Wisdom Working for the Earth Forum 2022 - Main talks

The Inspiration for the First Edition of this Forum

The Programm

What is included in this pack? 

Detailed Content

• A brief Introduction to Buddhism & its relation to Ecology with Philippe Cornu (Buddhist researcher and teacher) —  33min (currently in French only, English translation will follow)
• A Buddhist Way of Looking at the Environment through the Eyes of Interdependence by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche (Tibetan Buddhist master) — 7min
• Questions and Answers #1 with Ringu Tulku Rinpoche — 14min
• Interdisciplinary Round Table Discussion with Gaëtan du Bus de Warnaffe (forest expert), Philippe Cornu (Buddhist researcher and teacher) and Nelly Pons (author committed to ecology) — 1h 19min (French only)
• What are the implications of the view of Interdependence? by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche — 36min
• We are the Revolution of Love and Compassion by Sofia Stril-Rever (French biographer of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, author and spiritual activist) — 51min (French only)
• Ocean Pollution: Cultivating Compassion and Responsibility before Acting by Pascale Fabre (Physio-chemist, Research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research & Buddhist teacher) — 34min
• Ecological resilience in Gross National Happiness: Evidence from the Environmental Management of a Buddhist state by Jigmi Y. Thinley (Former Prime Minister of Bhutan) — 43min
• Contemplating Interdependence, a workshop by Dominique Side (Author & teacher of Buddhist thought and practice) — 1h 21min (currently in French only, English translation will follow)
• Guided Practice: Connecting with nature by connecting with the body by Dominique Side — 16min (currently in French only, English translation will follow)
• How to act with interdependence in mind? by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche — 29min
• Questions and Answers #2 with Ringu Tulku Rinpoche — 27 min
• The World Underground — An Example of Interdependence between Living Organisms by Franck Richard (Environmental Researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research) — 30min (currently in French only, English translation will follow)
• Local Futures: A Call for Systemic Change Toward Localization by Helena Norberg-Hodge (environmental activist, author, recipient of the alternative Nobel Prize) — 36min
• Conclusion talk on Environmental and Buddhist Wisdom by Dominique Side — 35min (currently in French only, English translation will follow)
• Examples of Local Environmental Actions by Buddhist Centres — the Khoryug Experience by Dekila Chungyalpa (Director of the Loka Initiative & environmental advisor to the 17th Karmapa) — 31min
  
  

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More About the Series of Wisdom Working for the Earth Forums

More about each speaker

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche Tibetan Buddhist Teacher
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche has been trained in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism under many great masters such as His Holiness the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Since 1990, he has travelled and taught in more than fifty universities, institutes and Buddhist centers around the world, and regularly participates in various interfaith dialogues. He is the author of several books on Buddhism and the founder of Bodhicharya, the Rigul Trust, and the Karmapa Europe Foundation. With his excellent command of the English language, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is able to convey the most complex teachings in a remarkably accessible way, infused with his characteristic warmth and sense of humour.

Dekila Chungyalpa Director of the Loka Initiative, Center for Healthy Minds and Healthy Minds Innovations
Dekila Chungyalpa is the director of a new and innovative education and outreach program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for faith leaders and religious institutions. Known as the Loka Initiative, its mission is to support faith-led environmental efforts locally and around the world through collaborations with faith leaders and religious institutions on environmental protection, sustainable development, and global health issues.
Prior to that, she was the recipient of the McCluskey fellowship at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and lectured and researched there. Dekila founded and directed Sacred Earth, an acclaimed faith-based conservation program at the World Wildlife Fund from 2009 to 2014. She was the WWF-US Director for the Greater Mekong Program for five years before that and also worked for WWF in the Eastern Himalayas for five years. Dekila serves as the environmental adviser for His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, and has helped to establish Khoryug in 2008, an environmental protection association of over 50 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries in the Himalayas under the auspices of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa.

Jigmi Y. Thinley Former Prime Minister of Bhutan and proponent of Gross National Happiness
Jigmi Thinley has served on three occasions as the Prime Minister of Bhutan (from 2008 to 2013, as well as 1998 to 1999 and 2003 to 2004), and has been Bhutan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the European Union. He is a leading proponent of the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which tracks indicators such as environmental conservation, cultural preservation and good governance in addition to economic measures such as GDP, to demonstrate a holistic indication of a country’s development. During his term as Prime Minister and Chairman of Bhutan’s National Environment Commission, his country pledged to remain forever carbon neutral at COP 15 in Copenhagen and hosted the “Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas” in 2011. His work and services have been recognized with numerous national and international awards, such as the ‘Outstanding Individual Award’ at the World Forum for Ethics in Business in 2015. He is also a member of several international environmental organisations and a senior advisor to the World Happiness Report 2022.

