12/15 Creation Corner: Support Env. Groups and New Year's Resolutions

Supporting Environmental Groups and New Year’s Resolutions

From the hymn "Come, Lord and Tarry Not" is this verse:  Come and make all things new, Come, save this longing earth; Transform all creatures in your love, Creation’s second birth.)

You consider yourself a responsible steward of the environment.  In your household you have installed CFLs or LEDs, insulated, reduced your car trips, etc.  Your church has done an energy efficiency audit and implemented clean energy technologies as part of its “bottom line ministry.”

The investments you have made are reducing your energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.  Your consciousness and concern for climate stabilization has increased, and you appreciate the Pope’s environmental encyclical and the U.S. Clean Power Plan proposals.

As the U.N. Conference of the Parties 21 (COP21) climate change talks take place near Paris, you are asking yourself :  “What else might I do?”  You realize that to change everything, it takes everyone.

Consider supporting the following groups and their endeavors, perhaps as part of your end-of-the-year charitable giving, or as New Year resolutions for 2016.

Audubon Society seeks to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.

Defenders of Wildlife protects imperiled species from extinction, such as sage grouse, bison, wolves, desert  bighorns, polar bears, sea turtles, Florida panthers, manatees, shorebirds, sea otters, etc.  It also protects wildlife refuges and defends wild plants in their native communities.

Environmental Defense Fund encourages legal strategies for less fertilizer pollution, higher standards in chemical safety laws, a reduction in fugitive methane emissions, stricter regulations of CO2 emissions in the aviation industry, and more ways for wild milkweed to be protected.

Food and Water Watch raises concerns for water and other dangers due to fracking, seeks legislation to ban fracking on public land, strives to ensure that food is rigorously tested to keep contaminants off our tables, and seeks to ban the misuse of antibiotics in livestock.

Friends of the Earth acts to have integrity in our food system by saving crucial pollinators  (bees and butterflies), calls for curtailing bee-toxic, neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics), promotes awareness of genetic engineering (GMOs), has published a Cruise Ship Report Card rating cruise lines on their environmental practices, and examines the corporate polluters’ money trail in government.

Natural Resources Defense Council helped raise questions about the “tar sands invasion” (pipeline menace, explosive risk, dangerous cargo, mountains of waste), and helps protect monarch butterflies and bees, wolves, grizzlies, marine animals, and helps to ban the import and sale of ivory in the U.S.

Ocean Conservancy wants to save habitat (sea ice) for polar bears, arctic seals, bowhead whales, walruses; searches for measures to protect sea turtles, dolphins,  and the ocean health by reducing carbon emissions and acidification; promotes sustainable fishing policies and practices.  It urges its members to adhere to 15 ways of living responsibly in considering the land-sea connection, remembering that everything flows downstream, and by not recklessly engaging in shoreline recreation.

Union of Concerned Scientists has a current project to urge the reduction of heavy-duty truck global warming emissions by 40% by 2025.  Currently tractor trailers go only about six miles on a gallon of diesel.

The Wilderness Society mission is to ensure that future generations will enjoy the clean air and water, wildlife, beauty and opportunities for recreation and renewal provided by pristine forest, rivers, deserts and mountains.

Other efforts:

350.org, ASPCA, American Farmland Trust, American Rivers, Center for Biological Diversity, Earth Island Institute, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, Energy Justice Network, Greenpeace, Humane Society, League of Conservation Voters, National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy, PETA,  Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, Student Conservation Association, Waterkeeper Alliance, World Wildlife Fund, Xerces Society, and your local bioregional watershed groups.

Educate yourself, do your research. Be wary of the so-called "Big Green" groups about whom many questions have been raised. Do any groups receive government, corporate, or private philanthropy money?  How are they rated by non-profit charity scorecards on how their money is spent?   Of the foundations supporting an environmental group, have their fortunes been derived from stock investments with fossil fuel companies?  Does any group invest its endowment money with fossil fuel companies?  Might the financial ties of funders to environmental groups have any unwise influence on the group's mission, for example, in the questions asked, the kind of research done, the policies and solutions proposed, etc.? Does their work include practical technology and science-based solutions?  Be wary of efforts to suppress or distort science for political purposes.  Be an advocate and inform, inspire and empower others to speak and act for the earth.

