The Dao of Global Warming

In the past decade, our world has become increasingly industrialized and developed, which has, at least in a symbolic sense, made our world smaller. However, this growth has not come without consequences, and we have become increasingly concerned for the globe as a whole. As we drive, fly, and consume day after day, we are beginning to see our negative effects on the world and many have begun to worry about the health of our globe. Global Warming is the common phrase used to describe the unsettling trend toward a warmer climate that few people can ignore. As William H. Calvin describes in his book Global Fever, "We cause our planet to run a fever as we keep piling on those invisible blankets generated by cutting down forests, making cement, constantly tilling the soil, spreading fertilizer, and burning fossil fuels," (3). An exhaustive debate has been raging over whether or not global warming is a natural phenomenon or a man made one, but scientific evidence makes a strong argument that the problem is, to a significant degree, anthropogenic. Politicians, environmentalists, and scientists have all offered solutions to our current global crisis, but while their arguments are valid, they are missing an important relational element between all of the aspects of our planet. The Chinese philosophical tradition of Daoism takes a very nature-centered, correlative view of the world, and thus, might be a more effective lens through which to analyze the problem of climate change. The Daoist concept of yin and yang, two forces whose interactions form the world, provide a useful way for us to analyze global problems and offer useful guidelines for understanding how we should live and what we can do to save our planet. If we learn to respect yin and yang and work within their natural rhythms, we can hope to reverse the damage that our actions have caused thus far and create a world that will flourish.

Before we address the concept of climate change, we must first define the Dao and the vital concept of yin and yang. The Dao is a concept, often translated "The Way," that is both immeasurable and incomprehensible. It cannot even be talked about without limiting its power. Daodejing, the most important Daoist classical text, describes the Dao through a poetic mix of metaphors and paradoxes. The Dao is both complex and simple; it is both empty and full. A very resonant chapter in Daodejing describes it thus:

The bright Dao resembles darkness.

The advancing Dao resembles going back.

The smooth Dao resembles the uneven.

...

The great square has no corners.

The great vessel is late completed.

The great sound has silent tones.

The great image has no form. (99)

The complexity and often-circular logic of these paradoxes describe the Dao better than any words can. It is unknowable in all of its greatness, and yet is very simple because the Dao is both everything and nothing, and this effortless complexity is the true spirit of Daoism.

The Dao is not only simplistically complex, but it is also self-sustaining, and through De, which Hans-Georg Moeller translates as efficacy, the Dao is able to point the universe along the natural Way. As described in Daodejing:

The Dao generates them;

De [efficacy] nourishes them;

As things they are formed;

And as utensils they are completed. (121)

The Dao is the creator and the De nourishes and drives the universe along its path. Moeller, in his commentary, describes the Dao and the De as "like the root of a plant, that 'force' within the cosmos that sustains all there is," (120). Thus the Dao both creates and sustains life. Because it is the generator of the world, the Dao is both a beginning and an ending to all things. It is "self-so," or self-sustaining. There is nothing that can deplete it, and there is nothing that can add to it. The Yuan Dao, another classical Daoist text, describes the Dao as:

So fine and subtle-yet there is no using it up.

Piling it up does not make it taller,

Collapsing it does not make it shorter;

Adding to it does not make it more numerous,

Taking away from it does not make it less numerous..." (67).

Therefore, the Dao cannot be piled up or built upon. It needs nothing more than what it is because it is self-generating, constant, and unending. This is an important feature because we must understand that the Dao is greater than us and our most fulfilling life is a life spent at one with its way. The Dao is both a creator of the universe and a life force for the world, which is why it is so vitally important to follow the Dao closely to live a successful, balanced life.

