Yin’s fundamental importance to a stable climate is mirrored by its importance to our own health. Physically, mentally, and emotionally, our Yin provides us with coolant that prevents overheating. Knowing that what manifests in nature is a reflection of what manifests within us, one way to address climate change is to be vigilant about the balance of our Yin and Yang. As we’ll discuss later in this chapter and throughout the rest of the book, the heating of the planet—an increase of Yang—and its decreasing ability to hold greenhouse gases—a decrease in Yin—is being mirrored in our own internal condition. Climate change is not just happening in the world around us; climate change is also happening within us.
In addition to providing coolant, Yin provides a buffer against pathology. When we have enough Yin, sicknesses of all types can be prevented from appearing. In Chinese medicine, Yin and the fluids of our body are where a wide variety of issues that could develop into sickness can be stored.1 Not only can viruses and bacteria that we haven’t been able to expel be held, unresolved mental and emotional issues can accumulate here as well. Put another way, the Yin and our fluids have an ability to keep sicknesses of all levels in latency.2 When these decrease, or when a sickness becomes too strong, sicknesses can begin to appear. Within us individually this can be for years and decades, and with the climate it has likely been for generations and centuries.
On a global scale, the Yin of the planet has served as a buffer against the greenhouse gases we have been releasing, as well as buffer against the consequences of these emissions. As previously discussed, in Chinese medicine, water is synonymous with the cooling quality of Yin—the oceans, as huge accumulations of water, are an equally large accumulation of Yin. Both Western scientific data and the inductive thinking of Chinese medicine agree that the oceans have a cooling effect on the planet. From the Chinese medicine perspective, the size and depth of the oceans suggests that they can buffer us against the effects of a great deal of unsustainability. At some point, however, even these global accumulations of water and Yin reach their limits, and their ability to keep in latency and the consequences of enormous amounts of greenhouses gases will be lost.
Frozen water—permafrost, glaciers, and ice sheets—is in even more of a Yin state, in that it is colder and less mobile. From both Western and Eastern perspectives, it makes sense that together these different forms of water and different forms of Yin have a cooling and stabilizing effect on the climate. Similarly, trees are also more Yin, as they are rooted to the ground, unlike us more Yang humans who are constantly moving around. The ability of forests to hold greenhouse gases is a more Western, contemporary way of describing the more traditional, Chinese understanding of the Yin nature of trees. As can happen within us individually, the planet’s Yin influences—oceans, permafrost, glaciers, ice sheets, and forests—have been compromised. As their cooling capacity wanes, the warming consequences of our actions are no longer stored away and hidden. A clear and literal example of this loss of latency is the methane plumes that now dramatically bubble from the ocean floor to the surface of the ocean. Something that was once hidden under permafrost is now being visibly released into the atmosphere.
With methane bubbling from the ocean floor, there is a great deal of discussion about the policy issues of climate change. These including changes we need to make to our economic, energy, and agricultural systems. Undoubtedly, reorienting our economy away from greed and toward sustainability, a rapid and complete introduction of sustainable energy, and consuming more local, organically grown food are of vital importance. But before we look at these larger-scale issues that can be addressed at the policy level, let’s first look at a more immediate and personal level of change—that of our own internal condition. Rather than thinking of climate change as something happening out there, let’s consider how climate change is happening within us.
Instead of seeing climate change as a catastrophe, let us instead consider climate change as an opportunity. Yes, the planet is warming quickly; in fact, much faster than previously estimated. Yes, forests are being cut down at an alarming rate. Yes, permafrost, glaciers, and ice sheets are melting. And yes, methane is bubbling up from the ocean floor. As we look at the data of climate change, let’s also consider what these facts mean in terms of a Chinese medicine understanding of what’s happening.
We have seen that the global climate’s dynamic of rising temperatures coupled with decreasing cooling effects is strikingly similar to Chinese medicine’s concept of Yin-deficient heat. In looking at this excess of warmth, a basic question is: Where is it coming from? The simple answer is greenhouse gas emissions. This raises another question: Where are these emissions mostly coming from? The answer is that on a per-person basis, they’re coming from Western industrialized countries, and the United States in particular. Though China recently became the largest overall emitter due to its large population, the United States is a close second and continues to top the list in terms of greenhouse gases per capita of large countries. While there is some variation, Western industrialized countries are the largest overall emitters of greenhouse gases.3
In order to fully understand what is creating these emissions, we need to look at our basic assumptions about the world. To begin this process, consider the following questions, which are intentionally open-ended and vague. Don’t think about the question or your answer; just see what pops into your mind.
Ask yourself: Is it better to do something or not do something?
Is it better to have more or less?
Is it better if something is new or old?
The right or best answers may seem self-evident, or perhaps we think these are funny or nonsensical questions. However, by using Chinese medicine as a guide, our responses to simple, open-ended questions can reveal a great deal about who we are individually and collectively, how we live our lives, and what we value. And this self-examination can help us understand how we arrived at our era of climate change.
So many of the basic beliefs that we in the United States take as unquestioned truths—assumptions about life, success, and how things should be—are based on the values expressed when we answer these questions. Just as Yin and Yang show up in nature and in the climate, they are fundamental parts of us as well. Just as on the scale of the climate, heat and warming are Yang, and coolant and cooling are Yin, these same forces appear in all aspects of our lives.
Many of us in the United States, if we were being honest, would have answered that it’s better to do something, have more, and have something new. We might even think that the answers are universal or that everyone would respond the same way. But rather than being self-evident, our answers actually speak to our individual and cultural condition. When we believe that doing is better than not doing, we are orienting toward the Yang. When we say that more is better than less, we are also orienting toward the Yang. When new is better than old, we are again orienting toward the Yang.
Of course, it’s not just cultural coincidence that so many of us believe these Yang parts of life are better than their Yin counterparts. We have been encouraged and even taught to believe these things to be true. As we’ll discuss later, we have built whole economic and social systems based on these beliefs. To help perpetuate these systems, we’ve been conditioned to think a Yang-centered approach is the best way, or even the only way, to live life; doing over nondoing, more over less, new over old. The issue is not that the Yang aspects of life are an inherent problem; the issue is one of balance.
When considering how to address our rapidly warming planet, recognizing the value of Yin is paramount. There is a real and tangible connection between what we value and the condition of the climate. Just as the climate is warming, we individually and collectively often overvalue the Yang. And just as the climate’s capacity to keep itself cool is compromised, we often undervalue the Yin.
It is also not a coincidence that Americans are a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, as we often strongly favor doing over nondoing, prefer more to less, and favor new over old. The consequences of our individual and cultural overvaluation of Yang and undervaluation of Yin has reached such an epidemic level that they are now affecting the entire planet.
Of course, some of the consequences of our overemphasis on doing, more, and new are straightforward. When we are constantly driving or flying, we emit more greenhouse gases. When we desire more things or the latest gadgets, the manufacture and shipping of these goods contribute to global warming.
However, there is more to it than just the practical consequences of Yang excess. There are certain thoughts and beliefs that have helped make this excess possible. If we want to address climate change at its roots by listening to the message it’s telling us, we must reorient ourselves toward the Yin on all levels, including in our own lives. We must recognize the value of not doing, of less, and of the old if we want to know within us what climate stability would look and feel like in the world around us.
How can we possibly hope to create a sustainable country if we do not have a balance within ourselves of something as fundamental as Yin and Yang? How can we hope to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, stop deforestation, and halt the melting of permafrost, ice sheets, and glaciers if we’re not clear how these same dynamics play out in our lives and our view of the world? My simple answer is that we won’t.
Without an adequate appreciation of what brings long-term balance and well-being, we are very likely to continue in the direction we’re headed. Without a way to understand what promotes health in our own lives, our country, and our environment, we are likely to continue down the path that has brought us to our present circumstances. This cultural inertia is leading us down one path, and Chinese medicine can help us see the other choices that are available.
To examine our Yang overemphasis from a different perspective, think about what we hear on TV and the radio, or read about in magazines and newspapers: we often hear about Yang. Media often tell us about people who make lots of money, who make loud and brash statements, and about the newest and fastest products. But why do media outlets and publishers assume that this is what we would like to hear about? Why are these stories newsworthy?
We might assume that new things, loud statements, and making lots of money are inherently more interesting. Many of today’s headlines exclaim things like “Actress Makes $20 Million for Latest Movie” or “Company Releases Fastest Cell Phone.” These are examples of our Yang emphasis on more money, more speed, and new things. What if we saw more headlines like “Local Family Has Wonderful Weekend without Phones and Computers”? Or “Woman Describes Sitting in Silence for a Month”? That we see and hear much more of the first type of headline and much less of the second is not a trivial issue to climate destabilization. It exemplifies our overemphasis on more, faster, and doing, which is our focus on Yang. Our orientation toward these stories and these values is an orientation toward the Yang, which is the very same orientation that is helping to create a warming planet.
In our era of a rapidly warming planet, it’s important to understand that Yang remains fundamental to our health and the well-being of the people around us; the issue is always one of balance. For example, there are people in the United States and around the world we really do need more, which indicates the need for Yang. There are many hungry and homeless people in the United States who need more food and more shelter. There are also many families who need more money to pay rent, buy food and clothes, and pay for health care. There are even more people in other countries who need more money and goods for their survival. We also need new technology because advances in solar and wind power, electric vehicles, and public transportation can help to limit or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. But these new things will not save us from our current condition because in our era of Yang excess, more Yang is not the long-lasting remedy. In our times of climate change, Yang certainly has its place. As with our own lives, however, the issue is one of balance.
It is of fundamental importance to our health and the health of our climate to avoid extremes. In terms of Yin and Yang, this includes not forsaking one end of the spectrum for the other. It is not a sign of well-being to go from thinking that Yang is “good” to seeing Yang as “bad.” Going from one extreme to another does not create balance. Health, both in ourselves and in our country, is the middle ground between rest and activity: having the pendulum swing from “all action all the time” to “all rest all the time” is not a sign of well-being.
This place of balance is not a fixed location but rather is continuously moving based on the many variables that create health. Personal health and environmental sustainability are not specific dots on a static two-dimensional map of well-being. Balance is part of a dynamic process that, by its nature, changes constantly. For example, in writing this book, it has taken a sustained effort of directed Yang as I have been actively researching and writing about the blending of climate change and Chinese medicine for several years. For a decade I have been talking and thinking about these Western and Eastern ideas and how they fit together. If it wasn’t for Yang, this book would not exist and you would not be reading these words today. Yang is the activation of ideas and thoughts, and the ability to conceptualize, start, and finish a project such as writing a book.
But what creates the Yang? Healthy actions—and in fact all of life—comes from the Yin. Put another way, the Yin creates the Yang while the Yang is an expression of the Yin. The rest, relaxation, and contemplation that are the Yin allow us to promote and sustain health.4 This is similar to the explanation by Western biology that humans evolved from creatures that originally lived in the oceans. From a more literal Western biological view, human life began in water, and from a more metaphorical Chinese medical perspective, healthy action originates from Yin.
When there is harmony, Yin balances the Yang and Yang balances the Yin. It may seem paradoxical to our more usual Western thinking that Yin and Yang work with each other. We might be more comfortable with the idea that doing and nondoing are opposites, or that there is a struggle between the old and new. What Chinese medicine can teach us is that Yin and Yang are not oppositional but rather complementary forces. Yin and Yang are in no more conflict than the light of day is fighting the dark of night or the warmth of summer is battling with the cold of winter.
The importance of Yin to a healthy life is also apparent in the deep-reaching philosophical ideas of Chinese medicine. In addition to being associated with rest and relaxation, Yin is also understood to represent wisdom. In our own lives, this includes understanding what promotes long-term health on all levels. Collectively, this involves a deep understanding of long-term environmental sustainability. Without an embodiment of the wisdom that Yin provides, it’s not likely we’ll live a healthy life individually or create long-lasting environmental sustainability culturally.
The Yin-Yang symbol is a visual representation of what Chinese medicine also articulates in words. The black of the Yin and the white of the Yang transform into each other. The colors are not divided neatly down the middle but instead flow into each other. Even in our era of climate instability, Yang is not bad. After all, Yang is sunshine, warmth, summer, activity, and growth. These are fundamental aspects of nature and essential parts of our lives.
Rather than being separate ideas, or oppositional parts of life, Yin and Yang are intertwined. As the Yin-Yang picture demonstrates, the light that is the Yang becomes the darkness that is the Yin, and the Yin eventually transforms back into the Yang. That the visual representation of these ideas is a circle is intentional—as the white expands and begins to reach its fullness, darkness begins to appear, and vice versa. Just as night become day, and then again becomes night, the Yin becomes the Yang, which then again becomes the Yin.
Within the predominantly black Yin area of the circle, there is also a dot of white Yang. Likewise, within the predominantly white Yang, there is also a dot of black Yin. When there is balance in own lives, we will have a sense of engagement even when resting and a sense of relaxation when active. On a deeper level, the dots of color express that with personal health and environmental sustainability, the wisdom of the Yin is embedded within the action of the Yang. Likewise, within us, with the rest and relaxation of the Yin is the Yang engagement with the world.
One way of making sense of the vast amount of data on climate change is through understanding that our individual and collective imbalances have become so pronounced that they are affecting the climate of the entire planet. If we were aware of how to live a balanced life, and were acting on this understanding, the climate could not be in the state it is today. Put another way, what is happening to the climate is a direct reflection of what is happening within us.
From my clinical experience, it’s likely that Chinese medicine practitioners in the United States will continue to treat a great deal of Yin-deficient heat. This is because greenhouse gas emissions can be seen as both a literal and metaphorical example of hyperbusy people, a hyperbusy country, and a hyperbusy culture. Given the vast amounts of data on climate change, why do we continue to travel and consume things in a way that has such a significant global impact? Put more simply, why do we continue to do what we are doing? One basic reason is that we collectively have too much heat and not enough yin.5
We are continuously encouraged to want more—more things, more money, more status, and more in general. So much of the entertainment and advertising we see encourages a sense of dissatisfaction with who we are and what we have. The sale of many products is predicated on feeding and even creating our sense of want.
Our Yin is our sense of contentment and peace. Yin is our feeling of being satiated physically, mentally, and emotionally. Yin is also what gives us the ability to say “that’s enough, I don’t need anymore.” Yin allows us to be more satisfied with the things we already have and with life in general. With a planet that is warming due to our excess busyness, it is not surprising that so many of us feel so dissatisfied despite buying more and moving around at ever-faster speeds. Basic Chinese medical theory makes it clear that doing more is not likely to create a greater sense of peace. In a Yin-deficient culture, increasing our level of activity and owning more things is not the antidote. What, then, is the medicine for the sickness of too many people wanting too many things and being too busy for too long? Doing less and wanting less, and being content and satisfied more.
When it is no longer connected to what we really need to live, being busy and wanting things creates heat within us. As happens on an exceptionally hot summer day, this extra warmth is uncomfortable and creates a feeling of agitation. Over time, this excess stimulation can contribute to more heat, further increasing our discomfort. It’s not surprising that buying things we don’t really need doesn’t bring lasting satisfaction. In fact, it does the opposite—it increases our sense of stimulation, which can cook off more of the Yin that would have provided a sense of satiation. This consumerism decreases our sense of satisfaction and contentment, which in turn leads us to look for more stimulation and excitement.
Many manufacturers, stores, and advertisers are more than happy to offer us a short-lived reprieve from this internal dissatisfaction by selling us the next great thing. In the short term, we can perhaps distract ourselves from the inherent unpleasantness of Yin deficiency and heat by buying superfluous things. Or perhaps we can create some short-term relief by distracting ourselves, either by overworking or entertaining ourselves. It’s also possible we can reduce our discomfort for a short while by using various substances, both prescribed and unprescribed, that numb our senses.
But not surprisingly, once these distractions are gone, we are back to where we began—an overstimulated internal condition with a lack of internal peace. Our attempts at distracting ourselves are not only unsuccessful, they often contribute to the internal condition that created these desires in the first place. While wanting more is certainly not always pathological, and while there are people who really do need more, we have been encouraged to assume that if some of something is good, then more of it is better. Not surprisingly, Yin-Yang theory says otherwise. The inductive thinking of Chinese medicine allows us to see the manifestations of these misguided assumptions as part of the fuel that is feeding climate change. Not only does the Yang of more feed our desire for more material things, it can also compromise the satisfaction of having less that comes from the Yin.
With the importance of appreciating that both the cause and the cure for global warming can start within, there are several ways we can balance our own Yin and Yang.
First, realize that doing is not better than not doing. There is a time to work and a time to rest, a time to be busy and a time to slow down. This is especially important for those of us already engaged in the work of addressing climate change. We must practice balance in our own lives if we are committed to climate sustainability. Being frantically busy, even in the quest to address climate change, is internally recreating the same dynamic that is rapidly warming the climate.
Second, appreciate that more is not better than less. Part of the consequences of this overemphasis on more is the increase in greenhouse gases from the manufacture and shipping of things we don’t really need. However, always wanting more also diminishes our own sense of Yin contentment and increases our Yang desires. Continuously wanting more, even in the name of climate sustainability, is not likely to create a balance within us. How do we hope to create a cooler planet if we are overstimulated internally?
Third, realize that new is not better than old. We mistakenly assume at times that something new is inherently better than something long established. Whether it’s a phone, technology, or a medical treatment, something that is new is not necessarily better than something that is old. Part of the antidote for the deeper causes of climate change is revaluing the traditional in all parts of our lives, and all parts of our country and culture. This includes the value of the millennia-old thinking of Chinese medicine, and acupuncture treatments and herbal prescriptions. In our era of Yang excess, we need to be particularly discerning about which new things we value and incorporate. One way to gauge the relevance of new things is to see if they have a Yin result. For example, new solar and wind technology—which is Yang—can lessen greenhouse gas emissions—which is Yin.
Fourth, cultivate an internal balance of Yin and Yang. Visit places that Western science says store greenhouse gases and that Chinese medicine describes as cooling. Go to the oceans and see what you can learn from the rising and falling of the tides. Sit next to lakes, rivers, and streams and investigate the nature of water. Go to the forests and listen to what is happening and not happening. Sit with your back resting against a tree and just be. Let the forest teach you about being rooted and staying still. These can all help you experience more deeply the Yin.
Fifth, consider acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. One of the best and most effective ways that I know to find balance is with the help of the diagnostic and treatment principles of Chinese medicine. One way to help the planet is to help ourselves. As we move closer to balance in our own lives, we will be better able to understand how to move our country and culture toward health. Chinese medicine can effectively clear out heat and bring in coolant, two things of vital importance in our era of overstimulation.
Sixth, start or maintain an internal practice. Chinese medicine has well-developed techniques to help us cultivate well-being. Practices like mediation, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong are all Yin by nature, as they involve sitting quietly and moving slowly. They can enhance our own health and help us cool down physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Seventh, to paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, become the changes you wish to see in the world. If you hope to see a cooling planet, become more Yin. If you hope to see a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, clear out excess heat and overstimulation within yourself.
Not only can the above suggestions help us experience internally what a balanced country and culture would look like externally, they can also help us find a deeper sense of well-being. In this time of potentially cataclysmic climate change, it is our health—specifically our own internal balance of Yin and Yang—that will enable the deep changes necessary for sustainability to occur.
In addition to the beliefs that contribute to a warming planet, what we eat and drink can also add fuel to the fire. If we want to treat where climate change is coming from, it’s important to understand how our diet can contribute to an overheated condition, both internally and globally.
As we’ll discuss next, something that’s as ubiquitous as coffee can have very significant effects on our well-being and, in turn, on the health of the planet.