All God's Children

One last unexpected summer trip for me coming right up against the beginning of fall semester has delayed this post a few days. It’s been an unusual start to the transition from summer toward fall for many of us given weather that is cooler and rainier than our usual, and a flu virus at the beginning of the school year. However, somehow we find ourselves at the beginning of September. Sitting here on my porch in Hastings, I’m already seeing monarch butterflies stopping by my coneflowers on their way south, and squirrels burying winter food. It’s time to transition to fall whether at school, in the parish, or at home.

Climate bill

I had thought my summer travels were all done when I got an invitation to a White House briefing on energy. This was a regional briefing for people from Midwestern and mid-Atlantic states. It was an opportunity for us to hear from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and others from the administration about their energy agenda and the expected outcomes for consumers, agriculture, commerce, and the climate if the Senate approves HR 2454, the climate bill, this fall. Secretary Vilsack said that he has not seen this sort of opportunity for rural America in his lifetime. A preliminary analysis from the USDA’s Chief Economist of the economic impacts of HR 2454 for agriculture seems to bear out this optimism.

Copenhagen climate conference
Looking beyond fall into December, there is hope that a climate bill will be passed before President Obama goes to the UN climate conference in Copenhagen; it will be difficult for the United States to be in a leadership role at this conference if we don’t have some sort of significant legislation in place. More seriously for people of all nationalities, if this conference gets stalled and cannot reach a significant agreement among the nations that share this planet, it may be difficult or perhaps just plain too late to stop climate change before it reaches the point of having devastating effects on all living things on Earth.

More evidence of climate change
A study of the Arctic climate in yesterday's issue of Science magazine shows the magnitude of the response of the Arctic climate to global warming. An article by Andrew Revkin in the New York Times quotes Dr. Jonathan Overpeck, one of the study’s authors and a climate scientist at the University of Arizona: “The fast rate of recent warming is the scary part. It means that major impacts on Arctic ecosystems and global sea level might not be that far off unless we act fast to slow global warming.” Time is growing short to get serious about climate change.

The Christian response
Our readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for this Sunday, though, suggest other reasons for Christians to advocate for changes in energy technology, transportation, agricultural practices, and many other areas of our lives so that the effects of climate change can be minimized. While every living thing on earth will be affected by climate change, among the human community the earliest effects and the most suffering will be experienced by the people who already are the poorest people in the world.

This Sunday’s reading from Proverbs reminds us that “the rich and poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.” The poorest people on our planet are God’s children just as we are; their lives are more precious than our convenience. James, talking about the folly of dishonoring the poor, says that there is no good in our saying we care about others – in telling them to “Go in peace” – if we aren’t willing to make sure others are clothed and fed. The passage from Mark’s Gospel is a turning point in Jesus’ ministry, when Jesus recognizes the depth of the faith of a Syrophoenician woman, someone from a different culture who claims her place in God’s kingdom.

When our brothers and sisters who live in Arctic villages or on Pacific islands, in easily flooded places like Bangladesh, in Africa where famine and malaria will increase with global warming, are living increasingly marginalized lives as climate change accelerates, we Christians are called to take notice and do what we can to prevent their suffering. We are all on this planet together. Ultimately, all of humanity will suffer if climate change cannot be stopped. But in the next half century or so, it will be the poorest people who bear the brunt of the burden. Per capita, the United States has the largest carbon output of any nation; we are the rich people in this story. As Christians, we know how Christ would have us treat the poorer people who share our world.

We have much to gain for ourselves by turning to new energy technologies and capping our carbon output, and, just as importantly, we have much to gain for the poorest people with whom we share the Earth.

All Things Wise and Wonderful

The last two Green Sprouts posts looked at some of the species that are in danger of extinction from the impact of the way we human beings are living on our shared planet. These endangered species are some of those bright and beautiful things, those “creatures great and small”, that we sing about in Hymn 405, “All things bright and beautiful.” Cecil Frances Alexander, the writer of the hymn, reminds us that “the Lord God made them all”.

The creation stories in Genesis tell us not only that God created the world and all the living things on the Earth, but that God gave humankind a special role in caring for our planet and the other creatures with whom we share “this fragile earth, our island home”. We know now not only that careful human stewardship can enhance the possibility of survival for other species, but also that the simple presence of a diversity of other living things optimizes conditions for human survival. Biodiversity is not an aesthetic luxury that we can sacrifice for economic gain or even short-term survival without grave consequences; biodiversity is essential for the health of human beings.

