Remembering Hildegard of Bingen

Today the church remembers Hildegard of Bingen, a remarkable woman of the 12^th century. Along with writing down and illustrating her visions, she led a religious community, preached (an amazing thing for a woman in that time), healed people, and composed music.

Hildegard’s concept of viriditas speaks to ecological concerns today. Viriditas is “greenness” or green power, a creative life force that she sensed in all of creation, including plants, animals, and precious gems. The way Hildegard described it is a sort of spiritual and biological power. For Hildegard, God was the ultimate creative force; greenness was the presence of God in the world. Unlike many in the church in her time, Hildegard taught that the body and soul are integrated.

The NOAA State of the Climate Global Analysis for August2012[i] reports among other things that the globally-averaged land surface temperature for June-August 2012 was the warmest June-August on record at 1.03° C above average. Numerous reports in recent weeks suggest that we are nearing a point of no return on global warming, leaving us with a biosphere incapable of sustaining life as we know it.

Were she with us today, Hildegard might very well understand our situation. She taught that sin “dried up” the greenness, writing:

Now in the people that were meant to green, there is no more life of any kind. There is only shriveled barrenness. The winds are burdened by the utterly awful stink of evil, selfish goings-on. Thunderstorms menace. The air belches out the filthy uncleanliness of the peoples. There pours forth an unnatural, loathsome darkness that withers the green, and wizens the fruit that was to serve as food for the people. Sometimes this layer of air is full, full of a fog that is the source of many destructive and barren creatures, that destroy and damage the earth, rendering it incapable of sustaining humanity.
 

But humans are also capable of becoming conduits of viriditas. By opening ourselves to the greenness of creation, we tap into a deep source of creativity. Hildegard’s vision provides an explanation of why people engaged in environmental work today find times of renewal outdoors so necessary to sustaining compassion and creativity in discouraging times.

Here’s some of Hildegard’s music with photos of some of the beauties of creation that inspired Hildegard. This particular video contains several photos of butterflies, especially appropriate during the September monarch migration.

 More about Hildegard is available from the Holy Women, Holy Men blog. The Spirituality and Practice website  provides links to several resources.

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[i] NOAA National Climatic Data Center, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for August 2012, published online September 2012, retrieved on September 17, 2012 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/.

"Wisdom cries out in the street..."

Proper 19B. Proverbs 1:20-33

A sampling of this week’s stories about our changing climate and its effects include these about this year’s record number of extreme weather events:

·                     Andrew Freedman reported 2012 Has Had Most Extreme Weather on Record for U.S.  on Climate Central.
 
          Kelly Levin posted Timeline: Extreme Weather Events in 2012 on the World Resources Institute’s WRI Insights website.  Along with giving a useful visual representation of some of this year’s extreme weather events around the world, the timeline includes the dates of some of the scientific reports connecting extreme weather events and climate change.

There were several stories this week about the astonishing Arctic sea ice melt this summer. A few of them are:

·                     A report from Nature entitled Ice loss shifts Arctic cycles  that looks at the effects of these changes in the Arctic on ocean circulation, ecological systems, and atmospheric pressure, all of which entail global effects.
 
         Climate Central posted ‘Astonishing’ Ice Melt May Lead to More Extreme Winters  which discusses how this record loss of ice could affect winter weather in Europe and North America this year. An increase in extreme weather events is expected with changes in the jet stream.
 
         A post from John Vidal aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise suggests that the reported record ice melt may in fact be underestimating the amount of the melt. The Arctic Sunrise was traveling through an area that the data indicated was still covered with ice, but is actually about 50% melted.
 

Shifting from the Arctic to the warm waters of the Caribbean, this week brought a report that coral reefs in the Caribbean are “on the brink” of collapse from warming waters and increasing ocean acidity. When coral reefs collapse, entire marine eco-systems collapse.

Our Sunday lesson from Proverbs (Proverbs1:20-33) is in the voice of Wisdom warning as a prophet warns that scoffing at wisdom results in disaster. Given the warnings we tend to push aside and ignore, these words from Wisdom might get our attention:  “I also will laugh at your calamity…when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.”

