Tuesday, May 1, 2012

May 2012 Creation Corner Column - From Biosphere to Bioregion to Bible: Resources for Entering Unknown Territory

With 7,775 USA weather stations recording broken high temperatures in March, it seems imperative that we, in the words of Peter Maurin, recognize "the need for ongoing clarification of thought." *
Thus, here are resources from various media to help us understand the potential impact of climate change, the environmental consequences of energy endeavors, and biblical guidance for charting our earthly future.
Biosphere
Blowout in the Gulf: The BP Oil Spill Disaster and the Future of Energy in America by William R. Fruedenburg and Robert Gramling.
Changing Planet, Changing Health by Dan Ferber and Paul R. Epstein
Climate Wars: What People Will Be Killed for in the 21st Century by Harald Welzer
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines by Michael E. Mann
HOT: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth by Mark Hertsgaard
Methodist layman Bill McKibben, a columnist for Sojourners magazine and founder of www.350.org, is an author of many books, including The End of Nature (1989, now in 20 languages); Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age; Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.
Reinventing Fire by Amory Lovins
World Environment Day 2012 theme is "Green Economy: Does It Include YOU?"  Held yearly on June 5, and the UN Environmental Sabbath that week.  This year is the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Environmental Programme.  www.unep.org/wed
"Fueling Our Future with Efficiency" 2012 Summer Conference, http://www.aceee.org/conferences/2012 
The Island President (film re: Maldlives Islands threatened by rising ocean waters, see http://theislandpresident.com )
FUEL (film) www.thefuelfilm.com
http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php re: global warming and climate change myths
www.ucsusa.org/coolersmarter re: cutting our global warming emissions
For and about young people: 
Big Miracle (film: see www.everybodyloveswhales.com
www.dawnpub.com (books that connect children and nature); Companions in Wonder: Children and Adults Exploring Nature Together, edited by Julie Dunlap and Stephen R. Kellert.
Bioregion
www.cbf.org Chesapeake Bay Foundation
www.celdf.org Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
www.paee.net Pa. Assoc. of Environmental Educators
www.paipl.org Pa. Interfaith Power and Light
www.responsibledrillingalliance.org re: Marcellus Shale drilling
www.sportsmenalliance.org re: Marcellus Shale
DVD "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" re: Marcellus Shale Gas extraction.  Info via e-mail to slaidacker@gmail.com ; also see www.ouenews.org Organizations United for the Environment
Civic Empowerment in an Age of Corporate Greed by Edward C. Lorenz
The End of Country by Seamus McGraw (re: Marcellus Shale)
Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale by Tom Wilber
Spring/Summer Hike Schedule for Northcentral Pa: www.pennsylvania.sierraclub.org/otzinachson
Biblical Resources
May 12 "Green & Just" Virtual Conference of the Lutheran World Federation.  Register at http://blogs.lutheranworld.org/wordpress/greenandjust .
DVD of the PA Interfaith Creation Care Symposium (4/19/2012, Selinsgrove PA) four sessions on Marcellus Shale natural gas forest fragmentation and restoration ecology; climate change; sustainable communities; eco-theology.  Info. via e-mail to Rick Smith spirit21146@windstream.net .
Resources from the "Getting Greener Faithfully" April 17-18 Spring Convocation at the Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary.  See www.Ltsg.edu/Lifelong-Learners/Spring-Convocation or e-mail to ngarretson@Ltsg.edu .
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* Peter Maurin (1877-1949) and Dorothy Day (1897-1980) co-founded the Catholic Worker movement.  Their monthly "penny press" publication newspaper "The Catholic Worker" will observe its 80th anniversary in May of 2013.

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