Christiana Figueres: What does the climate crisis teach us?

“Climate and biodiversity loss could be nature’s invitation to humanity to either fish or cut bait.” Here, Upaya friend and architect of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, Christiana Figueres delivers a passionate talk on the potential of climate catastrophe to provoke our collective awakening. She emphasizes that we have a choice. We can choose our usual instinctive reactions of fight, flight, or freeze, or we can choose to transcend these reactive patterns and orient towards a path of mindful, compassionate action. How do we walk this path while not denying our pain and anger about the numerous crises we face? By looking deeply into our suffering, we may use our pain and anger as “compost” for compassionate action. Moreover, to cultivate a mindful presence, Figueres invites us to water the wholesome seeds of our minds, to remember our interconnectedness, and develop a “strong back and soft front”, in the words of Roshi Joan.