Asian 1111 (FWS) Embodied Deep Ecological Living: Books

"Buddhism is the only religious system that spread over all of Asia in the premodern period.. It dominated Asia's religious, sociocultural, economic, and political discourses for almost two thousand years. [from Introduction]. The Buddha's Footprint argues that the institutionalization of the Dharma was intimately connected to agricultural expansion, resource extraction, deforestation, urbanization, and the monumentalization of Buddhism itself. Ultimately, my task is to reveal how Buddhists acted in the world and how their actions have shaped the environmental history of Asia."

Economic development in Asia is associated with expanding urbanism, overconsumption, and a steep growth in living standards. At the same time, rapid urbanisation, changing class consciousness, and a new rural-urban divide in the region have led to fundamental shifts in the way ecological concerns are articulated politically and culturally. This book presents an analysis of a range of practices and activities from across Asia that demonstrate that people in Asia are alert to ecological concerns, that they are taking action to implement new styles of green living, and that Asia offers interesting alternatives to narrow Anglo-American models of sustainable living. Subjects explored include eco-tourism in the Philippines, green co-operatives in Korea, the importance of "tradition" within Asian discourses of sustainability, and much more.