Per, Jason Burke at The Guardian. A tip o' the hat to Rod at Shambhala Sun for turning me on to this story:The Dalai Lama told US diplomats last year that the international community should focus on climate change rather than politics in Tibet because environmental problems were more urgent, secret American cables reveal.
I think the Dalai Lama is on point because we may not have an Earth capable of supporting either a communist Tibet or a free, independent and democratic Tibet. As usual the DL understands interconnection and it's importance. All links in the chain that make life live-able on Earth are essential. If too many of those links get bent toward a breaking point then it's not going to do the Tibetans any good. Unfortunately, many of us do forget about the animals, and state of the environment. It can seem to be, "just scenery" to some but it's vital for undertaking everything we do on this planet. Even the smallest things are integral to a life-sustaining Earth.
Coral, for example, is one of the smallest beings on Earth but it is essential and important in controlling the amount of carbon dioxide in the ocean. So, thanks to carbon dioxide pollution from our cars and factories, we have less of a carbon dioxide fighter in the corals. And, so, we see that environmental degradation occurs at a rapid rate, which compounds exponentially. So, not only do we lose a carbon dioxide fighter but we make the air and oceans warmer, which kills off phytoplankton. Without phytoplankton we make the air even worse for those of us on land!!
Dalai Lama is truly a man who understands the interconnection of life, so profoundly that he understands what's most important--and it's not politics.