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11/15 Creation Corner: Inspiring Quotations for Environmental Stewardship

11-15 Creation Corner Column: Inspiring Quotations for Environmental Stewardship

If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.     St. Francis of Assisi

Each religion has given to us a definite acknowledgement of God as creator.  Each religion also discusses divine qualities that mankind can utilize to be co-creators with God.  When individual souls use God’s energy in a positive way to create good, we are part of God in action.  God is then working through us.   G. David Lundberg

                                                                              

 If a chimney is full of smoke, how can the light be seen?  If the mind is full of dirt, how can the soul shine?                        Yogaswami

The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all, our most pleasing responsibility.  To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal, is our only legitimate hope.            Wendell Berry

Now in the people that were meant to be 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.  The earth should not be injured!  The earth must not be destroyed!!                    Hildegard von Bingen

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant.  We have created a world that honors the servant, but has forgotten the gift.    Albert Einstein
                                                                                                    

We are talking only to ourselves.  We are not talking to the rivers, we are not listening to the wind and the stars.  We have broken the great conversation.  By breaking that conversation we have shattered the universe.  All the disasters that are happening now are a consequence of that spiritual ‘autism.’  Thomas Berry

The Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was once asked what we need to do to save our world.  ‘What we most need to do,’ he replied, ‘is to hear within us the sounds of the Earth dying.’       Quoted by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee 

God’s first intention for heaven and earth was that they be one.  The polluting corruption of evil has caused them to flee one another, but this division will not last.  God’s original intention has now become God’s mission… (a) journey toward restoration.               G. Robert Paauw

Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.     Jacques Cousteau

There’s no polite way of saying this: your body is a landfill, a dumping ground for a mind-boggling array of toxic chemicals.  So is mine.  So is your child’s.

                                                                                Sloan Barnett

You will find something far greater in the woods than you will find in books.  Stone and trees will teach you that which you will never learn from masters.

                                                       St. Bernard of Clairvaux, French Cistercian monk

The Old Lakota was wise.  He knew that man’s heart away from nature becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too.     Chief Luther Standing Bear

Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.

                                                                                        Francis Schaeffer

We are looking forward to a new heaven and new earth, the home of righteousness.            2 Peter 3:13

Note:  The web site of the home church for the columnist is www.stmarkswilliamsport.org .

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10/15 Creation Corner Col.: Divestment, Eco-shopping, Slogans, New Words, Walking Routes, Carbon Footprint Calculators

Online Campaign

Divestment from fossil fuels in the 200 publicly traded companies that hold the majority of coal, oil and gas reserves.  Meant for universities, religious institutions, local governments, etc. 700 divestment campaigns worldwide.  http://www.Gofossilfree.org 

Shopping For a Better World

1000 companies that give back 1% of their sales to nonprofits dedicated to protecting our environment: http//:www.onepercentfortheplanet.org 

 

Slogans

Divestment is the tactic, climate justice is the goal.  To reduce fossil fuel use "Keep the coal in the hole, the gas beneath the grass, and the oil below the soil."

New Words/Definitions

Anthropocene:  suggests that the Earth has now left its natural geological epoch, the present interglacial state called the Holocene.  Human activities have become so pervasive and profound that they rival the great forces of Nature and are pushing the Earth into planetary terra incognita.  The Earth is rapidly moving into a less biologically diverse, less forested, much warmer, and probably wetter and stormier state

Hockey stick-shaped trajectories, popularized by Prof. Michael Mann at Penn State Univ., as seen on graphs, (see example below) depict accelerations, such as for earth system trends of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, stratospheric ozone, surface temperature, ocean acidification, marine fish capture, shrimp aquaculture, coastal nitrogen, tropical forest loss, domesticated land, terrestrial biosphere degradation. For socio-economic trends, the hockey stick shape occurs for world population, real GDP, foreign direct investment, urban population, primary energy use, fertilizer consumption, large dams, water use, paper production, transportation, telecommunications, international tourism.

