Friday, December 7, 2018

12/18 CCC: Climate Chaos Indicator Studies

                                      Creation Corner Column for December 2018

                                   Climate Chaos Indicator Studies

"Education is the seed that provides spiritual and individual growth" Catching The Dream organization

1.  The U.S. Global Change Research Program issued its National Climate Assessment in November.  Three-hundred author scientists from thirteen agencies produced a 1000+ page report without censorship.  Climate changes across the United States will result in many consequences of impacts, (damaged community infrastructure and ecosystems, the spread of disease, reduced agricultural crop yield outputs and thus less economic growth) and risks (extreme weather events, coral die-off, arctic region effects, coastal and river flooding, heat-related morbidity and mortality, and tourism impacts).

The report urges "immediate and substantial global greenhouse-gas emissions reductions" to help keep the rising temperature from exceeding a safe level of 1.5 degrees celsius.

As weather extremes become more common, the effects of such warming will "threaten the health and well-being of the American people" and "disrupt many areas of life, exacerbating existing challenges and revealing new risks" said one report author in a TIME magazine of December 10 article, "Trump deaf to dire U.S. climate warning."

An Associated Press story of November 24 notes that warming-charged extremes "have already become more frequent, intense, widespread or of long duration" and that the last few years have smashed U.S. records for damaging weather, costing nearly $400 billion since 2015.

It is thought that 90% of the current warming is caused by humans (for example, the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, all fossil fuels), and that only 10% is due to natural cycles.

One report co-author, evangelical Christian Katharine Hayhoe said "As a climate scientist, it is almost surreal...We are seeing the things we said would be happening, happen now in real life."
  
2.  The most recent 2018 findings and recommendations from the  U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC.ch) are in the Global Warming of 1.5°C: An IPCC Special Report.  A 30-page "Summary for Policymakers" covers the 500-page document.

One commentary on that IPCC report, by United Methodist layman Bill McKibben (founder of 350.org), may be seen as his "A Very Grim Forecast" in The New York Review of Books November 22, 2018 issue.

3.  On November 27, the World Meteorological Organization warned of a high possible chance that a natural ocean-warming El Nino phenomenon, worsened by climate change, may strike in 2019.

4. The December United Nations' annual climate change summit in Poland, known as COP24 is a follow-up to the Paris agreement of keeping the global warming well below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.  Nineteen major economies re-affirmed their commitment to that, the only holdout being the United States.  Signatories are expected to live up to their promised efforts to cut their greenhouse emissions and report them.

5. Responding to climate chaos are U.S. youth, claiming that our government is violating their constitutional rights (life, liberty, property) by supporting activities that hasten climate change.  Their lawsuit, Juliana v. the United States of America winds its way through the court system.  Filed in 2015 by 21 American youth, it reflects their concerns about where they live, for example, on a FL barrier island surrounded by rising water, a LA  small town devastated by a 1000 year flood, a Navajo Nation home no longer inhabitable due to the springs the family depends upon for agriculture having dried up.  USA public resources are also viewed as being threatened.  These young people hope to legally promote a zero-carbon economy.

Perhaps children will yet lead us.
                                                                         -30-
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He earned a B.A. from Gettysburg College (1965), and a Master's from Lock Haven University (1989), where he studied the international Green Party movement.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

11/18 CCC: Faith Groups' Climate Change Statements

Faith Groups' Climate Change Statements
Creation Corner Column for 11/18

"We're talking about about the existential environmental challenge issue of our time" (climate change).  David Yarnold, Audubon CEO/President.

The National Religious Coalition on Creation Care (NRCCC.org) has issued a handbook for faith leaders and climate activists, Religion and Global Climate Change, edited by Frederick W. Krueger.

It contains

1. recommendations for action by you and your congregation;
2. scientific perspectives explaining the urgent need for action to address climate change;
3. examples of expressions by faith leaders on the need to speak out;
4. photographic images of this growing global crisis; and
5. formal declaration statements from faith organizations on climate change.