The goal of those who follow the Dao, as expressed in the Daodejing, is to achieve a state of utter simplicity, softness and stillness. This is evidenced clearly in the Daodejing's emphasis on wuwei, or "do nothing," which is the ultimate goal of the Daoist sage and any Daoist practitioner. Wuwei is another incarnation of the paradoxes of Daoism. The Daoist sage "knows without going, / names without seeing, / completes without acting," (Daodejing 113). Daoism teaches us that the less we do, the more we accomplish. This does not require that we literally sit at home being lazy, but rather that we allow for the natural flow. Daoist teachings also insist, "Stillness is the master of agitation," (65), "The very softest in the world / runs quickly over the very hardest in the world," (105), and "To keep the weak is called strength," (123). Though in Western thought we may have been raised to be hard, strong, and active, there is much to learn from the concept of relaxing, not working too hard, and letting yourself flow with the world. The most resonant Daoist metaphor to imagine this phenomenon is water. When water encounters a wall, does it stand rigid or burst through it? No, water flows under it, around it, or along it, and ultimately, because the water flows, it is more successful at getting where it needs to go. In his essay, "From Reference to Deference: Daoism and the Natural World," David L. Hall insists that Daoism is about deference for the natural flow, rather than a referential analysis, so with regard to metaphors, he states, that the circuitous path towards deference "is paved with metaphor-provided that we do not think of metaphors as ultimately translatable by appeal of some literal ground," (248). Therefore, the metaphors that we encounter in Daoism should not be limited to a literal translation. We must allow the metaphors to open our minds to deeper suggestions and implications. Clearly we are not meant to literally flow over the ground as water does. Rather, as humans with an interest in following the Dao, we should be like water, and flow through our lives.

As water is one of Daoism's most powerful metaphors, a key concept that resonates throughout Daoism is the idea of flow. The Book of Lieh-tzu, another classic of Daoism, describes the origins of the world. The world began with a "Primal Simplicity" that was moving and flowing in the universe (18). That Primal Simplicity then divided, and the pure light rose to heaven and became Yang and the "muddy and heavy" fell to earth and became Yin (The Book of Lieh-tzu 18-19). "Between heaven and earth the Yang and Yin alternate like breathing out and in...accounting for all pairs of opposites, movement and stillness, light and darkness, male and female, hardness, and softness," (The Book of Lieh-tzu 14). Thus, the universe is a constant flow and interaction between yin and yang, which is why yinyang is such a vital component in Daoist teachings.

In order to analyze the environmental implications of yinyang theory, we must first solidly understand the concept of yinyang reflected in classical Daoist thought. Many people recognize the yinyang symbol, but because of its evenly balance black and white (Fig. 1), many assume that yin and yang create a simple duality, a balance, and a harmony. However, yinyang is much more complicated. In Daodejing, "The ten thousand things; / carrying Yin, embracing Yang- / blending Qi to create harmony," (103). Here we see a reflection of what is called "emergence" or "trinary" thinking. Qi is, as a basic explanation, the energy and essence that composes our universe, and the interplay between yin and yang is what creates this qi. Thus, yinyang is not only about the duality of the two forces, but it is also about the thirdness that is created when the two interact. Daodejing states:

The Dao generates Oneness.

Oneness generates Twoness.

Twoness generates Threeness.

Threeness generates the ten thousand things. (103)

The "Twoness" in this concept is the yin and the yang, and the "Threeness" is the interplay between yin and yang that creates the "ten thousand things," or the world, as we know it. Robin R. Wang, in her essay "Dancing with Yinyang: The Art of Emergence," describes, "The yinyang is a thirdness, a dynamical variety. It intercedes between yin and yang and sustains their interactions," (13). This Thirdness helps to understand the dynamic between yin and yang because it brings "the conception...that the one and two are understood as interacting without the intention to conquer or control one another," (Wang 13). Though often either yin or yang dominates at a given moment, "Thirdness will make sure this domination is never overdone and will leave the room for other integration and cooperation," (Wang 13). Yin and yang must always be interacting for the Thirdness to exist, so the occasional domination is not an effort to conquer, but a part of a natural cycle, which is difficult to comprehend in our often-combative culture. Thus, yinyang is not merely a duality, but a more complex, correlative trinary interaction that generates everything in our world.

