DeepSummary
Dekila Chungyalpa, an environmental program director, shares her upbringing in the Himalayas and how being raised by Tibetan Buddhist practitioners shaped her worldview of interdependence. She discusses the limitations of mainstream conservation efforts and their reliance on capitalism and economic values, leading her to create programs that engage faith leaders in environmental and climate solutions.
Dekila explains how working with faith leaders allows for discussions on ethics, morality, and environmental values beyond economic rationales. She highlights the power of collectivist communities and faith-based wisdom in breaking isolation and polarization. Dekila invites listeners to question binary paradigms and imagine a world of abundance where solutions prioritize the most vulnerable.
Dekila encourages centering joy in environmental work and resistance. She finds inspiration in indigenous peoples who put their bodies on the line to protect nature, as they do not separate themselves from it. She believes indigenous communities are the true leaders of the environmental and climate movement.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Engage faith leaders and indigenous communities in environmental and climate solutions to challenge dominant narratives and promote interdependence and collectivism.
- Question binary paradigms and individual heroism narratives, and instead imagine a world of abundance where solutions prioritize the most vulnerable.
- Recognize the power of collectivist communities and faith-based wisdom in breaking isolation and polarization.
- Center joy, ethics, and moral values in environmental work, not just economic rationales.
- Learn from indigenous peoples' deep connection to nature and their willingness to protect it.
- Create sanctuaries and model ways of building protection for all species and human communities.
- Approach environmental solutions through a lens of interdependence and responsibility towards all life.
- Break free from the mentality of scarcity and individual survival, and embrace collectivism and abundance.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Given that so many of us feel isolated, I think there is a real power to thinking about how collectivist communities, organizations and wisdom can actually break this sense of isolation and polarization.“ by Dekila Chungyalpa
- “We are at the point when it comes to environmental and climate issues where we are really now in crisis. We are at the precipice of a cascade of impacts that we actually will not be able to turn around.“ by Dekila Chungyalpa
- “We could actually turn this thing around. We can have responsibility and model ways of building sanctuary for all other species, model ways of building sanctuaries for humans, for our communities, right?“ by Dekila Chungyalpa
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Episode Information
Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration
Kamea Chayne
11/11/23
In this episode, we welcome our guest Dekila Chungyalpa, who reminds us of our intra-dependant existence with all of life. Traced by a lineage of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, Dekila weaves together teachings from her cultural and religious upbringing with her work as an environmental program director—from which she invites us to reflect on the ways in which Western conservation efforts fall short. In her work with faith-based organizations, Dekila prompts a dialogue around binary paradigms that persist even within environmental and activist movements.
Join us as we dive further into Dekila’s world and unravel the intricacies of interdependence, deep time, and more.
Episode song feature: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher by Ben White via Spirit House Records
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