                                                                                                    

                                                                                         

Green Exercise versus Mall Walking

While walking in nature has been shown to be especially restorative, helping reduce stress and lowering heart rate and blood pressure, more so than city walking, many people choose to seek out malls for a walking regimen, as they also provide many advantages. See http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/downloads/mallwalking-guide.pdf

Carbon Footprint Calculators

Carbon footprints express the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as carbon dioxide equivalents.  Such gases contribute to climate change, with global agriculture and food production accounting for 25 to 30 percent of the emissions.  Other variables, besides your food consumption, include how you heat your home, how much electricity and gasoline you use, how often you fly, and how you handle your garbage.

To check out your carbon footprint, see such calculators at

http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator 

http://www.carbonindependent.org

http://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator 

http://www.coolclimate.berkeley.edu

  

Note:  This monthly column began in October 1997, in the newsletter of the ecumenical United Churches of Lycoming County, PA (www.uclc.org) and is thus starting its 19th year.  It was "adopted" as a blog by the web site http:www.LutheransRestoringCreation.org in March of 2011.

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9/15 Creation Corner: Earth Consensus by State and Religion

Consensus on Fate of Earth at the corner of Church and State Streets:  Creation Corner Column, September 2015

Over the 2015 summer, with the issuing of the Papal Encyclical Letter on the environment (“On Care for Our Common Home”), and the “Clean Power Plan” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, some agreement seems apparent that provides us further encouragement for our obligation to be hopeful.

Described as “game-changing,” the EPA regulations have a goal of reducing overall U.S. carbon emissions by 32% below 2005 levels by 2030, and provide states flexibility to achieve such (applauded by both some state and fossil fuel corporate leaders).

President Obama stressed the importance of the measures, saying “We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it” and “Climate change is no longer about protecting the world for our children and grandchildren, it is about the reality that we are living with right now.”

Pope Francis, in his 246 numbered paragraphs of the encyclical addressed to “every person living on this planet” offers many proposals to “help us escape the spiral of self-destruction which currently engulfs us” (¶ 163).  “Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change (¶ 202), so that we “hear both the cry of the environment and the cry of the poor” (¶ 49), for both are related.

Calling for each of us, especially Christians, to have an “ecological conversion”, we need to be “living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork” for that “is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience” (¶ 217).

One example of this emphasis on our original mandate of responsibility to the earth (from Genesis 2:15), to “till it keep it” (¶ 66, 67), in the Lutheran faith tradition, is the Offertory Prayer wherein “…we offer ourselves to your service and dedicate our lives to the care and redemption of all that you have made…” (Lutheran Book of Worship, 1978).

Of course, some naysayers will object to this convergence of thoughtful linkages between the political and religious sectors.  However, as the editor of The Christian Century wrote (Aug. 5, p. 3):  “Religion and politics do mix…we want better health and education for everyone because neighbor love is one of our deepest values and commitments.  We want safe food, safe automobiles, and a judicial system that guarantees equal treatment for all.  And we want a sustainable environment for our grandchildren.”

Note:  Lutherans interested in the “Restoring” aspect of our web site name may be interested in the autumn issue of Earth Island Journal: News of the World Environment whose theme is “Return to the Native: Inside the Indigenous Movement of Resistance and Restoration.”  http://www.earthisland.org .

8/2015 Creation Corner: Summer Reading, because learning about and caring for the environment never takes a vacation

August 2015 Creation Corner Column: Summer Reading, because learning about and caring for the environment never takes a vacation.

Abbey in America: A Philosopher's Legacy in a New Century. edited by John A. Murray.

The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution. Henry Gee.

Accommodating Nature: The Photographs of Frank Gohlke. John Rohrbach, with essays by F. Gohlke and Rebecca Solnit.