The latter include these from the ecumenical community, including
  • American Baptist Churches, USA
  • Church of the Brethren
  • U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
  • United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society
  • Evangelical Climate Initiative
  • Presbyterian Church (USA)
  • National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Working Group
  • The Episcopal Church
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
  • The Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America
  • Southern Baptist Convention
  • African American Clergy
  • United Church of Christ
  • The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
  • World Council of Churches

Interfaith perspectives include these:
  • Resolution of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
  • The Rabbinical Assembly
  • A Pan-Buddhist Declaration
  • A Hindu Declaration
  • The Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change
  • Muslim Guide to Climate Change from the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences 

You, the reader, are encouraged to acquaint yourself with the creation care concerns of your faith tradition, as well as the viewpoints of secular and governmental groups noted in this volume:
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • National Science Foundation
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • Union of Concerned Scientists USA
  • The Smithsonian Institution
  • Center for Naval Analysis
  • World Bank
  • United Nations
  • National Academy of Sciences
  • U.S. Department of Defense and National Intelligence Council, etc.
The most recent 2018 findings and recommendations from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC.ch) Global Warming of 1.5°C: An IPCC Special Report.  A 30-page "Summary for Policymakers" covers the 500-page document.

One commentary on that IPCC report, by United Methodist layman Bill McKibben (founder of 350.org), may be seen as his "A Very Grim Forecast" in The New York Review of Books November 22, 2018 issue.

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He earned a B.A. from Gettysburg College (1965), and a Master's from Lock Haven University (1989), where he studied the international Green Party movement.

                                                                 -30-

Thursday, October 4, 2018

10/18 CCC: review of Krueger's "The Sacred in Nature"

Creation Corner Column for October 2018

Review: The Sacred in Nature, Frederick W. Krueger, editor.

This 2017 anthology, sub-titled "The World's Inspired Writings on Religious Responsibility for Earth" demonstrates that we, global citizens of a shared planet and united across generations by a religious literature covering all faith communities, need to affirm our responsibility to protect our natural resources.  Harmony among diverse sources provides hope for cooperation to preserve the world.

In nearly 600 quotations from nearly 300 authors, we are inspired to learn from one another.  Common themes are in chapters such as: (1) God (the sacred) is within the creation ("in, with, and under all things"); (2) that we encounter such in nature; (3) can learn from it; (4) should have respect for and find solidarity with all creatures, great and small; (5) and trees and forests; (6) we can provide witness to wilderness; (7) and have a land ethic; (8) how we are imperiled by what is known as a "nature deficit disorder" and how some of our healing may be found in the environment; (9) that we can seek to grow in holiness so as to better serve God, ourselves and nature; (10) and by doing so we can be inspired to transform the earth.

Without needing to provide an extensive treatise of our ecological concerns that science attempts to address, the role of religion, as Krueger sees it, is to provide a moral and ethical direction to remedy a crisis wrought by selfish greed, exploitation and apathy.

Invoking "timeless principles and requirements for a healthy earth," Krueger's "messengers" call for a restraint of technology that amplify human capabilities to disrupt the integrity of creation.  The book illustrates the needed  "vision, advocacy, support, direction and healing action."

This 236 page book has 25 pages of contributor biographies, and a 5-page author index.  Among the authors  frequently cited (with six or more quotes) are Ecumenical (Green) Patriarch Bartholomew of the Worldwide Eastern Orthodox, Gautamu Buddha, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther, The Prophet Mohammad, John Muir, Sigurd F. Olson (American Baptist), Dr. Philip Sherrard (U.K. theologian), New Theologian Saint Symeon (949-1022), and Henry David Thoreau.

Krueger, an Eastern Orthodox Christian, is the executive director of the National Religious Coalition on Creation Care.  Among his other books are

2014 Religion and Global Climate Change: An Activist's Handbook
2012 Greening the Orthodox Parish: A Handbook for Christian Ecological Practice
1995 The Lord's House: A Guide to Creation Careful Management of Church Facilities
1988 Christian Ecology: Building an Environmental Ethic for the Twenty First Century: The Proceedings from the First North American Conference on Christianity and Ecology

Krueger's  current series will include a forthcoming volume 2, (with chapters on stewardship, global climate change, inter-faith theologies of creation, etc.) and a third volume (chapters include themes of holy dominion, wisdom and symbolism in the world's design, earth healing, etc.).

