Skip to main content

Selfishness, Greed, and Apathy

Spiritual Impoverishment at the Root of Ecological Sustainability

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
  • 2749 Accesses

Abstract

This introductory chapter explores the broad moral and spiritual basis of sustainability. It garners the view that the starting point for safeguarding the health of our planet is assuming full responsibility of our total footprint on the planet and purging our mind of the toxic emotions. It proposes that we need to recognize and address the spiritual decadence at the root of environmental degradation. An impartial survey of the contemporary ecological landscape reveals that the real global environmental problems are not biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, or climate change. The real environmental problems are selfishness, greed, violence, apathy, and lack of awareness which are playing havoc with the integrity of our planet. Mental pollution is increasingly becoming the greatest threat to our planet. And to address these problems root branch and all, we need a systemic spiritual and cultural transformation. This chapter suggests that sustainability is not possible without a deep change of values and commitment to a sustainable lifestyle at the “being” level. It cannot be achieved simply as an expression of economic functionality or legislative contrivance.

Drawing upon the findings of two recent graduate sustainability seminars by way of cases in point, the chapter also presents strategies geared toward cultivating essential sustainability awareness. These findings have far-reaching implications for developing a sustainability mindset and also indicate the great potential for sustainability studies in management education. The chapter specially focuses on the virtue of nonviolence as framework to achieve sustainable living. Excessive desire, anger, and greed are subtle forms of violence against oneself, others, and the planet. This chapter presents a philosophy of oneness of all life (regarding the world as an extended family) – as enunciated in the Hindu Vedas and the Bhagavad Gītā – as a holistic solution to address excessive desire, anger, and greed that rob our peace of mind and in turn disturb the peace of the planet.

The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.

Robert Swan

(Robert Swan is a polar explorer, environmentalist, and the first man in history to walk unsupported to both the North and South Poles)

Partially based on author’s works: Holistic Leadership (Palgrave MacMillan, 2017); Spirituality and Sustainability (Springer Nature, 2016); Gandhi and Leadership (Palgrave MacMillan, 2015); and “Ethics and Spirituality of Sustainability: What Can We All Do?” The Journal of Values-Based Leadership: Vol. 9: Iss.1, Article 11.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   699.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   799.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    John F Schumaker, The demoralized mind, New Internationalist, April 01, 2016. Retrieved on July 30, 2017: https://newint.org/columns/essays/2016/04/01/psycho-spiritual-crisis/

    Schumaker concludes his insightful essay in a circumspect manner, thusly: “With its infrastructure firmly entrenched, and minimal signs of collective resistance, all signs suggest that our obsolete system – what some call ‘disaster capitalism’ – will prevail until global catastrophe dictates for us new cultural directions.”

  2. 2.

    John E. Carroll, Sustainability and Spirituality (New York: State University of New York Press, 2004), 6. Also see Dhiman and Marques (Eds.), Spirituality and Sustainability.

  3. 3.

    Eknath Easwaran, The Compassionate Universe: The Power of the Individual to Heal the Environment (California: Nilgiri Press, 1989), 10.

  4. 4.

    For further details, see the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. Retrieved on August 2, 2017: http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf

  5. 5.

    Ibid., 12.

  6. 6.

    What is Sustainability? United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved on June 2, 2017: http://www.epa.gov/sustainability/basicinfo.htm

  7. 7.

    See Krishna Maheshwari, Mahabharata, Hindupedia, retrieved on January 22, 2016, http://www.hindupedia.com/en/Mahabharata#cite_note-0

  8. 8.

    J. A. B. van Buitenen, trans., The Mahabharata, Volume 1: Book 1: The Book of the Beginning (Chicago, IL.: University of Chicago Press, 1980), 130.

  9. 9.

    Philip Mairet, A.R Orgage: A Memoir (New Hyde Park, NY: University Books, 1966), 121. Also see Wallace Martin, The New Age under Orage: Chapters in English Cultural History (New York, Manchester University Press, 1967).

  10. 10.

    See Avin Deen’s response: Mahabharata (Hindu epic): Why do some Indians think Mahabharata is superior to all other epics ever written? Retrieved on January 28, 2017: https://www.quora.com/Mahabharata-Hindu-epic/Why-do-some-Indians-think-Mahabharat-is-superior-to-all-other-epics-ever-written

  11. 11.

    From a compilation of Einstein quotes published from multiple online sources and credited to Kevin Harris (1995).

  12. 12.

