience. Where we desire a solid, individual object, there is only an insubstantial confluence of conditions. Everything outside the tomato forms a part of it: there is no solid core within it, dividing the world absolutely between tomato and not-tomato, no solid core that makes it the same tomato from field to store to checkout to home. Such an independent core would, in fact, be indigestible. 

So how might the Buddhist view of the interdependent tomato help us make more sustainable choices? Unfortunately, Buddhism doesn’t give us superpowers. It doesn’t, under the glare of those Superstore lights, make us see the chemicals, pollution and working conditions that produced the tomato. It won’t make the Mexican tomato less appealing or more expensive than the local one. But it can undermine our commodifying perceptions; it can give us leverage over our desire for the cheaper tomato by destabilizing the connection between a tomato and its price. That desire is rooted in our belief that a tomato is nothing more than an individual object that a cashier weighs to determine its cost. But a tomato is much more.

When you realize the full interdependence of a tomato – that you can’t really separate it from the universe – the whole checkout process seems absurd. When you buy a tomato, you are actually buying a certain momentary arrangement of the universe. Can you really purchase the universe at $1.40/kg? The impossibility of putting a price on the universe dislodges a tomato from the seductive illusion of cheapness. The price no longer lures us because we can see that it only applies to a falsely imagined, independent entity – to a tomato that fundamentally isn’t there.

I’m not saying that becoming more aware of a tomato’s lack of independent existence will guarantee that we will make more sustainable purchases, but if we dislodge the tomato from its price, if we level the playing field in terms of desire, then the temptation that overcame me at the Superstore no longer dominates. Had I combined this insight with knowledge of the tomato’s environmental costs, I just might have put that shiny red embodiment of momentary universal existence back and passed by the checkout counter en route to the farmers’ market. 

The post The Buddhist and the Tomato appeared first on A\J.

Am I A Monkey? aims to convince creationists that Judeo-Christian religion is compatible with evolutionary theory by explaining the basic tenets and underlying theory of natural selection. After a smattering of recent texts that have done much to polarize the religion-evolution debate, this is a refreshing thesis. However, although Ayala’s heart is in the right place, much of this book does not do his point justice.

One obvious issue with this work is the fact that it will never reach most of its intended audience. Ardent creationists will likely never read a book that shakes the core of their view. While those still teetering with indecision may be swayed by the book’s arguments, this audience seems sparse.

The book starts by offering rather rushed and incomplete explanations of the underlying principles of evolutionary theory. The first few chapters skim the basics of genetics and palaeontology so quickly that a neophyte’s head would spin.  Given that these topics have been explained so well in myriad other texts, Ayala could have skipped the basic scientific explanations in favour of the (arguably more interesting) details of each side of religion-science debate.

Furthermore, in an attempt to write clearly, Ayala uses a very simple style that tends to come off as obtuse and disjointed.  There is very little compelling writing in this book, which makes it hard to focus on the subject matter. However, in spite of the numerous inchoate sections, Ayala hits his stride by the time it comes to the work’s core material. The last and most important chapter, which outlines the relationship between evolution and religion, is clearer and easier to read than its predecessors.  Indeed, if more of the book had been dedicated to this topic, it would have been far more enjoyable.

In all, Am I a Monkey? is a commendable attempt to distil the religion-evolution dichotomy to its simplest terms.  If it had spent less time clumsily re-iterating material that has been written about so exhaustively in the past, it may have been more successful and interesting.

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Uniting recent scientific discoveries concerning the provenance and progression­ of the universe with religious insights into the nature of creation, Berry’s writing blended empirical and spiritual elements into a unique cosmological narrative. His challenge­ in later life was to place ecology and cosmology at the centre of our personal and institutional lives.

In June 2009, Thomas Berry, the historian, priest, author and self-described “geologian,” passed away at his home in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was 94.

Uniting recent scientific discoveries concerning the provenance and progression­ of the universe with religious insights into the nature of creation, Berry’s writing blended empirical and spiritual elements into a unique cosmological narrative. His challenge­ in later life was to place ecology and cosmology at the centre of our personal and institutional lives.

His work has profoundly affected religious activists, such as the “green nuns” – Roman Catholic sisters who have transformed their properties into community-supported agriculture and Earth-literacy centres – as well as policy makers, lawyers, scientists, health professionals and politicians. Al Gore, for example, quoted Berry in his 1992 book Earth in the Balance and twice invited him to the Clinton White House to advise on ecological matters. With his works now archived at Harvard University, Berry remains a compelling figure for those who strive for a deeper meaning in their quest to befriend, rather than besmirch, the planet.

In two recent volumes, The Sacred Universe and The Christian Future and the Fate of the Earth, Berry’s pioneering thoughts are chronicled, aided by two former students, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. Both from Yale University, they are co-founders of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, and leaders in the emerging interface of world faiths and the fate of the Earth.