Given what is happening to the Arctic, to the oceans, to the stability of our climate, our complacency seems irrational. At the end of this passage from Proverbs, Wisdom says that “the complacency of fools destroys them”. However, “those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster”.

Nearly every week now brings news about further evidence of climate change and its dire effects on ecosystems and the welfare of living things. This week’s passage from Proverbs might help bring us out of our complacency so we can make wiser choices and mitigate the effects of climate change. It also helps us on a deeper level. Perhaps those who listen to wisdom live without dread of disaster not because they will avoid disaster, but because their wisdom allows them to face disaster with inner peace.

It suggests that our response as Christians to climate change is both to do what we can to avoid complacency and advocate for a reasoned response to climate change, and also – no matter what choices humanity as whole makes in response to climate change -- to be wise ourselves, grounded in faith and hope, secure in Christ’s peace.

Children, Melting Ice, Fires, and More

August

Platte R. near Grand Island 8/9/2012

At St. Stephen’s in Grand Island, August began with a one-day Vacation Bible School with the theme “Recycling God’s Love”. With Psalm 24:1 – “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and all who dwell therein” -- as our organizing Bible verse, we talked about the responsibility we have as God’s children to care for the earth and all the gifts God has given us. Our music director, Dan Korensky, wrote an energetic song for us based on the verse. Dan’s help was enlisted by his wife, Brittany Korensky, who took charge of VBS this year with help from other Christian education volunteers and the parish Green Team.

We talked about what happens to things we throw "away" and what happens to things we recycle, and we did “audit” of the waste from St. Stephen’s church and community center, separating out the recyclables that had found their way into the trash.

Gathering in small groups, the children wrote or drew the things in creation for which they are thankful. We gathered these together in a paper “quilt”, and Fr. Peek gathered their responses into a psalm to use in worship Sunday morning.

After lunch and games, the children used paper from discarded magazines and newspapers to make two collages. The results were stunning!

It was a good way to start a month that brought news of Hurricane Isaac, record temperatures, floods, melting Arctic sea ice, and more, and that is ending here in Nebraska with fires in the western part of the state. (See more information about the fires from the Lincoln Journal Star and KQSK radio  in Chadron.)

On August 20, the American Meteorological Association released an information statement about climate change. The concluding portion of the statement says:

There is unequivocal evidence that Earth’s lower atmosphere, ocean, and land surface are warming; sea level is rising; and snow cover, mountain glaciers, and Arctic sea ice are shrinking. The dominant cause of the warming since the 1950s is human activities… Prudence dictates extreme care in accounting for our relationship with the only planet known to be capable of sustaining human life.

On August 26 the extent of the Arctic sea ice fell below the record for minimum ice cover that was set in 2007. (See this from the NASA Earth Observatory.) Along with giving clear evidence of warming, affecting life for plants, animals, and humans in the Arctic, and opening more open water to absorb sunlight and accelerate the warming cycle, there are effects on the stability of the climate for the entire planet that are of grave concern. (See Why the Arctic Sea Ice Death Spiral Matters  by Joe Romm.)

Some parishes do a blessing of the backpacks (and of the children who carry them) at the beginning of the school year. We send children off to school hoping that they will learn and grow physically, intellectually, and spiritually, hoping they will grow to have meaningful and productive lives. We assume that they will experience many of the pleasures as adults as we do in Nebraska today: comfortable homes, access to clean water and adequate food, stable governments and institutions. So much of what we hope for our children depends on a stable climate!

Jesus taught us that children are important. Jesus loved the children, and we say we do, too. Talking about climate change, learning all we can about it, and making it an important issue in our common life is a way to truly love the children in our lives and around the world.

St. James, Scallops, and Drought

The church today celebrates the Feast of Saint James. It’s perhaps fitting that as we observe the feast day of one of the two brothers that Jesus called “Boanerges” or “Sons of Thunder”, we have a chance for thunderstorms in parts of Nebraska that are sorely in need of rain and cooler temperatures.

The scallop shell is the traditional symbol for St. James. A Google search for “scallop shell, St James”   yields more than one explanation for the association of this shell with St James. There are some fine legends behind these explanations; some involve knights and/or their horses falling into water, being fished out, and then being seen to be covered in mollusks. Whatever the historical reason for the adoption of the scallop shell as the symbol for St. James, one delicious result has been a tradition of eating Coquilles St. Jacques (St. James Scallops) on the day.