While many scientists predict an increase in the rate of species extinction as global warming increases, and while it’s a very serious situation, it isn’t without hope. For example, a recent study had both bad news – that many species of saltwater fish continue to be threatened by overfishing – and good news – that careful management of certain regions of the ocean had been able to turn things around. In other words, intentional stewardship allows us to live in harmony with other living things!

Another piece of this story is that the research was done jointly by marine ecologists and fisheries management scientists, two communities whose interests are often at variance with each other. By learning to look at this problem cooperatively rather than in a polarized way, these researchers were able to see a bigger picture than either community could see alone. In other words, when we love our enemies, when we humans learn to live together and work together well, all of creation can benefit.

In a very general yet very profound way, the most important thing that we human beings might do to maintain biodiversity and care for our fellow creatures is to live more fully into our humanity: to live peacefully with one another, to love and respect one another, and to be intentional about stewardship. When we are wise and wonderful human beings, it’s good both for us and for God’s other creatures.

We already know a lot of the specific actions that can help prevent species extinction. As I’ve learned more about species extinction in recent weeks, it seems to me that some of the biggest threats, which are interrelated, are global warming, overuse of living things (such as overfishing, or overcutting of forests), destruction of habitat, and pollution. Any actions we take to stop and then reverse these things are actions that help prevent multiple species extinctions.

Reducing our carbon footprint as individuals and as a society and a species is the key to reducing global warming. We can be good stewards by reducing our energy consumption and by doing what we can to encourage a decreased dependence on fossil fuels and the development of cleaner energy sources.

One of the most useful tools for people in landlocked Nebraska who want to do something about the depletion and extinction of creatures in the ocean is the seafood guide from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. There is a detailed guide to seafood recommendations on their website, and also a pocket-sized Seafood Watch guide that can be downloaded and printed to take along to the supermarket or restaurants to help select seafood that is caught in ecologically responsible ways. There is a pocket guide specifically for the Central U.S.!

There are local efforts we can make to address habitat destruction. When we landscape the yards of our homes or churches, we can keep other creatures in mind. A monocrop of bluegrass is not a good environment for animals and birds. Reducing the area in bluegrass and devoting some parts of the yard to native plants helps wildlife to thrive. When we do this, we are often rewarded by seeing visiting butterflies, birds, and small mammals enjoying these less “manicured” areas.

Plastic bags are a form of pollution that continues to be a hazard to all sorts of creatures. Take your own reusable shopping bags with you whenever possible. If plastic bags are the only option from time to time, we can recycle them or at least ensure that when they are thrown “away” they cannot be blown up into a tree or off into a waterway to eventually empty into the sea. Air and water pollution of any sort are not good for living things!

The daily decisions we make as consumers add up. We can be careful about the products we buy and use, finding out what we can about the raw materials used in their production or manufacture, the ways they are shipped, and how big an impact their use will have on the environment. Similarly, we can think about our transportation options and practice good stewardship in this area. We can consider our landscaping and its effects on our fellow creatures. We can be wise and wonderful human beings, good stewards of God’s creation.

...All (Sea) Creatures Great and Small

“Yonder is the great and wide sea with its living things too many to number, creatures both small and great. There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, which you have made for the sport of it.” (Psalm 104: 25-27)

The Psalmist says the living things in the seas are too many to number; in the creation story in the first chapter of Genesis, God says, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures…” Somehow we have gone from thinking of marine plants and animals as existing in swarms too dense and too great in size to number to pondering the effects of very reduced numbers of some of these creatures. Those ships that move in the sea along with Leviathan have a lot to do with this, especially the ships that bring fishermen who engage in overfishing, bottom trawling, or other practices that can destroy habitat. The rest of us have a lot to do with it also, though, as we eat the fairly inexpensive fish that get caught by the bottom trawlers, as our increased carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean acidification (particularly harmful to shellfish), and as plastic bags and other trash get blown into inland waterways and eventually find their way to the ocean to be ingested by marine animals.

A variety of species of fish, coral, whales, and dolphins are on lists of endangered species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List website has a search feature; the search can be as general as ‘fish’ or ‘coral’, or can be a search for a specific species. The Psalmist was amazed by the number of species found in the sea; today, some of us are amazed by the number of ocean species that are in danger of becoming extinct.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium devotes some of its website to an effort they call "Seafood Watch". More information on habitat damage, overfishing, bycatch (fishermen catching and discarding fish and animals that play important roles in marine ecosystems), and the role of aquaculture is available on the “Ocean Issues – What’s Troubling Our Waters” page.