Also note that the upcoming November 1-7 Parliament of the World's Religions in Toronto will include an InterFaith Climate Action Assembly and Program Initiative Climate Action | parliamentofreligions.org


This "Creation Corner Column" by Lutheran layman Michael Ochs began 21 years ago this month under the auspices of the 70+ year old ecumenical United Churches of Lycoming County, based in Williamsport PA.

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He earned a B.A. from Gettysburg College (1965), and a Master's from Lock Haven University (1989), where he studied the international Green Party movement.

Saturday, September 1, 2018

9/18 CCC: Green Bible 10th anniversary

September 2018 Creation Corner Column                                      

                                    10th Anniversary of The Green Bible

The tenth anniversary of The Green Bible: Understand the Bible's Powerful Message for the Earth is this year. 

Originally published in 2008, it, as a "green-letter edition", is such that it has green ink print that highlight passages so as to illustrate:  

...how God and Jesus interact with, care for, and are intimately involved with all creation

...how all the elements of creation---land, water, air, plants, animals, humans---are interdependent

...how nature responds to God

...how we are called to care for creation

Also included is a "Green Bible Trail Guide" with scriptural passages substantiating themes of  

 ...And It Was Good
 ...Finding God
 ...Connected to Creation
 ...Creation Care as Justice
 ...The Full Impact of Sin
 ...The New Earth
   
Especially helpful are several essays by prominent ecologists who are also people of religious faith.  For example, environmental scientist Calvin B. DeWitt effectively addresses objections to Christians being involved with creation care; outlines what to do about Creation (awareness, appreciation, stewardship); and notes Biblical principles for creation care (earthkeeping, fruitfulness, Sabbath, discipleship, kingdom priority, contentment, praxis, and conservation).

Matthew Sleeth, M.D., provides several pages of historical quotes on creation; retired pastor Brian McLaren answers the question "Why I Am Green"; Target Earth's Gordon Aeschliman writes that "Loving the Earth is Loving the Poor"; Barbara Brown Taylor offers a sermon, "The Dominion of Love"; Dr. N.T. Wright proclaims "Jesus is Coming---Plant a Tree"; and Liverpool Bishop James Jones declares "Jesus: Savior of the Earth".

Other contributors examine how we can participate in "Knowing Our Place on Earth: Learning  Environmental Responsibility from the Old Testament" ((Professor Ellen Davis); examines "Creation Theology: A Jewish Perspective" (author Ellen Bernstein); and other perspectives are provided by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Wendell Berry, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Pope John Paul II.

An 18-page "Green Subject Index" compiled by Frederick W. Krueger is most impressive.  Krueger is an early pioneer in this field of creation care, from the 1980s 11th Commandment Fellowship and the Christian Society of the Green Cross, and my reading of him at that time was influential.

The Green Bible is in contrast with the "red-letter" editions of the Bible that highlight the words of Jesus in red ink.  Some Christians identify themselves as Red-Letter Christians (see the work of Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo).  There is also the (Thomas) Jefferson Bible, composed by him with New Testament selections that provide another title for his effort, "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth".

The Green Bible uses the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), has a complete A-Z Concordance, and is available in both hard-back and soft-back editions.

                                                               -30-

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He earned a B.A. from Gettysburg College (1965), and a Master's from Lock Haven University (1989), where he studied the international Green Party movement.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

8/18 CCC: Books, Songs, Heat & Fire stories, Stamps, Quotes

August 2018 Creation Corner Column:  Books, Songs, Heat & Fire Stories, Stamps, Quotes.


Books  

500 Insects: A Visual Reference.  Stephen A. Marshall.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.  Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp & Camille Kingsolver. 

Becoming Nature: Learning the Language of Wild Animals and Plants.  Tamarack Song.

Being a Dog: Following the Dog Into a World of Smell.  Alexandra Horowitz, Unabridged Audiobook CD read by the author, 8 CDs.  Named a "Best Science Book of 2016" by Library Journal and Science Friday.

Butterflies in Flight.  Roger Camp, photographer.

Caesar's Last Breath: The Epic Story of the Air Around Us.  Sam Kean.

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

The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A True Story of Resilience and Recovery.  Andrew Westoll.

Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future.  Geoff Mann and Joel Wainwright.

Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet.  Kerryn Higgs.

The Complete Book of Hummingbirds.  Tony Tilford.

Cosmosapiens: Human Evolution From the Origin of the Universe.  John Hands.

