Season 2, Episode 4: Hello, This is Steve’s Climate Story - Steve Chiu
Hey, Everyone! Welcome back to Brym - it’s Season 2, Episode 4! And it’s December! A quick note before we dive into this new Season and how it’s a bit different…
First of all, huge thanks to my friend Nicolas Vivas Nikonorow for his genius music in our podcast episode!!!
In Season 2 of Brym, we will be highlighting stories directly from changemakers across the world - inviting those folks to tell their own stories in their own ways in the spirit of Citizen Journalism! In addition to a written piece that they write themselves, we’ll also be doing interviews so you get to hear from their own voice as well!
In this week’s podcast episode, we interviewed Steve Chiu! Steve and I recently attended COP27 in Egypt together and you’ll hear some of our reflections on the conference at the beginning of the interview! Steve is the UN Representative for the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation and also a part of Brym’s new Global Working Group, an advisory team dedicated to re-imagining our world systems and building global climate solutions together.
As always, feel free to follow along on Apple Podcasts as well! Hope you enjoy…
Hello this is Steve’s Climate Story!
Author: Steve Chiu, December 1, 2022
Growing up in Ohio, I was always reminded by my mother that we were deeply lucky to be able to experience all four seasons of weather, and that we should use the changing of seasons as a reminder of the passage of time, and the ever shifting nature of our lives. It is with this lens that I spent my childhood, savoring the preciousness of each season, cherishing every day spent outdoors, knowing that in time, the season would pass and something new would come forth. From the fluffy snow that would fall in the wintertime, to the late summer nights spent chasing fireflies in the forest, and the rainy spring days where flowers would magically appear from the ground overnight, each season had its unique texture to experience as a child, filling my life with wonder, adventure, and joy.
Of all the four seasons, autumn was by far my favorite. As summer gave way to winter, the trees that were once so lush and green, became adorn with brilliant and vivid colors of red, yellow and orange. Hiking and camping in parks and mountains, I fell in love with the natural world, in how through its mere existence, I could witness so much beauty, wisdom and life while being reminded that nothing lasts forever: change was the eternal constant.
In 1999, the Taiwanese community in Ohio bore witness to the second most deadly earthquake in Taiwan’s recorded history, which killed thousands of people, displaced tens of thousands, caused billions of dollars in damages, and left Taiwanese expats engulfed with concern for those they loved back home. In the wake of this destruction, one of the first organizations to respond was the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, arriving at the scene of the disaster with hot food, stations for medical care, and a space for emotional and spiritual care. Touched by the rapid response and thoughtful ways that Tzu Chi’s volunteers served the disaster survivors, our family took to the streets of Ohio to fundraise for Tzu Chi’s efforts. What resulted was an unexpected outpouring of love, showing me the good that can emerge when we create opportunities for people to give, serve, and be in community with each other for a shared cause.
In the following years, we created a local chapter of Tzu Chi in Columbus, building a community to host local service programs, while responding to disasters in the midwest region. From tornadoes and hurricanes, to floods and fires, many of my weekends became immersed in working with disaster survivors to rebuild from the devastation brought forth by natural causes; the natural world was not only a beautiful creator of life, but a force of destruction, capable of erasing the accumulated efforts of human beings in a swift sharp instant, leaving behind in its wake, sorrow and suffering for all those it touches.
Recognizing the impermanence that underpins our relationship with the natural world, it became important for me to ask, what does a meaningful life look like if the accumulation of material achievements alone could be erased in an instant. If the very life I had could be taken away by natural forces beyond my control, how should I spend my time? I want to leave behind a better world for those to come after me. One where future generations can continue to experience the bounty that the natural world provides for us while also having stronger frameworks in place that protect us from the impacts of disasters and climate change. Societies and systems rooted in values of love, regeneration, and interdependence, as opposed to our current values of extraction, exploitation, and a disconnect from the true impacts of our actions on the natural world. To create this future, I serve as Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation’s Representative to the United Nations, where I work to build relationships, share best practices and develop programs with the international community, highlighting the holistic approaches that can build resilience and tackle the complex challenges created by our triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. In this position, over the past eight years, I’ve come to truly appreciate the unique role that each and every person has to play in addressing the climate crisis. From building coalitions of concerned citizens to create change within local communities, to advocating in international spaces to shift global consciousness, there is a space for you, utilizing your talents and skills, to contribute towards modeling the future we wish to inhabit.
Life is short. I hope that in addition to consuming content related to the climate crisis, that you seek out opportunities to take action, in your own unique way, and that you find a community of like minded individuals to walk along this journey of creating change with you. If you’d like to connect, you can find me:
In person, meandering about New York City parks, and probably at the Tzu Chi Center
Monthly, reflecting on life and art, in my zine: “I Love You And I Wish We Saw Each Other More”
Persistently on my website
Interviewing friends on issues related to the United Nations here
Reflecting on holistic solutions to the climate crisis here
Sign of Hope / Case Study we discuss in the interview: The Green Hospital Initiative - Article + Video
Huge thank you to Steve for sharing his beautiful story! Our next Climate Autobiography will come on December 15th!!
Have a great rest of the week everyone and a safe weekend.
