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From the strength of the stillness we cultivate in our lives, with the presence of mind and of speech in our practice, and accompanied by our brothers and sisters, family and friends on the path, we have the opportunity — if not the responsibility — to lead the way to simpler living and peaceful coexistence with all of life.

In his book The World We Have , Thích Nhất Hạnh calls to all of us, independent of our beliefs and tenets, to be part of the conscious caretakers of our human footprint on the planet:

All of us know that our beautiful green planet is in danger. Our way of walking on the Earth has a great influence on animals and plants. Yet we act as if our daily lives have nothing to do with the condition of the world. We are like sleepwalkers, not knowing what we are doing or where we are heading. Whether we can wake up or not depends on whether we can walk mindfully on our Mother Earth. The future of all life, including our own, depends upon our mindful steps.

We don’t have to sink into despair about global warming, we can act. If we just sign a petition and forget about it, it won’t help much. Urgent action must be taken at the individual and the collective levels. We all have a great desire to be able to live in peace and to have environmental sustainability. What most of us don’t yet have are concrete ways of making our commitment to sustainable living a reality in our daily lives. We haven’t organized ourselves. We can’t only blame our governments and corporations for the chemicals that pollute our drinking water, for the violence in our neighborhoods, for the wars that destroy so many lives. It’s time for each of us to wake up and take action in our own lives.