Jack Kornfield – Heart Wisdom – Ep. 107 – Change and Regeneration with Paul Hawken

Paul Hawken

Author and environmentalist Paul Hawken join Jack Kornfield for a riveting dharma talk on climate change and how we can come together to spur the regeneration of our world.

Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, and activist who has dedicated his life to environmental sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. He is one of the environmental movement’s leading voices, and the founder of Project Drawdown, a non-profit dedicated to researching when and how global warming can be reversed. Learn more about him at paulhawken.com.

The Bodhisattva Heart

How can we live with a Bodhisattva heart in these hard times? Jack reflects on A.T. Ariyaratne, known as the Gandhi of Sri Lanka, and how he not only helped people but empowered them as well. Jack recaps an online class he held for people under a Coronavirus quarantine in China, and talks about how no matter if it’s the virus or climate change, we’re all in this together.

“The game is really to be empowered; you can choose to act in this world. In fact, if you don’t, it’s because you’ve chosen not to act. You can choose to quiet your mind and tend your heart, and become the vastness that you really are, the loving awareness. You can get up and you can be empowered – the world needs you to add your voice and your heart, and to make a difference.” – Jack Kornfield

Drawdown (29:15)

Paul talks about changing the language we use around climate change. We have somehow turned nature into an ‘other’ that we need to combat. Paul details the creation of his book, Drawdown, and how it was really a plea to scientists and academics to find out what to do about climate change.

“The only way to create something that had some substance and credibility was to reach out as a community, as a collaboration, so that all the voices are being heard and working together.” – Paul Hawken

Listen to Paul Hawken’s favorite Jack Kornfield podcast, Heart Wisdom Ep. 78
Regeneration (44:50)

Paul discusses the climate change movement and how his next book, Regeneration, is about how we can come together and direct the movement to those who are suffering right now. He talks about the nature of how social movements come together, tracing the breadcrumbs of the civil rights movement back to its origins. Jack and Paul end with a reminder that we need to act out of love, not fear.

“In this so-called climate movement, I just feel like there’s a quality that comes from practice and sitting and meditation and Sanghas that is remarkably more effective than the activity that is being engendered because it’s a climate emergency, it’s a climate crisis.” – Paul Hawken

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