    See David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate Order (London: Routledge Classics, 2002). For general background, see also Ken Wilber, ed., Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of World’s Great Physicists (Boston: Shambhala, 1984).

  13. 13.

    Harry Palmer, What is Enlightenment? Retrieved on July 29, 2017: https://aboutharrypalmer.com/faqs.html

  14. 14.

    Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra (CA, Berkeley: Parallax Press), 3–5.

  15. 15.

    Thomas Berry, The Great Work: Our Way Into the Future (New York: Harmony/Bell Tower, 1999), 32.

  16. 16.

    See Taittiriya Upanisad by Swami Dayananda Saraswati (Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania: Arsha Vidya Gurukulum, 2005), transcribed and edited by John Warne, iv.

  17. 17.

    Bangalore Kuppuswamy, Dharma and Society: A Study in Social Values (Columbia, Mo: South Asia Books, 1977).

  18. 18.

    There is no single word in any Western language that can capture the multiple shades and subtle nuances of the word dharma. Like the words karma and yoga, it has been left untranslated in this chapter for the most part, with their contextual meaning presented in the parentheses where necessary. These words have found wide currency and familiarity in the Western culture. Similar confusion also exists regarding the meaning of the word yoga, as used in the Bhagavad Gītā. According to the preeminent Sanskrit scholar, J. A. B. van Buitenen, “The word yoga and cognates of it occur close to 150 times in the Gītā, and it needs attention.” See J. A. B. van Buitenen, ed. and trans., The Bhagavad Gītā in the Mahābhārata: A Bilingual Edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), p. 17.

    Etymologically, the word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root “yuj,” which is cognate with the word “yoke.” The yoga, “yoking,” that is intended in the Gītā is the union of individual self, jivātmā, with the Supreme Self, Paramātmā.

  19. 19.

    ahiṁsā paramo dharmaḥ, ahiṁsā paramo tapaḥ | ahiṁsā paramo satyaṁ yato dharmaḥ pravartate | | ahiṁsā paramo dharmaḥ, ahiṁsā paramo damaḥ| ahiṁsā parama dānaṁ, ahiṁsā parama tapaḥ|| ahiṁsā parama yajñaḥ ahiṁsā paramo phalam| ahiṁsā paramaṁ mitraḥ ahiṁsā paramaṁ sukham||

    ~Mahābhārata/Anuśāsana Parva (115-23/116-28-29).

  20. 20.

    W.D. Ross rendered “hexis” as a state of character. See David Ross, translation of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980).

  21. 21.

    J.O. Urmson, Aristotle’s Ethics, 2.

  22. 22.

    Mortimer Adler, Arsitotle for Everybody: Difficult Thought Made Easy (New York: Bantam Books, 1980). Emphasis added.

  23. 23.

    Ahara-suddhau sattva-suddhih, Sattva-suddhau dhruva-smritih, Smritilabhe sarvagranthinam vipramokshah.

  24. 24.

    Mahōpaniṣad – VI.73 (a). Alternative rendering: “For those who live magnanimously, the entire world constitutes but a family.” See Dr. A. G. Krishna Warrier, trans., Maha Upanishad (Chennai: The Theosophical Publishing House, n.d.). Accessed: July, 31, 2015: http://advaitam.net/upanishads/sama_veda/maha.html

  25. 25.

    Marcus Aurelius, in Meditations (c. 161–180 CE), Book IV, 40.

  26. 26.

    The expression “a happy individual and a harmonious society” is coined by Dr. Vemuri Ramesam, author of Religion Mystified and Yogavasistha. Dr. Vemuri runs a remarkable blog called Beyond Adviata: http://beyond-advaita.blogspot.com/

  27. 27.

    The section on Pancha Mahā Yajñās draws upon Swami Paramarthananda ji’s discourse, The Spiritual Journey. Retrieved on July 20, 2015: http://talksofswamiparamarthananda.blogspot.com/

    Also see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4jfDxMaXWQ

  28. 28.

    Adapted from Eknath Easwaran, trans., The Upanishads, Translated for the Modern Reader (Berkeley, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1987) and Swami Nikhalananda, trans. and ed., The Upanishads: A One Volume Abridgement (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1964).

  29. 29.

    Spider Web. Retrieved on July 31, 2017: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_web

  30. 30.

    Ibid., 6.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., 11–12.

  32. 32.

    Cited in Ricard, Altruism, p. 9. See Tim Kasser, The High Price of Materialism (Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press, 2003).

  33. 33.