Addled. Joe-Ann Hart (novel).

After Preservation: Saving American Nature in the Age of Humans. Edited by Ben A. Minteer and Stephen J. Pyne.

The Age of Sustainable Development. Jeffrey D. Sachs. Foreword by Ban Ki-Moon.

The American Bird Conservancy Guide to Bird Conservation. Daniel J. Lebbin, Michael J. Parr, and George H. Fenwick.

American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. Bill McKibben, editor.

Animals in Photographs. Arpad Kovacs.

Another Politics: Talking Across Today's Transformative Movements. Chris Dixon.

Arctic Voices: Resistance at the Tipping Point. Subhankar Banerjee, editor.

The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry. Norman Wirzba, editor.

Bananas: How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World. Peter Chapman.

Bats: A World of Science and Mystery. M. Brock Fenton and Nancy B. Simmons.

Beach Devotions: Refreshing Your Soul with Lessons from the Beach. Laura Vae Gatz (with photographs).

A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature's Deep Design. Frank Wilczek.

Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive. Mark L. Winston.

The Bees. Laline Paull (fiction).

Before the Law: Humans and Other Animals in a Biopolitical Frame. Cary Wolfe.

Bird Watch: A Survey of Planet Earth's Changing Ecosystems. Martin Walters.

The Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide, Second Edition. Richard Garrigues and Robert Dean.

Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry. Camille Dungy, editor.

The Book of Barely Imagined Beings: A 21st Century Bestiary. Caspar Henderson.

The Book of Beetles: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred of Nature's Gems. Patrice Bouchard.

The Book of Fungi: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species from around the World.

Peter Roberts and Shelley Evans.

The Book of the Green Man: A Poem by Ronald Johnson.

The Book of Naturalists: An Anthology of the Best Natural History. William Beebe, editor.

Butterflies: Ecology and Evolution Taking Flight. edited by Carol L. Boggs, Ward B. Watt and Paul R. Ehrlich.

Can Animals Be Moral? Mark Rowlands.

Can We Survive Our Origins?: Readings in Rene Girard's Theory of Violence and the Sacred. Pierpaolo Antonello & Paul Gifford, editors.

Caring Economics: Conversations on Altruism and Compassion Between Scientists, Economists, and the Dalai Lama. Edited by Tania Singer and Matthieu Ricard.

Cheap and Clean: How Americans Think about Energy in the Age of Global Warming. Stephen Ansolabehere and David M. Konisky.

Chicago Gardens: The Early History. Cathy Jean Maloney.

Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth. National ResearchCouncil/NationalAcademy Press.

Climate Shock: The Economic Consequences of a Hotter Planet. Gernot Wagner & MartinL. Weitzman.

Coal and Empire: The Birth of Energy Security in Industrial America. Peter A. Shulman.

Concrete Jungle: New York City and Our Last Best Hope for a Sustainable Future. Niles Eldredge and Sidney Horenstein.

A Country Called Childhood: Children and the Exuberant World. Jay Griffiths.

The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins. Hal Whitehead and Luke Rendell.

Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future. Bron Taylor.

Darwin in the Twenty-First Century: Nature, Humanity, and God. Edited by Phillip R. Sloan, Gerald McKenny, and Kathleen Eggleson.

Deceptive Beauties: The World of Wild Orchids. Christian Ziegler.

Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era. Giacomo D'Alisa, Federico Demaria and GiorgosKallis.

Dispatches From Dystopia: Histories of Places Not Yet Forgotten. Kate Brown.

Divine Animal. Scott Russell Sanders (fiction).

Dodging Extinction: Power, Food, Money, and the Future of Life on Earth. Anthony D. Barnosky.

Dog's Best Friend: Annals of the Dog-Human Relationship. Mark Derr.

Don't Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change. George Marshall.

Dreams of Earth and Sky. Freeman Dyson.

Eager To Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi. Richard Rohr, O. S. F.

