my life as a buddhist climate prepper

I started hearing about the future impacts of climate change when I was in high school in the mid-90s: predictions of fires, floods, heat waves, droughts, rising seas, mass migrations, and the rest.

Fast forward 30 years: the conversation is no longer about what might happen.

Now we're talking about what is happening.

Leaving aside for the moment who we should blame for the situation we find ourselves in (there are, in fact, very specific people to blame), it's time to ask ourselves, "what now?"

Yes, we should donate to climate action groups, write our representatives, and organize. After all, the only chance we have to sidestep civilization-ending events is to stop burning fossil fuels ASAP—and that’s a collective project.

But, like it or not, the catastrophe has already arrived. And it will only get worse.

So how do we take care of ourselves and everyone?

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One approach: become a "climate prepper." Learn to build a shelter out of sticks for the looming apocalypse.

Some folks are doing that right now. And who can blame them?

But stockpiling canned goods will only get you so far. Our near future will still be unstable, shaky, and continually falling apart.

We’ll need to face that. We’ll need a training, a way of holding our experience when things get tough.

I think that’s where Buddhism comes in. Because this is exactly the kind of situation the dharma trains us to face.

If our house floods, we need to find stability right here, in this heart & mind.

If our town burns, it's the same.

Along the way, we'll have to come back again and again to our basic humanity, cultivate goodness, stand in kindness, and make sure we're taking care of our neighbors.

We'll need to nurture the beneficial qualities of the heart while we're donating, organizing, and housing a family of four who just watched their duplex flattened by a storm.

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So I suppose I'm a Buddhist climate prepper. When the hard moments hit, I want to be ready. Every day I train for that moment.

It's humbling. I'm not always at my best.

But I know the direction we’re heading, and I want to be the kind of person who can help.

with metta,
nico

p.s. for some good buddhist prepping you could join Devin Berry and me this Saturday for an online daylong retreat on Cultivating Kindness.