    See Tim Kasser, The High Price of Materialism (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003), xi.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., xii.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., xi.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., 10.

  37. 37.

    Climate change and President Obama’s Action Plan. Video retrieved on August 3, 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=182&v=r4lTx56WBv0

  38. 38.

    David Biello, State of the Earth: Still Seeking Plan A for Sustainability?

  39. 39.

    Robert Engelman cited in Michael Renner, “The Seeds of Modern Threats,” in World Watch Institute State of the World 2015: Confronting Hidden Threats to Sustainability (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2013), 2.

  40. 40.

    EDGAR: Trends in global CO2 emissions: 2014 report. Retrieved on August 1, 2017: http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/news_docs/jrc-2014-trends-in-global-co2-emissions-2014-report-93171.pdf

  41. 41.

    NASA: Global Climate change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Retrieved on August 1, 2017: http://climate.NASA.gov/solutions/adaptation-mitigation/

  42. 42.

    Ibid.

  43. 43.

    Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Climate change as a Moral Call to Social Transformation. The Buddhist Global Relief. Retrieved on January 28, 2016: http://buddhistglobalrelief.me/2015/12/02/climate-change-as-a-moral-call-to-social-transformation/ [emphasis added].

  44. 44.

    Source: BBC News: Earth “entering new extinction phase” – US study, June 20, 2015. From the section Science and Environment. Retrieved on August 5, 2017: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33209548

  45. 45.

    Gerardo Ceballos, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anthony D. Barnosky, Andrés García, Robert M. Pringle, Todd M. Palmer, “Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction,” Environmental Sciences June, 19, 2015, 1–5. Retrieved on July 10, 2017: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/advances/1/5/e1400253.full.pdf

  46. 46.

    For further details, also see Dahr Jamail, Mass Extinction: It’s the End of the World as We Know It. Retrieved on July 15, 2017: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31661-mass-extinction-it-s-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it

  47. 47.

    Matthieu Ricard, Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World, trans. by Charlotte Mandell and Sam Gordon (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2015), 8.

  48. 48.

    Ibid.

  49. 49.

    See Climate change 2007: Synthesis Report. Retrieved on August 3, 20157: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spm.html

  50. 50.

    The conclusions in this paragraph reflect the scientific consensus represented by, for example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change and US Global Change Research Program. Many scientific societies have endorsed these findings in their own statements, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, and American Statistical Association. See statement on climate change from 18 scientific associations (2009).

  51. 51.

    Statement on climate change from 18 scientific associations (2009). Retrieved on August 4, 2017: http://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/migrate/uploads/1021climate_letter1.pdf

  52. 52.

    Raymond Lam, Conscientious Compassion – Bhikkhu Bodhi on Climate change, Social Justice, and Saving the World. An e-Interview published in Buddhistdoor Global. Posted on August 14, 2015. Retrieved on August 1, 2017: http://buddhistglobalrelief.me/2015/08/14/conscientious-compassion-bhikkhu-bodhi-on-climate-change-social-justice-and-saving-the-world/

  53. 53.

    Ibid.

  54. 54.

    Ibid.

  55. 55.

    Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, “On Hope and Hype: Reflections on a New Year’s Tradition,” Buddhist Global Relief. January 11, 2016. Retrieved on January 20, 2016: http://buddhistglobalrelief.me/2016/01/11/on-hope-and-hype-reflections-on-a-new-years-tradition/

  56. 56.

    This author is indebted to all 33 participants in these two graduate seminars who enriched our understanding of sustainability through their insightful discussion and comments. Parts of this section have benefitted from the suggestions of Mallory Quiroa, who was one of the participants in the course.

  57. 57.

    Ray Anderson, The business logic of sustainability. A Ted Talk. Retrieved on July 1, 2017: https://www.ted.com/talks/ray_anderson_on_the_business_logic_of_sustainability

  58. 58.

    (2009) “Progress Toward Zero: The Climb to Sustainability – Interview with Ray Anderson,” The Journal of Values-Based Leadership: Vol. 2: Iss. 1, Article 3. Available at: http://scholar.valpo.edu/jvbl/vol2/iss1/3

  59. 59.

    Cited by Samuel Mann, Some of my favorite Ray Anderson quotes. In Computing for Sustainability Saving the earth one byte at a time. Retrieved on July 30, 2017: https://computingforsustainability.com/2011/08/12/some-of-my-favourite-ray-anderson-quotes/ This view is in stark contrast with.

  60. 60.

    See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lOSIHWOp2I&t=42s

  61. 61.

