Buddhism and the Environment
RELIGION 128
Subject & Catalog Number
Jointly Offered with:
Faculty of Arts & Sciences as EASTD 111
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Course Information
Description
What can Buddhism teach us about surviving and thriving in the face of ecological crisis? This course examines the challenges and possibilities of life on a changing planet from a Buddhist perspective. Organized thematically around Buddhist concepts such as karma, pollution, suffering, and interdependence, and paired with the material realities of environmental degradation and consumption, the course investigates how Buddhists are responding and contributing to pressing issues such as climate change, extreme weather, biodiversity loss, pollution, waste and wasting, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and food insecurity.
Rather than offering a comprehensive survey, the course draws on selected historical and ethnographic studies from East and Southeast Asia and Asian diasporas. We will explore how Buddhist practitioners and communities understand and respond to environmental change, as well as how Buddhist institutions and practices may themselves contribute to patterns of consumption and ecological harm. The course critically examines Buddhist environmentalism, including the development of “Buddhist ecology” and efforts to “green” Buddhism, while asking what possibilities and limitations Buddhism offers for imagining life on a damaged planet.
School
Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Credits
4
Cross Reg
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
Department
Religion, The Study of
Course Component
Lecture
Subject
Religion
Grading Basis
FAS Letter Graded
General Education
N/A
Quantitative Reasoning with Data
N/A
Divisional Distribution
Arts and Humanities
Course Level
Primarily for Undergraduate Students