Earth's Deep History: How It Was Discovered and Why It Matters. Martin J. S. Rudwick.

Eating People Is Wrong, and Other Essays on famine, Its Past, and Its Future. Cormac O Grada.

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (new edition). Alfred W. Crosby.

Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis. Chris Williams.

EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want. Frances Moore Lappe.

The Edge of Extinction: Travels with Enduring People in Vanishing Lands. Jules Pretty.

The Education of a Gardener. Russell Page; preface by Robin Lane Fox.

Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse. Caitlin O'Connell.

Empire of Water: An Environmental and Political History of the New York City Water Supply. David Soll.

The Enculturated Gene. Duana Fullwiley.

The End of Plenty: The Race to Feed a Crowded World. Joel K. Bourne, Jr.

The Energy of Nature. E. C. Pielou.

Energy Revolution: The Physics and the Promise of Efficient Technology. Mara Prentiss.

Enough is Enough: Building A Sustainable Economy in A World of Finite Resources. Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill.

The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community, and the Land. Norman Wirzba, editor.

Ethics and Animals: An Introduction. Lori Gruen.

Everglades: America's Wetland. Mac Stone.

Excellent Beauty: The Naturalness of Religion and the Unnaturalness of the World. Eric Dietrich.

Extractive Imperialism in the Americas: Capitalism's New Frontier. Edited by James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer.

Faith versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible. Jerry A. Coyne.

Fantasy Islands: Chinese Dreams and Ecological Fears in an Age of Climate Crisis. Julie Sze.

Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life. George Monbiot.

A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes: From Maine to Texas. Val Kells and Kent Carpenter.

Field Guide to the Natural World of Washington, D. C. Howard Youth, with illustrations and photographs.

Field Guide to the Neighborhood Birds of New York City. Leslie Day, with illustrations and photographs.

Fishes of the Open Ocean: A Natural History and Illustrated Guide. Julian Pepperell.

Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds. John Pickrell.

Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve. Ian Morris.

Forests Forever: Their Ecology, Restoration, and Preservation. John J. Berger.

Fragile Web: What's Next for Nature? Edited by Jonathan Silvertown.

Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks. Edited by Charles E. Beveridge, Lauren Meier, and Irene Mills.

Fresh Water. E. C. Pielou.

Fruits of Eden: David Fairchild and America's Plant Hunters. Amanda Harris.

Fuels Paradise: Seeking Energy Security in Europe, Japan, and the United States. John S. Duffield.

Gems and Gemstones: Timeless Natural Beauty of the Mineral World. Lance Grande and Allison Augustyn.

A General History of Quadrupeds: The Figures Engraved on Wood (first published in 1790). Thomas Bewick.

Getting Energy Prices Right: From Principle to Practice. Ian Perry, Dirk Heine, Eliza Lis, and Shanjun Li.

Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the 17th Century. Geoffrey Parker.

Global Environmental Politics. edited by Kate O'Neill and Stacy D. VanDeveer (an MIT Press journal).

God's Planet. Owen Gingerich, foreword by Randy Issac.

Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage. Heather Rogers.

A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest. William deBuys.

The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy. Lester R. Brown, et al.

Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution. Heather Rogers.

The "Greening" of Costa Rica: Women, Peasants, Indigenous Peoples, and the Remaking of Nature. Ana Isla.

H is for Hawk. Helen Macdonald.

A History of the Arctic: Nature, Exploration and Exploitation. John McCannon.

A History of the Garden in Fifty Tools. Bill Laws.

How Animals Grieve. Barbara J. King.

How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate. Andrew J. Hoffman.

How To Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction. Beth Shapiro.

How To Find a Habitable Planet. James F. Kasting.

How To Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature. Scott D. Sampson.

How to Think Seriously About the Planet: The Case for an Environmental Conservatism. Roger Scruton.

The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us. Diane Ackerman.

Hybrid: The History and Science of Plant Breeding. Noel Kingsbury.

Ice: The Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance. Mariana Gosnell.