We know now that shellfish of all kinds are endangered by ocean acidification. Ocean acidification and global warming are related; both are caused by an excess of carbon in the atmosphere, and both could be mitigated by controlling carbon emissions.  The ocean serves as a carbon sink; this helps make the effects of high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere milder than they would be otherwise, but it also means that the ocean has absorbed a considerable amount of carbon, leading to a less alkaline ocean. (A recent Scientific American blog guest post – The Flames of Ocean Acidification by Matthew Huelsenbeck  -- explains some of the latest findings.) Some call what’s happening in the oceans “the osteoporosis of the sea” because of the effect of this change of chemistry on the shells of all sorts of mollusks.  When scallops and other shellfish lose the protection of their hard shells, they cannot survive.

The shellfish in the sea and the plants, animals, and people suffering from the heat and drought in Nebraska are connected as all living things are connected. It’s no surprise, then, that carbon emissions that harm one also harm another. This summer’s high heat and drought conditions have helped many people finally see the connections among climate change, greenhouse gases, and hardship for living things. As we wake up to what is happening, we might take a cue from the Sons of Thunder and make sure our leaders hear us when we ask for action that would ensure a more stable climate. And maybe, if we make deep changes soon enough, there might still be Coquilles St. Jacques for someone to eat some July 25 in the next century.

Good Weather for Proverbial Elephants

General Convention, 2012

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church ended today. Several resolutions supportive of environmental concerns passed: one opposed fracking  (correction: this did not pass the House of Deputies), another calls for study of genetically modified food crops, while others authorized daily prayer for all seasons. (The Episcopal Ecological Network will be listing all these resolutions for reference in coming weeks.) With the fifth of the Anglican Marks of Mission being “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth”, this year’s budget includes $500,000 for that work. Overall, the care of God’s creation received some thoughtful consideration, some funding, and was one of many topics of this convention.

I arrived in Indianapolis Saturday afternoon, when the temperature was somewhere around 105 degrees. Extreme heat and drought were evident every time people stepped outside the convention center and the network of skyways connecting it to hotels. Flying into Indianapolis, I was shocked at the parched, light brown appearance of fields. Several Nebraskans who had driven to Indianapolis told about the poor condition of some of the cornfields they had driven past in Illinois and Indiana, with the leaves of the corn plants curled up in the heat. Yet despite the extreme heat and drought of this summer, and despite the conversations around the specific bits of environmentally related resolutions and budget items, most of the time in the convention center it was easy to forget about environmental degradation of any sort. The plain truth is that for most Episcopalians, environmental issues are not a central concern. Global warming seemed a bit like the proverbial elephant in the middle of the room (or the convention hall): everyone was aware of its presence on some level, but it was seldom mentioned. Even those of us who are intellectually certain that global warming is happening act much of the time as if nothing unusual is happening; we accept global warming intellectually but not existentially.

The record heat we have experienced for several months now is finally helping people get a sense of the meaning of global warming – this worldwide and long-term climate trend that will have deep economic and cultural impacts. The evening newscasts on July 10 on ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS all made the connection between greenhouse gases and this summer’s heat wave. (See Every Network Gets Extreme Weather Story Right… by Joe Romm.) Denial is becoming less of an option.

In recent years, the church's environmental work has been concentrated on traditional stewardship -- e.g. "greening" our churches, meetings, and homes. While that remains important work, the reality is that these traditional conservation measures practiced by parishes and some of the individuals who worship in them will not stop climate change, which is well underway with lots of feedback loops assuring it will continue. At best, they will mitigate climate change, making its impact less severe than it might have been, or reinforcing the impact of any governmental policies that might come along to address global warming.

Given the reality of climate change caused by global warming, the church has a much deeper task ahead. Secular environmental groups, government, and industry can lead in traditional conservation practices as well as establishing political and economic policies that can do much more to mitigate global warming, but faith communities are uniquely able to work on humankind’s deeper needs during this time.