The health of our oceans and other waters is necessary to the health of our planet, and to humankind. The depletion and extinction of ocean species especially affects poorer people living along coasts or on islands who depend on fish and other seafood as a protein source. This is a key reason why environmental sustainability is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Because God told human beings to care for the Earth, and because we delight in these creatures, it is spiritually dangerous to do nothing about the major changes taking place in the waters. Because the ocean is a major food source both for those of us who have other options for protein and for some of the world’s poorest people who depend on fish and seafood as a food source, it is dangerous to our physical health and also politically dangerous to remain unaware and unresponsive to the crisis in our oceans.

The next post about what we can do to minimize species extinction will include the good news about the oceans: evidence that conservation efforts and changes in fishing techniques can restore collapsed populations of fish. We inland consumers can help by making good choices about the seafood we eat.

All Things Bright and Beautiful...

As the impact of humans on land habitats, on oceans, rivers, and lakes, and on the overall climate increases, we hear more about species extinction. It’s difficult to grasp the true meaning of the extinction of an entire species. It’s one thing for us to see fewer individuals of some species or another than we used to see, but quite another thing to realize that no human being will ever again see an example of that species. Some scientists think that if there is no great change in the way humans care for creation, half of all species of living things on the Earth will be extinct by the end of this century.

This post talks about species that live primarily on land or in the air. Next post will look at what is happening in the oceans, and a final post in this set will look at some of the things we humans can do to minimize species extinction and keep these grim predictions from becoming fact.

A few days ago, I was sitting outside listening to the morning bird chorus in my neighborhood – cardinals, doves, and a Carolina wren among them – and suddenly thought about what it would be like to sit outside and never hear any birds. What if these birds became extinct? What if they disappeared not only from my neighborhood, but I knew there was nowhere in the world where I could go to hear these familiar songs? Wouldn’t it seem lonely to lose that background of song, chatter, and splashes of color?

Some of the more familiar birds in North America have declined greatly in numbers. Using numbers from annual bird counts since 1967, the Audubon Society has compiled a list of twenty common birds in decline, including the Eastern meadowlark (cousin to our state bird), the common tern, and the whip-poor-will.

Besides the birds, there are all the other animals: from polar bears to the Tasmanian devils in Australia, from the Caspian seal to Holdridge’s toad in Costa Rica (not seen since 1986), we face the possibility of losing some of our companions on this planet, maybe during our own lifetimes.

Scientists know some things about how the disappearance of entire species of animals and plants affect the remaining species in a habitat. At some point, depending on the habitat and the sorts of things that become extinct, this can have a cascading sort of effect. Something that feeds on a plant, insect, or small animal that has become extinct also becomes endangered; something that was the prey of a now distinct predator increases in numbers, perhaps endangering another species by an upset of the ecological balance in the habitat. Ultimately, of course, the survival of our own species is linked to the survival of others.

The question of human survival alone should be enough to make us pay attention to what is happening and find the will to make changes to help avert this ecological disaster. But apart from that, there is the question of our charge from God to care for creation, for the other animals and the plants. The possibility of losing a large number of species of other living things impacts our spiritual health as much as our physical survival. This is God’s creation; experiencing the wonder and beauty of God’s creation can connect us with God, revealing the presence of The Holy. The other animals and plants are more than a means of physical survival; they are companions that can reveal something of their Creator, something of God. Without them, the world would be a very lonely place even if we were able to find a way to survive.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) publishes an annual list Red List of Threatened Species. Their website includes a section of case studies of particular animals, including a few encouraging stories of animals whose survival chances increased after strong conservation efforts were begun. A video from the 2008 World Conservation Congress opening summarizes the challenge and lets the viewer see many of the endangered species.

Extra Bits: Ogallala Aquifer Report

The print edition of today's Lincoln Journal Star carries this headline for a story about a new U.S. Geological Survey study of the Ogallala Aquifer: “Aquifer’s OK…for now”. The report basically says that the water in the aquifer is generally acceptable for human consumption, irrigation, and livestock watering. That’s the good news, and it’s very good news considering our dependence in Nebraska on this great water source.

However, the study warns that heavy use of the water is resulting in gradual increases in contaminants such as nitrates that, if continued, will make the water unusable. Because of the nature of the aquifer, reversal of such contamination would be extremely slow. The report is available at pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1337 .

