Tags
climate change, Earth, Earth Day, ecology, environment, God, Green living, science
It would be hard to miss that it is Earth Day today. As we pause in our busy lives to remember this, hopefully we are graced with the sense to commit ourselves anew to doing all we can individually and collectively to protect our precious pale blue dot.
Seen from the prospective of Voyager I,somewhere out just past Saturn, our planet is both beautiful in an ethereal way, and so very vulnerable. It stands alone in the vastness of space. In this it is not alone, but reflects the unspeakable, unthinkable, and unimaginable expansiveness of the universe.
It seems to me that our contribution to the destruction of home, our fouling of the nest, is clear. I know not what to make of those that argue that this is not the case. Some, I can wrap my brain around, for they are the greed factor, those who believe in nothing but their own comfort. To hell with future generations, we have only one time around, let the future take care of itself.
Others, are utterly and completely bamboozled by religion gone amok, desperately afraid of the world and finding their only solace in some fundamentalistic hodgepodge of interpretations, all designed to give security where there can be none. The most absurd excuse I’ve ever heard for why there is no reason to do anything against this threat, came from an old high school classmate who told me that the bible (meaning God) said that the earth would endure forever, thus ending any debate. I guess we cannot destroy the earth no matter how hard we try.
To most, thank goodness, the warnings by scientists are being heard and believed. We disagree of course as to the best remedy to our crisis, but at least most of us believe we are in crisis. Just yesterday, my friend and priest, and I were talking and wondering whether the rather crappy weather we have endured for three years now in Iowa was just a normal anomaly or in fact the beginning of a new pattern which we will be forced to contend with as the norm.
It is not enough to simply talk, though talk is good. We must act, each of us, in every way we can afford to, given our monetary resources and our time. Do all the little things, and search for one or two big things you can join in on.
I think what astounds me most about the naysayers is that they claim that the evidence is not sufficient. Yet, they cannot prove that there is no man-made climate change, but only argue that they find the proofs that there is, so far unconvincing. Pray tell, what do you say to your child/grandchild then? Are you willing to say that you are betting their futures and their very lives that you are right and the majority is wrong? I cannot fathom any parent or grandparent who would do this, yet the facts are undeniable that apparently these folks are doing just that.
It is akin to calling for building more and more nukes, because you bet that nobody will be crazy enough to actually use one. Yet of course these same folks would join in a chorus of voices chanting for an invasion, or first strike against any rogue nation who continues to threaten the world with its missiles. Talk to the right wing in Israel or in the US if you don’t believe me.
So, in prudence, should we not do everything we can to clean up our planet and reduce our use of carbon based fuels? After all, don’t we have myriads of other reasons for cutting our consumption of oil? Even the right wing seems to believe we should, though they would rather pursue more polluting here at home with drilling in waters off shore, where disaster is only an explosion away.
How many spills must there be? How many offshore platforms need explode with the resultant loss of life? How many garbage dumps in mid-Pacific must we grow, killing off marine life left and right. How much chemical waste must we continue to allow to spew into our waterways, killing and mutating, and making them dangerous to eat? In my life time it has become hazardous for pregnant women and kids to ingest tuna. It is hazardous in many of our states to eat large quantities of fresh water fish, now high in various pesticide and industrial run-off pollutants.
When do we say enough is enough? When is the in your face evidence enough to suggest that something has gone seriously wrong in our consumer greed induced desire to have it all, and cheaply? Do we really need to have produce from Mexico and Argentina? Are peaches that important in December?
There are a thousand questions like this. We should honor Earth, our home. It is a gift of God, however you define it, whether through a God-given natural evolution or not. As a young child I wrote a story about humanity settling on Mars as a new home to a polluted and over-populated earth. Yet, the reality is that it would be exceedingly unlikely that we could actually develop the technology to make such a move within even the next hundred years.
Dear Lord,
Let peace descend upon Mother Earth. Let her most intelligent creatures come to their senses and cherish her and care for her as she has cared for us all these millennia. Let us do all we can as individuals and as communities and nations to protect the life that she nurtures and has brought forth for our use and delight. Let us honor all her creatures and recognize their value and place among us as fellow earthly life. Let us rejoice in the fingerprint of you Lord, in all Earth’s beauty. Let us not forget, that we are star stuff, living or not, begun eons ago by your Word. Amen.
Some thoughtful posts on Earth Day today:
Earth Day 2010: Does Going Green Matter?
Fox and Friends Celebrate Earth Day by pushing Climategate Falsehoods
Joe Biden: For the First Time This Earth Day