Dalai Lama on Environment

On the 82nd birthday occasion (July 6, 2017) of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Environment  and Development Desk (EDD) of the Tibet Policy Institute brought out an updated 6th edition of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's speeches on the importance of environment protection titled 'Dalai Lama on Environment,' a collected statements from 1987 till June 2017.

The book highlights the consistent effort by His Holiness on environment protection and makes His Holiness's speech on environment protection for the last 30 years available to the world.

The EDD dedicates the book to millions of people across the world striving for a greener, healthier and more sustainable future for our planet.

download the book here

Following are few extracts from the book:

The three main commitments of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama are promotion of human values, promotion of religious harmony, preservation of Tibet's spiritual heritage and protection of its environment.

Peace and the survival of life on earth as we know it are threatened by human activities which lack a commitment to humanitarian values. Destruction of nature and natural resources results from ignorance, greed and lack of respect for the earth's living things.

This lack of respect extends even to earth's human descendants, the future generations who will inherit a vastly degraded planet if world peace does not become a reality, and destruction of the natural environment continues at the present rate. Our ancestors viewed the earth as rich and bountiful, which it is. Many people in the past also saw nature as inexhaustibly sustainable, which we now know is the case only if we care for itྲ

-His Holiness message for World Environment Day, June 5, 1986

I often joke that the moon and stars look beautiful, but if any of us tried to live on them we would be miserable. This blue planet of ours is a delightful habitat. Its life is our life; its future our future. Indeed, the earth acts like a mother to us all. Like children, we are dependent on her. In the fact of such global problems as the greenhouse effect and depletion of the ozone layer, individual organizations and single nations are helpless. Unless we all work together, no solution can be found. Our mother earth is teaching us a lesson in universal responsibility.

-His Holiness address to Parliamentary Earth Summit,

Global Forum of the UN Conference on the Environment and

Development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil June 7, 1992

'This blue planet is our only home and Tibet is its roof. The Tibetan Plateau needs to be protected, not just for Tibetans but for the health and sustainability of the entire world'

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama's message for the

COP21-UN climate Summit in Paris, 2015

"Human beings are social animals and heavily interdepended. Climate change threatens us all. It's one of those natural challenges that teach us that we must work together, making a common effort to reach a common goal. A more peaceful world and a more peaceful century require that we rely not on weapons but developing a widespread inner peace."

-His Holiness keynote address at the commencement ceremony for the

Class of 2017, University of California San Diego, US. June 17, 2017