Wildfires around Boulder
On one hand, the beautiful Indian state of Kerala witnessed its worst flooding and landslides due to record rains. Around 200 people died. On the other extreme, this week we have four active wildfires around us in Boulder county. Two of them several thousand acres in size. Firefighters are beings heroes but do we have to keep expecting them to put their lives in danger in 100 degree weather? I imagine that many of local community members were involved in service work and were offering psychological support to those hwo had to evacuate. In Paris, athletes are struggling because of record heat, one said "I can finish the match but I might die".
The climate emergency has not been tackled adequately by a number of administrations, including those of two Democratic Presidents. We must try to protect some basic democratic structures in the U.S. this November. And it is also true that an increasing number of young people I meet do not think that electiing anyone is going to take care of the polycrisis. The polycrisis we face requires much deeper changes than changing lightbulbs, increasing subsidies on solar panels or windmills, getting heat pumps, making electric cars cheaper or recycling or even eating vegan food. All of those are required but not enough. The polycrisis that includes extreme income inequality, gen0cides, religious fundamentalism, water shortages, soil toxicity, mental health crisis and profound loneliness of our hearts must include building our spiritual and community power at its roots. It requires healing of our layers of trauma, belonging to our human and more than-human community, kinning with the ecosystems around us like empowered indigenous people do and solidarity (including sharing of wealth) across countries and economic classes.
Last week, @lubna.masarwa a Palestinian journalist who works for Middle East Eye spoke to several Buddhist teachers who are still worried about the unending carnage in G@za. Lubna was one of the speakers at the June 9th event where Buddhist leaders from different lineages spoke about how do we face these times of polycrisis (genocide and climate crisis) as dharma practitioners. You can find the video of the event here.
Lubna's words and stories of people she is writing about pierced my heart all over again. She was asking us to find ways to love P@lestinian people and not forget their pain as the election drama unfolds in the US.
This is my birthday week. I haven't done this ever before: I want to ask all of you to celebrate me and my life by generously donating to support food, medicines and other life-saving supplies for P@lestinians. Yes, we could donate to nonprofit organizations directly. But please know that nonprofit, local NGOs and foreign aid are either blocked from entering, downsizing, or permanently ending their programs in Gaza. As the Rafah border (the main humanitarian aid & evacuation corridor between Gaza and Egypt) remains totally besieged since May, direct local mutual aid is critical. I will be sending 100% of your donations to a mother in G@z@ who has been painstakingly tending to her community in extremely distressing times. This woman is a friend of Sarah Habib, a dear sangha member. Documentation of how past contributions were used can be found on Sarah Habib's @homesovereignty Instagram account. I have also asked Lubna for her choice of charity in the West Bank where a record number of Palestinians are losing their homes. A reminder that G@za is currently one of the most expensive places on the planet. To give you an idea of inflated costs: a small pack of diapers are around $50 - $60.
Please check the video in the previous post. And consider donating via Paypal, Venmo, Zelle or Cashapp through kriteekanko.com/donate. Please mention that the donation is for G@za.