One task for the church is to help us name and get past the existential denial that keeps us from really seeing that big, hot elephant in the middle of the room. When the church meets at General Convention or at the diocesan or parish level and plans for the future without accounting for the reality of that future, we are in deep denial. Along with addressing denial, the church needs to be prepared to help people through the spiritual crisis that looms ahead as the reality of our situation becomes more evident to more and more people. Finding hope (which will look different from our old hopes) and learning how to lead meaningful and faithful lives as humankind faces a completely new type of challenge is the task of the church now.

God’s creation is still all around us. There are still wonders to behold, the marvels of the web of life, sunrises and sunsets, rainbows, and stars. Renewing our spiritual connection with the earth is a piece of the search for hope and meaning as the fragility of so much of what we take for granted becomes apparent. Our meditations and prayers can reflect both sides of our reality: the beauty of the earth and the unknown future of life on earth.

Environmental Ministry at General Convention

It’s 103 degrees this afternoon in Indianapolis, where the General Convention of The Episcopal Church is underway. I’m on my way there to connect with the Episcopal Ecological Network (EpEN) www.eeonline.org . The incredible heat should provide a good talking point!

Several resolutions touch on environmental issues. The EpEN website shows a list of General Convention resolutions  related to environmental issues. In the exhibit hall, EpEN is sharing a booth with the Episcopal Network for EconomicJustice (ENEJ). Our sharing of physical space is a sign of how issues of economic justice and eco-justice issues are interwoven. Concern for God’s creation because it matters to God is part of our Christian commitment to environmental integrity; the effects of environmental degradation on the poorest people in the world is another major piece of that commitment.

A climate justice resolution and an Episcopal News Service story, Standingwith Kivalina at the 77th General Convention, shows the connections for a community above the Arctic Circle, who in turn ask us to make the connection for indigenous cultures throughout the world.

More Fire and Rain

“Fire and rain” was the topic of a post here on June 12 concerned with bidding prayers for people affected by wildfires in the western United States, people affected by flooding in Florida and Alabama, and for wisdom as a new study suggested we were reaching an important tipping point that would result in a very different planet biologically than the one on which we live and on which humankind has developed.

In recent days, new instances of fire and rain have added to these concerns.

High heat and “epic dryness” are feeding ten separate fires in Colorado, along with fires in New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, California, and Nevada. USA Today quotes Ron Roth of the Rocky Mountain Area Coordinating Center saying, “The whole Central Rocky Mountain range is a tinderbox.” We have felt the heat in Nebraska. The town of Benkelman hit a monthly record high temperature of 114 degrees on Wednesday; the previous high temperature there for June --111 degrees -- was set in 1936.

This graphic shows the temperature records broken so far this month in the continental United States.

Since that June 12 post, Minnesotans experienced record flooding in Duluth, and tropical storm Debby dumped incredible amounts of rain on Florida and southern Georgia.

All of the destruction has been covered by news sources, and some have even connected the dots among the heat, the fires, the floods, and climate change caused by global warming. What most news sources can’t cover is the question of how people of faith can best respond to these events. We respond in a variety of ways; here are four ways we can move beyond a feeling of being overwhelmed or helpless to a place of faith and service:

1. Pray. (See A MajorTipping Point; Fire and Rain.) Pray for the victims of fires and floods and those in the path of destruction; pray for firefighters and rescue workers working in extremely difficult conditions; pray for communities that will never again be the same. Pray that we can find a way to live that gives the next generation and the one after that a decent shot at living good lives. Pray for forgiveness “for our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 268), for we are responsible corporately – all of us together – for climate change to have been allowed to progress to this point.

2. Give to relief efforts such as Episcopal Relief and Development to help the people most directly affected by these disasters.

3. Advocate for stronger policies to mitigate global warming. Speak up as citizens, consumers, workers, and church members. Let our leaders know you are concerned about climate change and its effects on people today and in the future. This video – a TEDx talk by Dave Roberts – explains climate change so that people who want to speak up about it feel prepared to do so:

4. Live in hope. This morning’s Daily Office lesson from Romans (Romans 5:1-11) reminds us that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character,  and character produces hope, and hope does not disappointment us…”  Christians live in hope, not only hope of eternal life, but hope in the coming of the Kingdom of God. This is hope that calls us to live into the kingdom every day of our lives, serving as the Body of Christ in the world, encouraging one another, and living in expectant hope.