If We Can't Reduce Consumption

When we talk about conditioning and consumption, I wonder to what extent and how fast we might be able to drastically reduce conspicuous consumption before we bury ourselves in garbage.  An environmental crisis is developing so fast that, it seems to me, we need to rapidly work toward drastically reducing global population.  Although I believe Buddhism takes a very strong anti-abortion position I think there is also room for pro-choice.  I don't want to focus on abortion, though, since so many unwanted pregnancies could be avoided.  But, I truly believe that the fate of humanity lies in finding a global population level that has a sustainable and harmonious life style.  The higher the population, the lower the consumption needs to be in order to stay in balance.  I haven't seen any writing on Buddhism and Family Planning.  I have heard criticisms of China and Japan linking them with Buddhism, "China has forced abortions" and "Japan has the highest abortion rate in the world."  Although China and Japan have large numbers of Buddhists, their abortion practices are certainly not based on any Buddhist teachings.

Conditioning

Every day we are bombarded by television and radio commercials, magazine and newspaper ads, and outdoor signs and billboards.  These ads condition us to desire things.  What Pavlov discovered, the Buddha knew 2500 years ago:  we are affected by all we see and do.  Conditioning makes us slaves.  "I will teach you dharma (truth)," said the Buddha, "if this is, that comes to be."  Conditioned are consciousness, feeling, craving, grasping, etc., the 12 Fold Link of Causation.
The goal of Buddhism, however, is liberation; freedom from conditioning.  This liberation from conditioning comes when we see that our every conditioned act is rooted in selfish desire.  Abandoning selfishness, we are freed from conditioning.

Out of the Mud Grows the Lotus

According to Buddhism, the Three Poisons leading to the ongoing round of birth, death and rebirth are:  greed, hatred and ignorance/delusion.  I think this principle applies to economies as well as our individual lives.  We are told we don't save enough and yet we are also told that we need to spend ourselves out of the current recession!  The consequence of this approach will be the recreation of the same unsustainable, environmentally disasterous lifestyle and economy that led to the near meltdown. The economic crisis gave us an opportunity to transform our worldview and economy but I see very little evidence of a lotus growing out of this mud.  In terms of our personal lives, stories of transformation abound with any minister. 

Rubble into Gold

"Rubble into Gold" seems magical, alchemical.  But, I'm not promoting or controlling the process.  If I were involved it would be "Rubble into Rubble."  The transformation of Rubble into Gold is only possible through the working and power of Amida Buddha.  In a broader context of interfaith dialogue, I think you could call this "Truth Power."  Of course, in interfaith dialogue, using such a broad word as "Truth" raises the issue as to whether all religions would agree on what is Truth.  The wonderful thing about Buddhism is that it doesn't get stuck on words.  "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."  Dharma by any other name?