Good stewardship of water resources is vital! God has given us many gifts, many resources, including this great water resource in the middle of our continent. If we care for them and use them wisely, they will bless us for many more generations to come; if we use them carelessly, future generations will not know the quality of life that we are privileged to know.

Extra Bits: Creation Care at General Convention

"Ubuntu in Action: Creation Care" was the General Convention theme yesterday (July 15). Episcopal News Service has an excellent report at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_112609_ENG_HTM.htm

Besides talking about environmental resolutions, the steps taken to offset the carbon footprint of General Convention, and a summary of what the Church has been doing to address climate change and pollution, the report highlights the sermon given by Bishop Steven Charleston, in which he says, "I am here to tell you that unless we recognize that there is a higher, deeper calling that lies behind all of these needs...none of our hopes and dreams, whether they come from conservative hearts or liberal minds, will sustain the day on anything we have been discussing, for all will be for naught...lest we wake up and pay attention to the underwriting great issue of our day."

May we have ears to hear and find the will, wisdom, and courage to reset our priorities and care for God's Creation, the Earth that sustains us, feeds us, and delights us so that we can carry out all the other work and worship to which God calls us!

GC Resolutions and Garden Varieties

The Episcopal Church’s 76th General Convention is beginning this week. The Convention will address several important topics, including the environment. Resolutions concerning the environment are listed and summarized on the Episcopal Ecological Network (EpEN). These resolutions range from calls for better environmental stewardship to the development of a liturgical Pentecost Season Creation Cycle to establishment of an Environmental Commission.

Apart from a growing awareness among Americans in general of the practical necessity of taking better care of our environment, there are reasons for Christians in particular to pay more attention to the care of creation. Some of these reasons have to do with the way environmental issues fit into our traditions of being intentional about stewardship of God’s gifts to us and of advocating for policies that help people living in poverty, who are the people most affected by pollution and climate change; other reasons have to do with the way being in touch with the natural world helps to ground and enrich us spiritually. The variety of environmental resolutions for General Convention reflect this range of reasons for us to be more aware of our relationship with the environment. Uniting them all is this: our understanding of God is Incarnational; there is no great divide between body and spirit.

However, we do tend to create dichotomies when we use various categories to try to understand something complex. In this case, we might group the resolutions about environmental stewardship and justice under the category of compassionate action, and group the ones about spirituality under the category of contemplation. Many religious thinkers have explored the supposed dichotomy between action and contemplation; the Letter of James explores a similar dichotomy between works and faith.

This dichotomy came to mind this week as my travels took me to two very different garden projects in two parishes in very different settings. The first was the new flower garden at St. Mary’s in Bassett. I was in Bassett last Monday evening for their Celebration of New Ministry, and stayed overnight at the hotel across the street from the church. Early Tuesday morning, I spent some time sitting on a bench looking at the garden. It was a lovely place to sit, meditate, and feed my spirit at the beginning of the day: a contemplative garden.

The second parish garden I saw was this Sunday at St. Paul’s in Akron, Ohio, where I was confirmed and where my mother is still a parishioner. While St. Paul’s has some beautiful flower gardens, there was a new garden that surprised and delighted me -- a very well-tended vegetable garden. The purpose of this garden is to produce fresh vegetables to share with people who need food for their bodies: an action garden.

While the flowers at St. Mary’s and the vegetables at St. Paul’s seem like two entirely different projects, they have a lot in common. Both give the people who tend them an opportunity to be outdoors and get grounded in the truest sense of the word, by working with the ground. Both suggest good alternatives to grassy areas that need to be mowed and are often maintained with lots of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Both remind us that something important in the life of a parish can occur on the outer side of the church walls, that our lives as Christians aren’t contained within the indoor worship space. Both give people walking by a reminder of God’s gifts to us, and especially of the gift of new growth and fruition.


In my own garden at home in Nebraska, I tend to mix vegetables and flowers, partly because of lack of space, partly because of my personal taste in landscape aesthetics, but also because I have learned that planting flowers among vegetables – companion planting -- can help keep the vegetable plants freer of pests. Companion planting might be a good metaphor for good Christian discipleship, combining spiritual groundedness with compassionate action.

As I understand the General Convention theme of Ubuntu, it involves the idea of the interconnectedness among all of humankind and all of Creation. Sometimes things that seem very different are really interconnected or even intertwined. James says that faith without works is dead, yet we also know that works or action are more fruitful and lasting when they are grounded in a solid spiritual foundation. In the end, they are not really different things, but just two sides of faithful Christian discipleship.