Helena Norberg-Hodge Environmental activist, author and film-maker
Linguist, author and filmmaker, Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of the international non-profit organisation, Local Futures, which raises awareness about the power of going local to restore ecological and human wellbeing. On top of having co-founded the International Forum on Globalization and the Global Ecovillage Network, she is the convenor of World Localization Day. This day (June 20th) explores the power of localization and honours the many efforts and initiatives that foster ecological economies, thriving communities and healthy local food systems. Helena is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Right Livelihood Award (aka the “Alternative Nobel Prize”), which she received in 1992 on behalf of the Ladakh Ecological Development Group for preserving the culture and traditional values of Ladakh against the onslaught of tourism and development. Besides helping to initiate localization movements, she has authored several books, such as Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh and produced the award-winning documentary ‘The Economics of Happiness’.

Sofia Stril-Rever French biographer of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, author and spiritual activist
Sofia Stril-Rever is the French biographer of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom she has co-authored four books translated into some twenty languages and whose story she adapted for the screen in the documentary Dalai Lama, One Life After Another (Arte). A graduate in Indiology and a lecturer, Sofia Stril-Rever is also the founding president of the association Be the Love. She also created the Be the Love medit-actions protocol, presented in the book L'Urgence d'Aimer (Massot Editions, 2020), by integrating His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings, but also notions of deep ecology, anthropology of peace and benevolence, contemplative neurosciences, and the United Nations Agenda 2030.

Pascale Fabre Physio-chemist, Research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) & Buddhist teacher
Pascale Fabre leads a research team on plastic pollution in the oceans at the University of Montpellier. She has created and directed the “Polymers and Oceans”' network, which aims to establish collaborations between all French laboratories working on the subject (60 laboratories, 250 researchers). As such, she regularly collaborates with the Ministry of Ecological Transition. In addition, she has led training sessions in companies on humanistic management and taken part in several dozen innovation seminars. In addition, she has been following the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism for over 25 years and has been teaching meditation for many years. She is a member of the 'better we better world' network which aims to promote the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Nelly Pons Author committed to ecology and the preservation of life
Nelly Pons was born in an agricultural background, which gave her a very early sensitivity to the environment. With a double degree in science and culture, her career is made of multiple paths combining creation and commitment (journalism, events, agroecology...). She is the author of several books (Océan plastique (2020), Débuter son potager en permaculture and Choisir de ralentir (2017)). In addition, she contributed to the books Animal by Cyril Dion (2021) and Vers la sobriété heureuse by Pierre Rabhi (2010). Her work is an extension of her commitment to life and proposes a transformation of our relationship with the world.

Philippe Cornu Tibetologist, specialist in Buddhism in all its forms and long-time practitioner
Philippe Cornu has devoted his career to teaching and transmitting Buddhist philosophy in universities (INALCO, UCLouvain) as well as in Buddhist centres. He is the author of an encyclopaedic dictionary of Buddhism (Le Seuil, 2001) and of Le bouddhisme : une philosophie du bonheur ? published by Seuil. Furthermore, he has translated several essential Tibetan texts such as the Five Treatises on the Mind Only by Vasubandhu or the Diamond Sutra and other Sutras of the Middle Way published by Fayard.

Franck Richard Researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in the Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE) department and Biology lecturer at the University of Montpellier
Franck Richard began his career as a forester in Corsica. Today, as a fungi specialist, his research work focuses on the understanding of the mechanisms governing the distribution of fungal diversity, as well as the impact of man (logging, fires, ...) and natural disturbances (droughts, gaps, ...) on the composition and dynamics of fungal communities.

Dominique Side Author and teacher of Buddhist thought and practice
Dominique Side encountered Tibetan Buddhism in the mid 1970s in London. She studied with Sogyal Rinpoche and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in particular. In addition to having completed several strict retreats, she also obtained a PhD in Madhyamaka philosophy from the University of Bristol, UK. For eight years she taught Buddhism and critical thinking in London schools and wrote two textbooks on the subject. Under the guidance of Dzongsar Khyentse, she launched the Milinda Training Program for Dharma Teachers in 2017. She also served as vice president of the European Buddhist Union for five years. As a senior Rigpa teacher, she specialises in making Buddhist thought and philosophy accessible to all. Since the Stockholm Conference in 1972, Dominique has been concerned with environmental issues and has worked professionally for 15 years as a writer and editor on the interface between the environment and economic development.
 

Gaëtan du Bus de Warnaffe Forestry engineer for 22 years
Gaëtan du Bus is an independent forest manager and founder of the forest consulting agency Arbre et Bois Conseil in 2006. After a PhD in Ecology and positions in public property management, research and training of senior forestry technicians, he has been helping private owners manage their forests in the South of France for the past 12 years. In this role, he is the forester at Lerab Ling and has compiled a management plan for the 72 hectares of Lerab Ling forest and oversees its implementation. He is also part of the Network for Forest Alternatives (RAF “Réseau pour les Alternatives Forestières”).