Danger on Peaks: Gary Snyder.  Poetry, Deluxe Audio Edition.  Snyder also authored Turtle Island.

Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming.  Andreas Malm.

The Genius of Birds.  Jennifer Ackerman.

Good Birders Still Don't Wear White: Passionate Birders Share the Joys of Watching Birds.  Lisa A. White & Jeffrey A. Gordon, eds.

Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life.  Edward O. Wilson.

Health From God's Garden: Herbal Remedies for Glowing Health and Well-Being.  Maria Treben.

How Animals Talk: And other Pleasant Studies of Birds and Beasts.  William J. Long (1919).

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

Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene:  Reflections on the End of a Civilization.  Roy Scranton.

The Magic of Birds.  Celia Fisher.

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World.  Laura Spinney.

Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America.  Nathan Pieplow.

Pig Tales: An Omnivore's Quest for Sustainable Meat.  Barry Estabrook.

The Progress of This Storm: Nature and Society in a Warming World.  Andreas Malm.

Soul Healing With Our Animal Companions: The Hidden Keys to a Deeper Animal-Human Connection.  Tammy Billups.

The Spinning Magnet: The Force That Created the Modern World---And Could Destroy It.  Alanna Mitchell.

The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century.  William Rosen.

We're Doomed.  Now What?: Essays on War and Climate Change.  Roy Scranton

Zapped: From Infrared to X-Rays, the Curious History of Invisible Light.  Bob Berman.

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A Critical Thinking "Listopia" for you avid readers can be found on the GoodReads Book Site:



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Lifting every voice to sing about subjects related to this blog is facilitated by accessing the 2015 Rise Again: AGroup Singing Songbook ( Annie Patterson and Peter Blood; Hal Leonard Corporation).

It provides words/lyrics and chords to nearly 1200 songs, suitable for occasions that raise up 39 subject matters such as earthcare (songs about environmental and climate issues), faith, farm and prairie (agriculture, gardening, cowboys), home and roots, outdoors, spirituals and gospels, etc.)

The compact collection provides for identifying what recording artist is associated with each song, an alphabetical list of song titles, and groupings by genre (folk, blues, jazz, etc.) and culture.

Although no discography accompanies this effort, there is a web site link to YouTube recordings.  Learn more by "googling" this title.  It is a sequel to the 15th anniversary edition of Rise Up Singing in 2005, although there is no repetition between the two books.

"Ecology Doxology", anyone?

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Fire and Heat Summer Stories, as can be scanned at your library periodical shelves, include these:

July's heat wave is one for the books---globally.  Temperature records shatter by the thousands.  "USA Today Weekend" edition for July 27-29, p. 1A.

A World on fire: What's causing 2018's extreme heat?  Cover story in the 27 July issue of "The Guardian Weekly" newspaper  (UK).

As the World Burns: What wildfires and record temperatures tell us about climate change.  Cover story in the August 10 issue of "The Week".

In the line of fire: Losing the war against climate change.  Cover story in the August 4th-10th issue of "The Economist".

As The World Burns: Greed and Stupidity in the Age of Mega-Fires.  Cover story in the August issue of "Harper's Magazine". (17 pages, two articles, special report).  Plus a 9-page article on how climate change comes to the cradle of civilization entitled The End of Eden.

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Postal Stamps may highlight your appreciation of the natural world when you affix such environmental theme first class postage to your letters.  Recent examples available from the U.S. Postal Service include:

Protect Pollinators
Flowers From the Garden
Henry David Thoreau
Bioluminescent Life
National Parks (2016 was 100th anniversary of the National Park Service)
O Beautiful (U.S. natural beauty scenes)
Love (floral inspired)
Peace Rose

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"Summer afternoon---summer afternoon: to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." ---Henry James.

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"I think the US is in a terrible state of denial... Worse than that we seem to be caught in a kind of Gotterdammerung : we'd rather have the world go down in flames than change our lifestyle or admit we're wrong."  Kim Stanley Robinson.

--------------------------------

Next Month:  10th anniversary of The Green Bible (NRSV): Understand the Bible's Powerful Message for thEarth (hardback and paperback).

-----------------------------


He earned a B.A. from Gettysburg College (1965), and a Master's from Lock Haven University (1989), where he studied the international Green Party movement.