Yin and yang are the fundamental forces that create our universe, and it is by keeping them in balance that our universe can flourish. In fact, yin and yang are the keys to a successful world. In Yuan Dao, another Daoist classic, yin and yang are shown to be a vital part of the world:

Thus, with the heavens as his canopy, there is nothing that is unsheltered;

With the earth as his boxframe, there is nothing that has no conveyance;

With the four seasons as horses, there is nothing that is unemployed;

With the yin and the yang as charioteers, there is nothing that is lacking. (71)

Here, the four seasons are pulling along heaven and earth, and yin and yang, as the charioteers, direct the four seasons, so yinyang is truly the force that leads the rest of our universe. To be able to understand and follow the Dao, we must understand the forces of yinyang and follow their natural balance. Yuan Dao states, "If in transplanting trees a person neglects the natural balance of their yin and yang, they will all wither up and die," (85). The natural balance is so vital that without it, our natural world will die. We must respect and preserve the natural interactions between yin and yang for our natural world to flourish.

As the fundamental forces that create our universe and provide the necessary balance, yin and yang are a vital focus for Daoist practices. In the introduction to her book, Daoist Body Cultivation, Livia Kohn describes, "Chinese cosmologists created an even more sophisticated matching of body parts and aspects of the natural world by classifying the entire universe as well as the body's parts and activities according to yin and yang," (6). Everything in the world can be classified according to different levels of yin and yang. However, "they took the two forces yin and yang and not only linked them with any number of complementary opposites in the human, natural, and cosmic levels...but also interpreted them as continuously evolving from one into the other," (Kohn 6). Thus, yin and yang are not only two opposing forces, but are fluid, evolving concepts that form the building blocks of our world. The five phases in nature have each been assigned to either yin or yang: water is major yin, metal is minor yin, fire is major yang, wood is minor yang, and earth is balanced yin-yang (Kohn 6) The five phases, in their natural state, generate each other-water generates wood, wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, and metal generates water (Kohn 25-6)-and it continues on in a circular pattern. All of these five phases interact to create all things in the world. For example, water is also linked to north, black, winter, bladder, fear, ears, and essence (Kohn 7). By understanding what elements and phases of our world correspond with either yin or yang, we can address any imbalances occurring in our environment that may have been created by industrialization and development.

Today, everywhere we look we can see imbalances of yin and yang. From pollution in the air to crowded streets to unhappy people, our modern world has fallen away from the Dao. Global warming and climate change have become very prevalent in the media, politics and consumer products. With our heavy use of oil, high volume of garbage and other by-products, and our constantly growing population, we have been heavily burdening the earth. Temperatures have increased all over the globe, ice caps are melting, and weather patterns have changed. Scientists, economists, politicians, and ordinary individuals have tried to tackle the problem with only modest success. By analyzing global climate changes in the context of Daoist maxims and the balance between yin and yang, we can find a natural way to restore Earth's balance and sustain its life.

It's hard to turn on the television or flip through a book without hearing about global warming. Though some of the hype has become a mere marketing tool, there is a real, pressing problem that we cannot ignore. Some people are not convinced that global warming is a problem caused by humans, but according to Eileen Claussen's book Climate Changes: Science, Strategies & Solutions, global concentrations of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, have increased noticeably since the 1800s (6, 7). Within the same time frame, the average surface temperature of the globe has increased (Claussen 6). Greenhouse gases create a layer that traps heat in our atmosphere, so as the layer gets thicker, it traps more heat, which leads to a warmer the globe (Claussen 7). This increase in greenhouse gases is both natural and anthropogenic (Claussen 7). However, the evidence shows that the extreme spike in greenhouse gases in the past century, as evidenced in ice cores, is largely due to human influence (Claussen 7-8). Humans have caused an increase in greenhouse gases through our burning of fossil fuels, land use, production, and use of halocarbons (manmade chemicals that do not occur naturally) (Claussen 8). These activities, now a regular part of our lives, create a perpetual cycle of polluting and harming our planet, and, as many have come to realize, if we don't mitigate the damage we are doing, we are in grave danger of destroying it.