Imaginary Animals: The Monstrous, the Wondrous and the Human. Boria Sax.

In the Steps of St. Francis. Ernest Raymond.

Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Ecosystems on Disease and Disease on Ecosystems. Richard S. Ostfeld, et al.

Infested: How the Bed Bug Infiltrated Our Bedrooms and Took Over the World. Brooke Borel.

Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas. Rebecca Solnit.

Integrating Climate, Energy, and Air Pollution Policies. Robert Duffy.

The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction. Pat Shipman.

Invisible Beasts. Sharona Muir (fiction).

The Kingdom of Fungi. Jens H. Petersen.

The Land of Love and Drowning. Tiphanie Yanique (fiction).

The Land of Milk and Uncle Honey: Memories from the Farm of My Youth. Alan Guebert with Mary Grace Foxwell.

Landmarks. Robert Macfarlane.

The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu. Dan Jurafsky.

The Last Walk: Reflections on Our Pets at the End of Their Lives. Jessica Pierce.

Latin for Gardeners: Over 3, 000 Plant Names Explained and Explored. Lorraine Harrison.

A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice. Edited by Toban Black, Stephen D'arcy, Tony Weiss, Joshua K. Russell.

Long Man. Amy Greene (fiction).

The Long and the Short of It: The Science of Life Span and Aging. Jonathan Silvertown.

The Long Thaw: How Humans Are Changing the Next 100, 000 Years of Earth's Climate. David Archer.

Mammals of North America. Roland Kays and Don E. Wilson.

Marx and Nature: A Red and Green Perspective. Paul Burkett; foreword by John Bellamy Foster.

Masterminding Nature: The Breeding of Animals, 1750-2010. Margaret E. Derry.

Material Politics: Disputes Along the Pipeline. Andrew Barry.

The Meaning of Human Existence. Edward O. Wilson.

Melting Away: A Ten-Year Journey Through Our Endangered Polar Regions. Camille Seaman.

Milk Money: Cash, Cows, and the Death of the American Dairy Farm. Kirk Kardashian.

Mining and Communities in Northern Canada: History, Politics, and Memory. edited by Arn Keeling and John Sandlos.

The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically. Peter Singer.

My Mother is Now Earth. Mark Anthony Rolo.

The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab, and an Epic Journey. Deborah Cramer.

Nation-States and the Global Environment: New Approaches to International Environmental History. edited by Erika Maris Bsumek, David Kinkela, and Mark Atwood Lawrence.

A Natural History of Time. Pascal Richet.

Nature Writings: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, First Summer in the Sierra, etc. Essays. John Muir.

Nature's Palette: The Science of Plant Color. David Lee.

The New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature's Salvation. Fred Pearce.

New York City Gardens. Veronika Hofer and Betsy Pinover Schiff.

Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. Massimo Pigliucci.

Oceans: An Illustrated Reference. Dorrik Stow.

Oil, Islam, and Conflict: Central Asia since 1945. Rob Johnson.

The Oldest Living Things in the World. Rachel Sussman.

The One-Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming. Masanobu Fukuoka; with contributions from Francis Moore Lappe and Wendell Berry.

Onward and Upward in the Garden. Katharine S. White; intro. by E. B. White.

An Orchard Invisible: A Natural History of Seeds. Jonathan Silvertown.

Orchids of Tropical America: An Introduction and Guide. Joe E. Meisel, Ronald S. Kaufmann and Franco Pupulin.

Our Magnetic Earth: The Science of Geomagnetism. Ronald T. Merrill.

Oxford Atlas of the World.

The Oxford Companion to Food. Alan Davidson.

Paradise Found: Nature in America at the Time of Discovery. Steve Nicholls.

Pictograph. Melissa Kwasny (poetry).

The Place of Hope in an Age of Climate Disaster: An issue of Tikkun (30:2); Michael Lerner, editor.

Planet of the Bugs: Evolution and the Rise of Insects. Scott Richard Shaw.

A Planet of Viruses. Carl Zimmer.