                                                                     -30-

Friday, July 6, 2018

7/18 Creation Cor. Col. July Books, etc.

July 2018 Books, etc. Creation Corner Column

American Exodus: Climate Change and the Coming Flight for Survival.  Giles Slade.

The Animal One Thousand Miles Long.  Leath Tonino.

Animals Strike Curious Poses.  Elena Passarello.

Bird! An Explanation of Hawk Watching.  Brian Wargo.

BirdNote: Chirps, Quirks, and Stories of 100 Birds From the Popular Public Radio Show.  Chris Peterson.

This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm.  Ted Genoways.

The Cabaret of Plants: Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination.  Richard Mabey.

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water.  Marc Reisner.

Candid Creatures: How Camera Traps Reveal the Mysteries of Nature.  Roland Keys.

The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food.  Ted Genoways.

Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future.  Geoff Mann and Joel Wainwright.

Cosmic Serpant: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge.  Jeremy Narby.

Crude Volatility: The History and the Future of Boom-Bust Oil Prices.  Robert McNally.

The Death and Life of Monterey Bay: A Story of Revival.  Stephen Palumbi and Carolyn Sotka.

Diet and the Disease of Civilization.  Adrienne Rose Bitar.

Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.  Paul Hawken, editor.

Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter.  Ben Goldfarb.

Earth at Risk: Natural Capital and the Quest for Sustainability.  Claude Henry and Laurence Tubiana.

Earthworks: Selected Poems.  Rosanna Warren.

Eating Ethically: Religion and Science for a Better Diet.  Johathan K. Crance.

Ecologies of Power: Countermapping the Logistical Landscapes and Military Geographies of the U.S. Department of Defense.  Pierre Belanger and Alexander Arroyo.

The Economics of Enough.  Diane Coyle.

Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind.  Brian Fagan.

Extraction Empire: Undermining the Systems, States, and Scales of Canada's Global Resource Empire.  Pierre Belanger, editor.

Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River.  Alice Alpinia.

Final Frontier: The Pioneering Science and Technology of Exploring the Universe.  Brian Clegg.

The Forest Unseen.  David Haskell.

Garden Variety: The American Tomato From Corporate to Heirloom.  John Hoenig.

Genetics in the Madhouse: The Unknown History of Human Heredity.  Theodore M. Porter.

The Green Marble: Earth System Science and Global Sustainability.  David R. Turner.

The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health.  David R. Montgomery and Anne Bikle.

The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks.  Terry Tempest Williams.

How America Eats: A Social History of US Food and Culture.  Jennifer Jensen Wallach.

Icebreaker: A Voyage Far North.  Horatio Clare.

The Immeasurable World: Journeys to Desert Places.  William Atkins.

Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic.  Sandra Kahn and Paul R. Ehrlich.

Life in the Dark:  Illuminating Biodiversity in the Shadowy Haunts of Planet Earth.  Dante Fenolio.

The Lives of Animals.  J. M. Coetzee.  (A metafictional novella).

The Long, Long Life of Trees: Fiona Stafford.

Luminous Creatures: The History and Science of Light Production in Living Organisms.  Michel Anctil.

No Good Alternative: Volume Two of Carbon Ideologies.  William T. Vollman.

The Omega Principle: Seafood and the Quest for a Long Life and a Healthier Planet.  Paul Greenberg.

Our Place: Can We Save Britain's Wildlife Before It's Too Late?  Mark Cocker.

The Overstory.  Richard Powers.  (Novel).

Pasta for Nightingales: A 17th Century Handbook of Bird-Care and Folklore.  Cassiano Dal Pozzo and Pietro Olina.

Pathways To Our Sustainable Future: A Global Perspective from Pittsburgh.  Patricia M. Demarco.

Pluriverse: A Post Development Dictionary.  Alberto Acosta et al editors.  (Forthcoming).

The Progress of This Storm: Nature and Society in a Warming World.  Andreas Malm.

Radiation Nation: Three Mile Island and the Political Transformation of the 1970s.  Natasha Zaretsky.

Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World.  Emma Morris.

Re-Engineering Humanity.  Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger.

Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economics, and Companies.  Geoffrey West.

The Sense of Wonder.  Rachel Carson.