Based on the evidence of this growing global problem, it is clear that our earth is not following its natural balance and therefore does not exist in accordance with the Dao. Daoism mandates living naturally and going with the flow, but for us to ensure that our world reaches such a state, we must apply some of these Daoist concepts more closely with attention toward our effect on the globe. First of all, the very important principle of wuwei advises us to "do nothing" and just let things flow. It advocates non-action and noninvolvement:

Not to go out of the door -

To know the world.

Not to look out of the window -

To know the Dao of heaven. (Daodejing 113)

Therefore, if we intend to simply follow the principle as written, shouldn't we just sit by and watch and let the world heal itself? Russell Kirkland insists, in his essay "'Responsible Non-Action' in a Natural World: Perspectives from the Neiye, Zhuangzi, and Daode jing," that we should:

...read correctly, the Daoist classics usually show us a world that is far less threatening, and thus far less in need of corrective action, than is assumed by most modern thinkers. They also suggest that one can have subtle but far-ranging effects upon the whole world if one resists interventionist urges and 'cultivates the Dao'-a cosmic reality that is as powerful and trustworthy as it is natural." (284)

For Kirkland, the Daoist trusts that the world is going down the correct path, and no amount of human action can change that (288). "In fact, from the classical Daoist perspective, it is clearly morally suspect for humans to presume that they are justified in judging what might constitute 'impending ecological danger,' or to presume that interventional action is necessary to rectify the situation," (Kirkland 289). If we interpret the concept of wuwei literally, then Kirkland would be right. However, as mentioned above, Daoist principles are not the typically literal maxims that we are often accustomed to in Western thought, and the thought processes that Kirkland blames for twisting the ecological implications of Daoism may be tainting his interpretations.

Our impact on the globe is wide-ranging and dangerous, and for a long time we have been going away from the natural way. Scientists estimate that by the year 2100, if greenhouse gasses continue along their present course, the annual global temperatures will increase 1.1-6.4 degrees Celsius, which would raise sea level by 16-120 cm (Claussen 1-2). Though this may not sound like much, such a change could cause a severe shift in weather patterns-storms, hurricanes, droughts, and floods-as well as significant changes in water supplies and arable land (Claussen 2). This situation, if left to flow down its present course, will not be able to heal itself. In her essay, "Metic Intelligence or Responsible Non-Action? Further Reflections on the Zhuangzi, Daode jing, and Neiye," Lisa Raphals argues that because Daoists emphasize the importance of body cultivation, it implies that the principle of non-action does not automatically assume inaction:

"These classical Daoist texts represent self-cultivation practices as active interventions upon one's own person that could, depending upon the text and period, permit one to survive through difficult times, enhance longevity, or even (in Six Dynasties Daoism) become an immortal," (Raphals 308).

Body cultivation is a very important part of Daoist practice, and the goal of body cultivation is to transform our bodies in such a way that we can reject our desires and live at one with the Dao. These practices require us to consciously and purposefully make an effort to change ourselves in order to be one with the natural way, which implies that it may require some effort to make our actions and lives accord with the Dao. Therefore, we need to understand wuwei in a more nuanced way. Perhaps we can think of it as a concept that insists that we "do nothing" that might go against the natural way. If wuwei can be interpreted thus, then it stands not as a roadblock but as a mandate to us to fix our current global crisis within the limits of our culture. For over a century, we have been living in a manner that went against the Dao, and that way has become culturally comfortable. If people were asked to stop driving 100 years ago, it would only have affected a small percentage, but if we were asked to stop driving today, most would consider it impossible. Our harmful actions have become habit, so, if we continue on our present course and let the world flow, we will simply continue these actions that science suggests will become devastating within the next century. Therefore, the goal should be to restore the earth to its natural way so that, if we were to leave it alone and do nothing, it would thrive.