    Dr. Vandana Shiva: “Why We Need an Organic Future” (NOFA-VT 2017 Keynote Address). Retrieved on August 1, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gof7vdQI6OM

  62. 62.

    Seeds of Death: Unveiling The Lies of GMO’s – Full Movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6OxbpLwEjQ

  63. 63.

    A Billion Go Hungry Because of GMO Farming: Vandana Shiva https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbIQF72IDuw

  64. 64.

    See Maggie Hennessy, The biggest fallacy about GMOs is that we need them to feed the world: WFP May 7, 2014. Retrieved on August 1, 2017: http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Suppliers2/The-biggest-fallacy-about-GMOs-is-that-we-need-them-to-feed-the-world-WFP

  65. 65.

    Paul Diehl, Can Genetically Modified Food Feed the World? What You Need To Know About Genetically Modified Crops. The Balance: Biotech Industry, June 03, 2017. Retrieved on August 1, 2017: https://www.thebalance.com/can-genetically-modified-food-feed-the-world-375634

  66. 66.

    Ibid. Emphasis added.

  67. 67.

    Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, Official Release, 2011 Retrieved on August 1, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w

  68. 68.

    Paul McCartney – If Slaughterhouses had Glass Walls. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_UpyY2MIOc

    Why Vegan? – Amazing Presentation by Gary Yourofsky. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UROxRLbVils

    The food we were born to eat: John McDougall at TEDxFremont. Retrieved on July 18, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5wfMNNr3ak

    Tackling diabetes with a bold new dietary approach: Neal Barnard at TEDxFremont. Retrieved on August 1, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktQzM2IA-qU

    Jennifer Dillard, A Slaughterhouse Nightmare: Psychological Harm Suffered by Slaughterhouse Employees and the Possibility of Redress through Legal Reform. Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1016401

    Michael Greger, How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease (New York: Flatiron Books, 2015).

    In this informative book, Dr. Greger describes which foods to eat to prevent the leading causes of disease-related death and shows how a diet based on fruits, vegetables, tubers, whole grains, and legumes might even save your life. Dr. Greger runs the popular website NutritionFacts.org and serves as the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States.

  69. 69.

    Retrieved on July 30, 2017: https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty_dozen_list.php#.WYeHm4TytQI

    Also see Johanzynn Gatewood, Strawberries remain at top of pesticide list, report says. CNN. March 10, 2017.

    Retrieved on July 19, 2017: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/health/dirty-dozen-2017/index.html

  70. 70.

    Some more examples of the resources used for this seminar: Ray Anderson, sustainable-business pioneer, provides a compelling case for business rationale of sustainability: Ray Anderson, The business logic of sustainability. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/ray_anderson_on_the_business_logic_of_sustainability

    The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdK0uYjy85o

    Vice President of Citi Bank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0VnpFJmkL0

    Ethics in a meat-free world – Philip Wollen at TEDxMelbourne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApeIUzKLkuo

    Sustainable development: what, where and by whom?: Kitty van der Heijden at TEDxHaarlem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sJ-uixn7Jg

    What’s wrong with our food system | Birke Baehr | TEDxNextGenerationAsheville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Id9caYw-Y

  71. 71.

    Laurent Fabius, COP21 President and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development.

  72. 72.

    See Satinder Dhiman, Gandhi and Leadership: New Horizons in Exemplary Leadership (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015); Satinder Dhiman, Holistic Leadership: A New Paradigm for Today’s Leaders (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2017).

  73. 73.

    José Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on Quixote, trans. Evelyn Rugg and Diego Marín (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1961), 45.

  74. 74.

    David Biello, State of the Earth: Still Seeking Plan A for Sustainability? How to improve the state of the planet: “everybody can do something,” Scientific American, Oct. 12, 2012. Retrieved on August 1, 2017: http://www.scientificamerican.com/book/planet-seeks-plan-for-sustainability/

  75. 75.

    Arie de Gues, The Living Company: Habits for Survival in a Turbulent Business Environment (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2002), 91, 176.

  76. 76.

    David Biello, State of the Earth: Still Seeking Plan A for Sustainability? How to improve the state of the planet: “everybody can do something.” Scientific American, Oct. 12, 2012. Retrieved on July 31, 2017: http://www.scientificamerican.com/book/planet-seeks-plan-for-sustainability/

  77. 77.

    John E. Carroll, Sustainability and Spirituality (New York: State University of New York Press, 2004), 6.