Planet Without Apes. Craig B. Stanford.

Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World. Christian Sardet.

Pleasures of the Garden: A Literary Anthology. edited by Christina Hardyment.

The Point of View of the Universe. Peter Singer and Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek.

Poisonous Plants: A Guide for Parents and Childcare Providers. Elizabeth A. Dauncey.

Power Over Peoples: Technology, Environments and Western Imperialism, 1400 to the Present. Daniel R. Headrick.

The Powers That Be: Global Energy for the Twenty-first Century and Beyond. Scott L. Montgomery.

Practical Botany for Gardeners: Over 3, 000 Botanical Terms Explained and Explored. Geoff Hodge.

Presidents and the American Environment. Otis L. Graham, Jr.

Primates of the World: An Illustrated Guide. Jean-Jacques Petter.

Pure and Modern Milk: An Environmental History since 1900. Kendra Smith-Howard.

Rain: A Natural and Cultural History. Cynthia Barnett.

Rainforest. Lewis Blackwell, editor (photographs).

Rediscovering National Parks in the Spirit of John Muir. Michael Frome.

Relics: Travels in Nature's Time Machine. Piotr Naskrecki (photographs and essays).

Remarkable Plants That Shape Our World. Helen Bynum and William Bynum.

The Rights of Nature. Roderick Frazier Nash.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Yuval Noah Harari.

Savage Grace: A Journey in Wildness. Jay Griffiths.

Science on Ice: Four Polar Expeditions. Chris Linder.

Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible. Ellen F. Davis.

The Sea: Marine Ecosystem-Based Management, vol. 16. Michael J. Fogarty and James J. McCarthy.

Secrets of the Universe: How We Discovered the Cosmos. Paul Murdin.

Seeing Green: The Use and Abuse of American Environmental Images. Finis Dunaway.

Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans' Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter. Ellen Prager.

The Shared Society: A Vision for the Global Future of Latin America. Alejandro Toledo.

Sharing the Earth: An International Environmental Justice Reader. Elizabeth Ammons and Modhumita Roy, editors.

A Significant Life: Human Meaning in a Silent Universe. Todd May.

The Soul of the Night: An Astronomical Pilgrimage. Chet Raymo.

Storytelling Apes: Primatology Narratives Past and Future. Mary Sanders Pollock.

Subterranean Estates: Life Worlds of Oil and Gas. edited by Hannah Appel, Arthur Mason, and Michael Watts.

A Ted Hughes Bestiary. Alice Oswald, editor (poetry).

Teilhard De Chardin's Cosmic Christology and Christian Cosmology. Rev. Donald Goergen (dvd or cd set).

The Territories of Science and Religion. Peter Harrison.

The Triumph of Seeds. Thor Hanson.

The Tusk That Did The Damage. Tania James (novel).

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Naomi Klein.

Thomas Berry: Selected Writings on the Earth Community.

To Repair the World: Paul Farmer Speaks to the Next Generation. Paul Farmer.

Too Many People? Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis. Ian Angus and Simon Butler; Forewords by Betsy Hartman and Joel Kovel.

Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. Christian Parenti.

Underwater Eden: Saving the Last Coral Wilderness on Earth. edited by Gregory S. Stone and David Obura.

Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas. Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker.

The Unfeathered Bird. Katrina Van Grouw.

The Upright Thinkers: The Human Journey from Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos. Leonard Mlodinow.

Van Gogh and Nature. Richard Kendall, Sjraar van Heugten and Chris Stolwijk.

Violence Over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American West. Ned Blackhawk.

Virginia Climate Fever: How Global Warming Will Transform Our Cities, Shorelines, and Forests. Stephen Nash.

The Wallcreeper. Nell Zink (novel).

The Warbler Guide. Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle.

Wasted World: How Our Consumption Challenges the Planet. Rob Hengeveld.

The Water Museum. Luis Alberto Urrea (short stories).

Ways to the West: How Getting Out of Our Cars is Reclaiming America's Frontier. Tim Sullivan.

