Abstract

Whenever we face environmental or social changes, we are forced to adapt and change our lifestyle habits in order to realize harmony within the worlds we live and depend upon. According to most scientific and public policy experts, including the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC), climate change is the greatest environmental/public health crisis we face in the 21st century. This is so in regard to unstable and extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels, threats to food security, the spread of infectious diseases, destabilization of human communities, and environmental degradation. As we face these challenges, we must ask ourselves: how should we adapt our lifestyle habits so that we can realize harmony with the earth and realize personal and communal flourishing? In this talk we shall explore a virtue-based approach to the problem of climate change by considering the ways Chinese Buddhist traditions, including Huayan and Ch’an, can inspire ecologically sustainable lifestyles that are personally meaningful and socially fulfilling.

Bio

For the past 20 years Joseph Markowski, Ph.D. has been teaching courses in philosophy and ethics at various colleges and universities in North America, including Vermont State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; currently he is faculty member within the College of Liberal Arts at Wenzhou-Kean University. His research interests fall within the greater field of cross-cultural philosophy, specifically between Buddhist and Western analytic and continental perspectives.