The Shale Dilemma: A Global Perspective on Fracking and Shale Development.  Shanti Gamper-Rabindran.

Slick Policy: Environmental and Science Policy in the Aftermath of the Santa Barbara Oil Spill.  Teresa Sabol
Spezio.

Smarter Growth: Activism and Environmental Policy in Metropolitan Washington.  John H. Spiers.

The Songs of Trees.  David Haskell.

The Sting of the Wild.  Justin G. Schmidt.

Superbugs: An Arms Race Against Bacteria.  William Hall, Anthony McDonnell, and Jim O'Neill.

The Theory That Changed Everything: "On the Origin of Species" as a Work in Progress.  Philip Lieberman.

A Thirsty Land: The Making of an American Water Crisis.  Seamus McGraw.

Voracious Science and Vulnerable Animals: A Primate Scientist's Ethical Journey.  John P. Gluck.

Water Is for Fighting Over: And Other Myths about Water in the West.  John Fleck.

What to Eat.  Marion Nestle.

The Wild and the Wicked: On Nature and Human Nature.  Benjamin Hale.

The Wisdom of Frugality: Why Less Is More---More or Less.  Emrys Westacott.

--------------------

Global Warming books as recommended and reviewed by Allen Johnson, Staff Coordinator for "The Mountain Vision: A Free Publication of Christians for the Mountains, 12664 Frost Road, Dunmore WV 24934 in the Spring/Summer 2018 issue. Christians For The Mountains and on FaceBook.  


Between God & Green: How Evangelicals Are Cultivating a Middle Ground on Climate Change.  Katharine K. Wilkinson. 2012.

Caring for Creation: The Evangelical's Guide to Climate Change and a Healthy Environment.  Mitch Hescox and Paul Douglas. 2016.

Christianity, Climate Change, and Sustainable Living.  Nick Spencer, Robert White, and Virginia Vrobleskey.  2009.

A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions.  Katharine Hayhoe and Andrew Farley. 2009.

Climate Church, Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change.  Jim Antal. 2018.

Climate Cover-up: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming.  James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore.  2009.

Don't Even Think About It:  Why Our Bodies are Wired to Ignore Climate Change.  George Marshall. 2014.

Global Warming and the Risen Lord: Christian Discipleship and Climate Change. Jim Ball. 2010.

The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars.  Michael E. Mann.  2012.

The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy.  Michael E. Mann and Tom Toles. 2016.

Religion and Global Climate Change:  A Handbook for Faith Leaders and Climate Activists.  Frederick W. Krueger, editor.  2015.

Storms Of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe And Our Last Chance to Save Humanity.  James Hansen.  2009.

Train Wreck Earth: The Climate Emergency and a Path to Solve It.  Harvard Ayers and David Harman. (written in the style of a novel).

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"Disappearing Beach Reads" (from In These Times for June 2018, p. 45).

New York 2140.  Kim Stanley Robinson (novel).
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore.  Elizabeth Rush.
Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security.  Todd Miller.
The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities and the Remaking of the Civilized World.  Jeff Goodell.

-------------------

Other Media

Blue Planet II. BBC America documentary from David Attenborough.

Grizzly Man. Documentary film by Werner Herzog.  2005.

Unfractured.  Documentary film by Chanda Chevannes about Dr. Sandra Steingraber, eco-activist.

-------------------------------

9 Pioneering African American Outdoorspeople (cited as "pioneers" by the Sierra Club on-line):

Charles Young
Matthew Henson
George W. Gibbs, Jr.
John Francis
Robert Taylor
Sophia Danenberg
Rahawa Haile
Kai Lightner
Shelton Johnson

A new word (to me):

"Endling":  word for the last member of a dying species.  Alternative names for such put forward are "ender" and "terminarch".  "Relict" usually refers to a population that is the last of a species.

Web Site of examples of censorship related to global warming:

Silencing Science Tracker

Closing Quote:

You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.
William Wilberforce.

--------------------------------------



He earned a B.A. from Gettysburg College (1965), and a Master's from Lock Haven University (1989), where he studied the international Green Party movement.

                                                    -30-

Thursday, June 7, 2018

6/18 CCC: June books

6/18 Creation Corner Column:  June Books

Beasts at Bedtime: Revealing the Environmental Wisdom in Children's Literature.  Liam Heneghan.