The Weather Experiment: The Pioneers who Sought to See the Future. Peter Moore.

Western Rider: Views from a Car Window. Chuck Forsman.

When Science and Christianity Meet. edited by David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers.

Where Are the Trees Going? Venus Khoury-Ghata, translated by Marilyn Hacker (poetry).

Where Roads Will Never Reach: Wilderness and Its Visionaries in the Northern Rockies. Frederick H. Swanson.

Why Are We Waiting?: The Logic, Urgency, and Promise of Tackling Climate Change. Nicholas Stern.

Why Evolution Is True. Jerry A. Coyne.

The Wild Cat Book: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Cats. Fiona and Mel Sunquist. Photographs by Terry Whittaker.

Wild Life: The Institution of Nature. Irus Braverman.

Wild World: A Journey in Sound to the World's Wildest Places. 2 compact discs, Univ. of Chicago Press/British Library.

Windfall: The Booming Business of Global Warming. McKenzie Funk.

Wolves on the Hunt: The Behavior of Wolves Hunting Wild Prey. L. David Mech, Douglas W. Smith, and Daniel L. Macnulty.

Wonders of the Plant Kingdom: A Microcosm Revealed. Wolfgang Stuppy, Rob Kesseler, and Madeline Harley.

A World in One Cubic Foot: Portraits of Biodiversity. David Littschwager; foreword by E. O. Wilson.

The World Is a Waiting Lover. Trebbe Johnson.

The World's Rarest Birds. Erik Hirschfeld, Andy Swash, and Robert Still.

Zoologies: On Animals and the Human Spirit. Alison Hawthorne Deming.

Orion Readers Book Series collects landmark Orion essays into short, themed, volumes for personal reading, reading groups, and academic course adoption. A free, downloadable teacher's guide consisting of key discussion questions is at www. orionmagazine. org/books .

The Orion series includes:

To Eat with Grace, including Barbara Kingsolver, Gary Paul Nabhan, Jane Hirshfield, Maxine Kumin; foreword by Darra Goldstein.

Animals and People, including Mary Oliver, Craig Childs, David Gessner, Pattiann Rogers, et al; foreword by Jane Goodall.

Leave No Child Inside, including John Elder, David Sobel, Belle Boggs, Elise Rymer, Anne Valley-Fox, et al; foreword by Louise Chawla.

Change Everything Now, including Derrick Jensen, Sandra Steingraber, Bill McKibben, Rebecca Solnit, et al; foreword by Jennifer Sahn.

Thirty-Year Plan, including Elizabeth Kolbert, Richard Louv, Andrew Revkin, Pete Seeger, Terry Tempest Williams, Carl Safina, Simran Sethi, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Ralph Nader; foreword by Jennifer Sahn.

Wonder and Other Survival Skills, including Anthony Doerr, Diane Ackerman, Scott Russell Sanders, Ann Zwinger; foreword by H. Emerson Blake.

Place-Based Education. David Sobel.

Beyond Ecophobia. David Sobel.

The Hidden Natural Histories series from the University of Chicago Press includes such titles as:

Herbs. Kim Hurst.

Trees. Noel Kingsbury.

The Animal series from Reaktion Books includes titles on the Ape, Rhinoceros, Shark, Penguin, Lobster, Tortoise, Snake, Duck, Pigeon, Hare, Moose, etc.

Papal encyclical on the environment (Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home) by Pope Francis, summer 2015.

http://w2. vatican. va/content/dam/francesco/pdf/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si_en. pdf

This encyclical letter is also available in paperback from The Word Among Us Press (189 pages, $12. 95).

The six chapters are titled as

1. What is happening to our common home?

2. The gospel of creation.

3. The human roots of the ecological crisis.

4. Integral ecology.

5. Lines of approach and action.

6. Ecological education and spirituality.

An introduction precedes the chapters, and prayers follow.

A study guide from the publisher, for discussion and reflection, concludes the book. It correlates with the contents of the chapters.

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