To heal these great wounds of the world, we must attempt to restore balance by stabilizing the forces of yin and yang. To look into every minute facet of yin and yang visible on our planet would be exhausting, so I'm going to focus on some key aspects that affect our globe's health: increased temperatures (too much fire), erratic weather patterns (wind, rain, etc.), and pollution. The steady increase in temperature, or, more specifically, global mean temperature, has been much steeper since industrialization, which shows that humans have influenced it through our release of carbon dioxide and other chemicals into the atmosphere (Claussen 10). These increasing temperatures are clearly caused by an excess of yang because yang is associated with the fire used to burn fossil fuels. Therefore, through our dependence on carbon for energy, we are adding excess yang to the atmosphere. Another major problem is the fact that global warming can exacerbate air pollutants and other pollution (Claussen 34), and what is muddy and dark is associated with yin (The Book of Lieh-tzu 14). Therefore, the pollution and increasing "muddiness" of the earth would be associated with yin. Our pollutants and increased "muddiness" in the world are adding this excess yin to the earth. Extreme weather patterns, a third danger in this global crisis, are not quite so easily determined. Weather is often a mix of both hot and cold, rain and fire, forces from heaven and forces from earth, so it is also a mix of yin and yang. The fact that weather patterns are becoming more extreme-i.e. harsher and more frequent hurricanes, heavier rains, longer draughts-shows that the interactions between yin and yang are becoming more extreme, which may be caused by our increased contribution of both yin and yang to our world.

To restore balance between yin and yang, we must lessen our output of these forces. First, we can decrease our negative yang output by decreasing the amount of fossil fuels that we burn. Also, we can decrease our impact by using fuels that have less yang and affect the globe's atmosphere less. Calvin describes many opportunities for us to decrease our fossil fuel output (206). California, one of the most populous states, uses less electricity per person than similarly dense states, like Texas, so there is room, especially in places on the higher end of the spectrum, for us to reduce our use of vital fossil fuels (Calvin 206). For example, we can use hybrid cars, solar energy, and eat local foods to decrease the amount that producers have to emit to transport goods. To lessen our pollution and decrease our output of yin, we can decrease the amount of trash we use, recycling those items that can be recycled, increasing our use of reusable products-bags, Tupperware, etc.-and move toward better ways to dispose of our waste. All of these changes are relatively immediate and desperately needed in order to prevent our global situation from worsening. As you might have noticed, these suggestions are no different than the things we would expect to hear from any global warming opponent, but what differs is the way in which we look at the problem. By looking through the lens of Daoism, the goals are clearer and more universal because they give us a unified direction that points us towards harmony and the natural way rather than an unrelated slew of environmental issues.

We are not only adding problems to our earth, but also taking vital elements away. Deforestation is a huge problem and suitable drinking water has become difficult to find, and both of these problems, in their way, are disrupting the balance of the world. Though the rate of deforestation was lessened in the 1950s, which resulted in a decrease in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the amount of forests and trees has started to again decrease (Claussen 386). Deforestation refers to the cutting down of trees (wood = minor yang), so it removes yang from the earth. Thus, there is less yang from wood on the earth, but more yin from pollution, which exacerbates the imbalance. Similar to the dangerous future of forests, the future of water resources is also dire. In 1998, it was estimated that 36% of streams and rivers and 39% of lakes, reservoirs, and ponds are impaired in some capacity due to contamination (Claussen 75). Water is yin, but, then, so is the "muddiness" that is polluting it. Therefore, the water isn't necessarily devoid of yin, but the earth, that might want to use that yin, is deprived of it because the water is polluted. Thus through both deforestation and contamination of water, we are removing vital yin and yang from our earth, which prevents it from following the natural way.

We can negatively affect our earth's natural balance by taking too much away just as easily as we can affect it by adding too much. In this world of mass consumption, many people forget to think about the consequences of what they are taking, but it is adding to our global imbalance. Though there is a huge demand for housing and new development, we must be very careful not to cut down our trees and destroy our forests. The fewer trees there are, the less carbon dioxide is absorbed by photosynthesis and the more carbon dioxide there is in the atmosphere, so it is essential that we plant trees to replace those that we take away. Also, by polluting our water supply, we are effectively removing available drinking water from circulation, which we cannot afford to do. We must stop polluting our water and conserve what fresh water supplies we have, so that we do not deplete our liquid resources. We cannot be greedy and take more than we need from the earth because it will lead us away from the Dao (as greed is one of the desires we are meant to avoid), so we must learn to balance our lifestyles with the natural rhythms of the universe.