    Also see Dhiman and Marques (Eds.), Spirituality and Sustainability.

  78. 78.

    Eknath Easwaran, The Compassionate Universe: The Power of the Individual to Heal the Environment (California: Nilgiri Press, 1989), 10.79 See: Pallab Ghosh, 'First human' discovered in Ethiopia, BBC News, 4 March 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2017: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31718336

  79. 79.

    See: Pallab Ghosh, ‘First human’ discovered in Ethiopia, BBC News, 4 March 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2017: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31718336

  80. 80.

    “If all the insects were to disappear from the earth.” Quoted during a Ted Talk by Sir Ken Robinson. Retrieved on August 2, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JYW2JFkXsg

  81. 81.

    Daniel Ladinsky, The Gift: Poems by Hāfiz the Great Sufi Master (New York: Penguin Compass, 1999), 34.

References

  • Adler, M. (1980). Aristotle for everybody: Difficult thought made easy. New York: Bantam Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bangalore Kuppuswamy. (1977). Dharma and society: A study in social values. Columbia: South Asia Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, T. (1999). The great work: Our way into the future. New York: Harmony/Bell Tower.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohm, D. (2002). Wholeness and the implicate order. London: Routledge Classics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, J. E. (2004). Sustainability and spirituality. New York: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ceballos, G., Ehrlich, P. R., Barnosky, A. D., García, A., Pringle, R. M., & Palmer, T. M. (2015). Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction. Environmental Sciences, 19 June 2015, pp. 1–5. http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/advances/1/5/e1400253.full.pdf. Retrieved 10 Jul 2017.

  • de Gues, A. (2002). The living company: Habits for survival in a turbulent business environment. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dhiman, S. (2015). Gandhi and leadership: New horizons in exemplary leadership. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dhiman, S. (2017). Holistic leadership: A new paradigm for today’s leaders. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Easwaran, E. (Trans.). (1987). The Upanishads (Translated for the modern reader). Berkeley: Nilgiri Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easwaran, E. (1989). The compassionate universe: The power of the individual to heal the environment. California: Nilgiri Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greger, M. (2015). How not to die: Discover the foods scientifically proven to prevent and reverse disease. New York: Flatiron Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • José Ortega y Gasset. (1961). Meditations on Quixote (trans: Rugg, E. & Marín, D.). New York: W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kasser, T. (2003). The high price of materialism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krishna Warrier, A. G. (Trans.). (n.d.) Maha Upanishad. Chennai: The Theosophical Publishing House. http://advaitam.net/upanishads/sama_veda/maha.html. Accessed 31 Jul 2015.

  • Ladinsky, D. (1999). The gift: Poems by Hāfiz the great Sufi master. New York: Penguin Compass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mairet, P. (1966). A.R Orgage: A memoir. New Hyde Park: University Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, W. (1967). The new age under Orage: Chapters in English cultural history. New York: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nhat Hanh, T. (1998). The heart of understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra. Berkeley: Parallax Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Progress toward zero: The climb to sustainability – Interview with Ray Anderson. (2009). The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 2(1), Article 3. http://scholar.valpo.edu/jvbl/vol2/iss1/3

  • Renner, M. (2013). The seeds of modern threats. In World Watch Institute state of the world 2015: confronting hidden threats to sustainability. Washington, DC: Island Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricard, M. (2015). Altruism: The power of compassion to change yourself and the world (trans: Mandell, C. & Gordon, S.). New York: Little, Brown and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, D. (1980). Translation of Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumaker, J. F. (2016). The demoralized mind. New Internationalist, 1 April 2016. https://newint.org/columns/essays/2016/04/01/psycho-spiritual-crisis/. Retrieved 30 Jul 2017.

  • Swami Dayananda Saraswati. (2005). Taittiriya Upanishad (trans and ed: Warne, J.). Saylorsburg: Arsha Vidya Gurukulum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swami Nikhalananda (Trans. and Ed.). (1964). The Upanishads: A one volume abridgement. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Buitenen, J. A. B. (Trans.). (1980). The Mahabharata, Vol. 1. Book 1: The book of the beginning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Buitenen, J. A. B. (Ed. and Trans.). (1981). The Bhagavad Gītā in the Mahābhārata: A bilingual edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilber, K. (Ed.). (1984). Quantum questions: Mystical writings of world’s great physicists. Boston: Shambhala.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Satinder Dhiman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Dhiman, S. (2018). Selfishness, Greed, and Apathy. In: Marques, J. (eds) Handbook of Engaged Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71312-0_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics