Selfishness and the materialistic life of humankind today will generate the end of natural resources. According to Buddhism, one should live in accordance with nature and free oneself from the materialistic life. Buddhists thus balance human economic and environmental needs by means of the teachings of the middle path, balance, equilibrium and contentment leading to a simple and disciplined way of life. Third, the elimination of suffering is the ultimate concern of Buddhist teachings. Human behavior can be evaluated in terms of its capacity to promote or reduce suffering of all forms of life.
Human beings create suffering because of greed, anger and delusion.
Buddhists recognize greed, anger and delusion as defilements which corrupt human consciousness. The path to the enlightenment includes overcoming these forces through spiritual practice. It is apparent that greed, hatred and delusion in their various manifestations are also the factors which generate insecurity among people. These are fueled by the delusion of individualized self striving for self-definition through rejection of the other. From Buddhist perspective, we must seek to improve our earth community by improving ourselves as individuals first and then trying to change social structure to preserve the environment.