World Environment Day

June 5th is UN World Environment Day and this year's theme is "Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change".

Today is also the premiere of the documentary movie "Home" which is available to watch on youtube until June 14th. Great photography and environmental message!

A Date with the Planet

On World Environment Day, June 5th, a new movie called "Home" will be released worldwide free of charge on every format: movie theaters, TV, DVD, and Internet.

Earth Day

Last Sunday our church celebrated Earth Day with a theme of "Celebrating and Caring for God's Creation". The 5th grade Sunday School class prepared a Powerpoint presentation about the environmental impact of plastic bags.

World Water Day 2009

World Water Day is celebrated on March 22. This year's theme is Shared Water - Shared Opportunities and focuses on transboundary waters.

Nearly 40 % of the world's population lives in river and lake basins shared by two or more countries. The world's 263 transboundary basins include the territory of 145 countries and cover nearly half of the Earth's land surface.

Whether we live upstream or downstream, we are all in the same boat.

The Green Bible

HarperOne recently issued The Green Bible which is printed on recycled paper, uses soy-based ink and New Revised Standard Version text.

Some of the highlights include:

• Over 1,000 verses highlighted in green that are relevant to caring for creation.

• Essays by Matthew Sleeth, Calvin B. DeWitt, Brian McLaren, Barbara Brown Taylor, and others.
  
  
• A Green Bible Trail Guide that leads you through a selection of Bible passages touching on six green themes that appear throughout the biblical narrative.
  
  
• A green subject index
  
  
• A resource guide,"Where Do We Go from Here?", which outlines numerous caring for the creations actions for individuals and churches.

This a great resource for all church groups that are involved in caring for creation.

Here is what Ellen Davis of Duke Divinity School had to say about The Green Bible.

Keynote Speaker - Bill McKibben

Recently, I had the opportunity to hear Bill McKibben speak at a Christian Educators Conference in Albuquerque. For a little background on Bill, check one of my previous posts. I have read several of Bill's books and was very interested to hear him speak in person.

His talk began with an overview on climate change and he used a number of biblical references for why we should care for creation. He spoke about his involvement in the national day of action, Step it up 2007 and his latest involvement with 350.org which will bring worldwide attention to the need for reducing carbon dioxide to 350 ppm.

I now have an autographed copy of his book, The Comforting Whirlwind - God, Job and the Scale of Creation.

Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are polluting our environment and filling our landfills.

Our 5th grade Sunday School Class researched the environmental effects of plastic bags and put together a bulletin board display in the church education building.









Our environmental stewardship team has designed a "Going Green" reusable canvas bags with the church logo and is selling them to the congregation.

These bags will not only reduce the use of plastic bags but will show the community that our church is caring for God's creation.

Beach Sweep

Today was the 20th Beach Sweep sponsored by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. Our environmental stewardship team at church promoted this event to our church members as something they can do to help our environment.






Debris was bagged and the type of debris was recorded on a form.
The Ocean Conservancy will tally the data from all the groups. This information helps us learn the sources of litter so we can stop pollution before it starts.

(Cigarette butts/filters were the number one item)

Junk Mail and the Environment

After reading an article about the environmental effects of junk mail and visiting the website, donotmail.org, I put together some of facts in a Powerpoint slideshow for the announcement time before our contemporary worship service.



I wonder how many of the church mailings go unopened? Churches can minimize their mailings by utilizing email and church websites. Our church initiated an option this year for members to receive the weekly newsletter by email. This has reduced our paper usage and mailing costs.

Faith in Action

Sierra Club recently issued a report on "Faith in Action: Communities of Faith Bring Hope for the Planet" and it is available for download as a pdf file. The report highlights one faith-based environmental initiative in each of the fifty states.

The initiatives involved a broad range of denominations including Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Evangelicals, Catholic and most of the mainline Protestant churches.

The report is a good source of information and shows that the faith-based environmental movement is growing and has yet to reach its peak.

Environmental Evangelism

I had an opportunity to do some environmental evangelism at the South Carolina United Methodist Annual Conference last week. It gave me a chance to promote the 4th annual Lake Junaluska Caring for Creation Conference and provide some handouts with tips on greening the church.

The Story of Stuff

The 20 minute video, The Story of Stuff, is a great documentary about over-consumption and the meaning of sustainability. You can view it on the website, download it or order a DVD copy. I have used it for a Wednesday night program at church and it generated some good discussion.

The website, www.storyofstuff.com, also has some great resources.

• A list of facts from the video along with the footnoted sources.
• A list of 10 little and big things you can do.
  

Lenten Focus

During Lent our church is focusing on fasting by Treading Lightly on God's Creation.

A Lenten calendar of daily ideas was created to help spark an awareness of caring for what God has given us.

An Earth-Friendly Christmas

Will your Christmas this year be Earth-friendly? Beside over- consuming our natural resources, we generate a record amount of trash during this time of year.