Many of the essays in these books originated as mimeographed reflections for friends and members of the American Teilhard Association, which Berry presided over for more than a decade. Despite their humble beginnings, these essays help chart the transformation of a Roman Catholic priest and cultural historian to a path-finding Catholic interpreter of Asian religions, and finally to a premier sage of the spiritual character of our current ecological malaise.

The fact that Berry, after reading most of the great medieval theological classics (such as Thomas Aquinas’ hefty Summa Theologica) in the original Latin, learned both Chinese and Sanskrit in mid-career, attests to his unusual gifts as a scholar. Despite such erudition, these are not peer-reviewed articles for the traffic of publishing; they are Berry’s attempt to find the proper place of humanity within the unfolding cosmos. As such, they constitute important, enduring landmarks on the journey of a distinctive and humbly prophetic voice for the planet and the universe in which it spins.

In The Sacred Universe, a collection of essays from 1972 to 2001, we see a ripening of Berry’s thought, and the evolution of a mind that strives to place the current ecological crisis within a deeper cosmological context. Throughout his life, Berry was, to quote Einstein out of context, a “cosmological constant.” When some tried to subsume the environmental movement under a social justice rubric or a particular religious agenda, Berry was unyielding. He argued consistently that the universe is “our primary sacred community,” the only “text without a context,” and as such cannot become a subset of human intellectual hubris.

With his statement that the universe is “a text without a context,” Berry is making a profound metaphysical claim. He is reinforcing the basic fact that the universe is autonomous of the human subject. In this way, he is perhaps carving out of the cosmos a metaphysics that is distinct from prevailing modern and postmodern belief systems.

On one hand, Berry’s assertion is a critique of our modern understanding of nature in purely materialistic terms. His notion of the universe as a text without a context is a challenge to modernity’s tendency to separate humanity from the rest of nature, with the former destined to subdue the latter. Berry is granting the rest of the universe an identity independent of this agenda.

With his “uncontested cosmos,” Berry is on the other hand eschewing the postmodern notion that nature does not have any existence outside human representation. In this postmodern trajectory, nature is simply a human construct. Both belief systems lead to a deep and limiting anthropocentrism, where reality is assessed through an exclusively human perspective. Berry suggests a different type of metaphysics, one that includes sacredness and awe as primary responses to the unfolding universe; one that critiques modern and postmodern belief systems and strives for a new way of understanding the human-Earth relationship.

Influenced by the Jesuit paleontologist and theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), Berry suggests that all matter has a “psychic-spiritual dimension.” In other words, the universe is a “communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.” This is a door that Berry opens to allow a sense of the divine and the sacred back into our contemporary understanding of the world. If one has ever thrilled to a star-strewn sky on a soft summer’s evening, or felt an overwhelming sense of awe gazing upon a storm-tossed ocean, then one has a sense of the spiritual dimension to which Berry refers.

The Christian Future and the Fate of the Earth focuses on the Christian implications and import of Berry’s work, something that was not accented in his lectures and writings, despite his vocation as a priest.

In reflecting on the role of the church, Berry sees Christianity’s primary task not as dispensing sacraments or gaining more converts, but as raising awareness about the deeper mysteries and workings of the universe: We need to know how the solar system and Earth came into being, how life developed on the planet, and, finally, how we ourselves appeared and what our human role has been within this amazing process. All these things need to be understood as aspects of a spiritual as well as a physical process. Only such comprehensive and deep understanding can restore the integral functions of planet Earth upon which human well-being depends. This is the fundamental task of the Church in the twenty-first century.

With this “cosmological manifesto,” Berry moves well beyond Christian notions of stewardship, with its tinge of managerial oversight over creation, and invites us into the idea of co-creation with the Creator. For Berry, the context for environmental activism and reflection is not simply our local ecosystem, and not simply Gaia, the living Earth, but the entire cosmos.

It may strike some as strange, in this age of televised creationist Christian fundamentalism, to hear a Roman Catholic priest entwining his spirituality with evolution and the natural processes of the Earth. But Berry claims a long pedigree, from St. Paul through Aquinas to contemporary mathematical cosmologists such as Brian Swimme and biologists such as E.O. Wilson, who have blended theories of natural law with questions of metaphysics and the spirit.

By placing ourselves in critical engagement with the cosmos, we are met not only with wonder and mystery, as Berry claims, but with the imaginative powers needed to deal constructively and fruitfully with our ecological moment. This is the legacy of hope that Thomas Berry has bequeathed us, and which these two volumes help illumine.

The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Berry / Mary Evelyn Tucker, ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009, 200 pages

The Christian Future and the Fate of the Earth, Thomas Berry / Mary Evelyn Tucker & John Grim, eds. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009, 144 pages

This review originally appeared in New Eco Books, Issue 36.3. Subscribe now to get more book reviews in your mailbox!

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