Though these solutions provide clear and relatively immediate ways in which to restore the balance between yin and yang, they would solve only a small part of the problem. Yin and yang are not static concepts that we can simply add and take away as needed. As Robin Wang states, "The yinyang operates just like riding a horse, moving with a focal point and adjusting with diversity. It does not passively respond to events, the way a stone would tumble in an earthquake, but rather makes a constructive effort to turn all circumstances to one's advantage," (8). Though I've been dividing up our environmental problems according to yin or yang and using those simple categories to suggest solutions, it is important to note that those are temporary solutions, but the full complexity of the yinyang cannot be analyzed in such simple, dualistic attitudes.

As mentioned before, yin and yang are not a simple duality, but a correlative interaction that creates a thirdness, an emergence. For our world to truly flourish, we cannot neglect this vital thirdness generated by the yinyang. The interactions between yin and yang, the thirdness, is what truly creates what we might think of as the unnamable essence of nature, the symbiosis of nature, and what is, essentially, the real beauty of our world. Therefore, we can't just think in terms of yin and yang or increasing one or decreasing the other. We have to consider and anticipate the thirdness that is created from their interactions, so we must work to always ensure that those interactions are natural and in accordance with the way. Beyond the varying elements of the world that we are affecting and harming, we have to understand that the true damage we are doing is interrupting the natural interactions and the natural rhythms between yin and yang on our earth. We can't simply give back what we take or try to add something good when we add something bad because those interactions cannot be manufactured. It is when we try to protect the natural thirdness of yin and yang that we understand wuwei. We must follow the principle of "do nothing" to keep ourselves from interrupting the natural way of yinyang because if we don't, that is when we run the risk of seriously harming our earth and keeping it from ever being truly one with the Dao.

Daoism, as a philosophy and as a belief system, is a challenging way of thinking for someone brought up in the west. In America, many of us are brought up with a very individualistic mentality, so the correlativity and interconnectivity of Daoism are difficult to grasp, which is exactly why such a mentality could help us to save our world. We need to understand that the idea of preventing global warming and saving our world is almost beyond comprehension and there is no one, simple, linear solution to the problem. It's beyond comprehension that we allowed our global problem to go this far, but, though it is difficult, we cannot lose faith. By understanding the ways in which we are interfering with the natural interactions between yin and yang and how we are deeply connected to these processes, it will hopefully inspire us to be constantly aware of our world and our place in it. With the goal of following the Dao, we can take nothing for granted. We must ensure that our lives and activities do not interfere with the natural way of things so that we, and our earth, can live in harmony as one with the Dao.

Works Cited

Book of Lieh-tzu: A Classic of the Tao, The. Tr. A.C. Graham. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990.

Daodejing: The New, Highly Readable Translation of the Life-changing Ancient Scripture formerly known as the Tao Te Ching. Tr. Hans-Georg Moeller. Chicago/La Salle: Open Court, 2007.

Calvin, William H. Global Fever: How to Treat Climate Change. Chicago/London: The university of Chicago Press, 2008.

Claussen, Eileen, ed. Climate Change. Leiden/Boston/Koln: Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 2001.

Kirkland, Russell. "'Responsible Non-Action' in a Natural World: Perspectives from the Neiye, Zhuangzi, and Daode jing." Daoism and Ecology: Ways within a Cosmic Landscape. Eds. N.J. Girardot, James Miller, and Liu Xiaogan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp. 281-302 .

Kohn, Livia. "Introduction." Daoist Body Cultivation. Ed. Livia Kohn. New Mexico: Three Pines Press, 2006.

Raphals, Lisa. "Metic Intelligence or Responsible Non-Action? Further Reflections on the Zhuangzi, Daode jing, and Neiye." Daoism and Ecology: Ways within a Cosmic Landscape. Eds. N.J. Girardot, James Miller, and Liu Xiaogan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2001. Pp. 303-312.

Yuan Dao: Tracing the Dao to its Source. Tr. D.C. Lau and Roger T. Ames. New York: The Ballantine Publishing Group, 1998.