Merry Christmas to the landfills everywhere!

The environmental stewardship team at our church put together a list of Suggestions for an Earth-Friendly Christmas. Check it out, try a couple of ideas and lighten your impact on the environment this year.

Climate Change Event

I recently had the opportunity to attend a one-day event, "Ethical, Cultural and Civic Dimensions of Global Climate Change" in Charleston which was sponsored by the Center for Humans and Nature and Coastal Conservation League.

The main draw for me was the chance to hear Bill McKibben, who is one of my environmental heroes. Other speakers included Kirstin Dow from the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina; Wes Jackson, founder of the Land Institute; and Dana Beach, Executive Director of the Coastal Conservation League.

Kristin Dow's talk was a good review of the science of climate change and consequences. She ended with this poignant question:

"Our great-grandchildren will know we had this information. What would they want us to do?"

Wes Jackson's talk dealt with a our use of the land and carbon. He had a number quotable facts but this one made an impact on me.

" During the life of a 22 year old today, the world has consumed 54% of the total oil used to date."

Bill McKibben's talk focused on his involvement with national climate change initiative called Step it up 2007 and the need for a new kind of growth which emphasizes local economies. Many of his highlights were from his latest book, Deep Economy.

Dana Beach discussed the activities of the Coastal Conservation League and showed a short lighthearted film on the serious issue of global climate change entitled "Global Warming Guy". The film was produced by Coastal Conservation League and was filmed at various locations in the Charleston, South Carolina area.

Swamps

After listening to a recent podcast of a lecture by Michael Grunwald at Duke's Nicholas School of Environment, I purchased his book, The Swamp. Michael Grunwald is an award-winning environmental reporter at the Washington Post and his latest book covers the history of the Everglades and south Florida's political and natural history.

The story is a classic tale of man vs. nature. Today, half the Everglades is gone and the remainder is dying, as a result of a massive flood control and drainage project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Seven million residents now live in this once sparsely populated region. An unprecedented $11 billion effort is now underway in an attempt to restore this 3 million- acre ecosystem.

After reading the book, I see a parallel in our current global climate change crisis. We are in a swamp of politics and inaction. It is time for the faith communities to stand united and speak out for governmental action on climate change. We must become the shepherd's that care for God's creation.

Waiting for the Comet

Like a comet orbiting the earth, widespread concern for the environment swings into view only periodically …
In between, when political action is unlikely, come quieter moments for laying plans, for collecting the ideas and solutions that will form the basis of the next environmental debate.
For that debate will surely come again, that comet will swing back into view …

From: Introduction to Hope, Human and Wild -
Bill McKibben (1995)

Twelve years later and I can see the comet coming. Everyday now, on TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, books and the Internet, environmental issues are getting more and more coverage. We will know the comet is here when our politicians wake up and take action on the environmental problems.

The comet was last here in the 60's and 70's. It was first sited when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring and got closer when 20 million people celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970. It was bright in the sky during the 70s with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passing of the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Let's pray that this new comet will have similar results.

Native American Spirituality

The main focus of Native American spirituality is the relationship of man with the land. Native Americans walk softly upon the Earth and have respect for all living things. A recent concert of the Carolina Master Chorale highlighted this. Several selections from Native American Ambiances by Jackson Berkey were performed. The words to one of the selections, The Web of Life, were especially meaningful.

This we know.
The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth.
All things are connected like the blood that unites one family.
Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth.
We do not weave the web of life; we are only a strand of it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

The words are attributed to Chief Seattle of the Suquamish tribe and remind us that we need to learn to tread lightly on God's creation.

Is Big Better?

Our houses have more the doubled in size over the last fifty years as the average number of occupants has decreased. Our energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions have increased and are adding to the global warming problem.

"We have moved from the little house on the prairie to the big house on the cul-de-sac."

Bill Mckibben

Are we happy?
In his book, Deep Economy, Bill McKibben points out the results of a happiness survey. Since World War II, the National Opinion Research Council has polled Americans once a year with the fundamental question:

"Taken all together, how would you say things are these days - would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?"

The proportion of respondents saying they were very happy peaked in the 1950's and has decreased steadily in the years since.

Thinker and writer, Leonard Sweet, has some good thoughts on our "bigger is better" mentality in a Napkin Scribbles podcast entitled "Do Smaller Larger".

The First "R"

The first "R" in the environmental slogan "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" may be the most important, but gets forgotten in all the promotion for recycling.
Good shopping practices can reduce waste entering our house and help conserve our natural resources.

Some things we can do ...

• buy only what you need ( differentiate between "wants" and "needs")

• buy products with the least amount of packaging

• buy products that can be reused
  

• reduce paper waste by canceling unwanted mail

• buy non-toxic products whenever possible

• say "I don't need a bag" for small purchases.