Biophylia.  E. O. Wilson.

The Biophylia Hypothesis.  S.R. Kellert and E.O. Wilson, eds.

The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species from Around the World.  David G. James, ed. 

Brave New Arctic: The Untold Story of the Melting North.  Mark C. Serreze.

Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants (updated and expanded edition).  Douglas W. Tallamy.

California Greenin': How the Golden State Became an Environmental Leader.  David Vogel.

Carleton Watkins: Making the West American.  Tyler Green.

Celebrating Wendell Berry in Music, vol. 1, and vol. 2  All The Earth Shall Sing.  wendellberrymusic.org

Client Earth.  James Thornton and Martin Goodman.

A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe's Encounter with North America.  Sam White.

Collecting the World: Hans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum.  James Delbourgo.

Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics.  Darren Frederick Speece.

Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (with a new Afterword 2011).  Bill McKibben.

The Ecocentrists: A History of Radical Environmentalism.  Keith Makoto Woodhouse.

Energy: A Human History.  Richard Rhodes. 2018.

The Experience of Landscape.  Jay Appleton.

Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change.  Ashley Dawson.

The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire.  Kyle Harper.

Fertile Ground: Scaling Agroecology from the Ground Up.  Steve Brescia, editor.  Also in French and Spanish.

French 'Ecocritique': Reading Contemporary French Theory and Fiction Ecologically.  Stephanie Posthumus.

The Future of Conservation in America: A Chart for Rough Water.  Gary E. Machlis and Jonathan B. Jarvis.

Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth.  James Lovelock.

Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone.  Richard Lloyd Parry.

Global Warming and the Sweetness of Life: A Tar Sands Tale.  Matt Hern and Am Johal.

The Global Warming Express. Marina Weber. (For young readers).

Green Japan: Environmental Technologies, Innovation Policy, and the Pursuit of Green Growth.  Carin Holroyd.

Growing a Sustainable City?  The Question of Urban Agriculture.  Christina D. Rosan and Hamil Pearsall.

Healing Earth: An Ecologist's Journey of Innovation and Environmental Stewardship.  John Todd (forthcoming).

Healing Gaia: Practical Medicine for the Planet.  James Lovelock.

A History of the Future: Prophets of Progress from H.G. Wells to Isaac Asimov.  Peter J. Bowler.

A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet.  Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore. (Spoiler Alert:  Nature, Money, Work, Care, Food, Energy, Lives).

Humankind: Solidarity with Non-Human People.  Timothy Morton.

The Infinite Desire for Growth.  Daniel Cohen.

Insult to Our Planet & the Florida Keys: Explore the Environment of the Past...Confront the Future.  Jerrold J. Weinstock, M.D. 

Interwoven: Junipers and the Web of Being.  Kristen Rogers-Iversen.

The Last Utopians: Four Late 19th Century Visionaries and Their Legacy.  Michael Robertson.  (Note: the four are Edward Bellamy, William Morris, Edward Carpenter, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman).

Life at the Edge of Sight: A Photographic Exploration of the Microbial World.  Scott Chimileski & Roberto Kolter.

The Lost Species: Great Expeditions in the Collections of Natural History Museums.  Christopher Kemp.

Mourning Animals: Rituals and Practices Surround Animal Death.  Margo DeMelio. 

A New Basis for Animal Ethics: Telos and Common Sense.  Bernard E. Rollin.

Nonviolent Direct Action as a Spiritual Path.  Richard K. Taylor.

Our Place: Can We Save Britain's Wildlife Before It's Too Late?  Mark Cocker.

Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis.  George Monbiot.

Planet of Microbes: The Perils and Potential of Earth's Essential Life Forms.  Ted Anton.

The Plant Messiah: Adventures in Search of the World's Rarest Species.  Carlos Magdalena.

Proving Ground: Expertise and Appalachian Landscapes.  Edward Slavishak.

This Radical Land: A Natural History of American Dissent.  Daegan Miller.

Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore.  Elizabeth Rush.

Science Comics Series (Get to Know Your Universe graphic non-fiction novels for the middle-grade reader, available in soft or hard-cover).  Latest 128-page issue is Trees: Kings of the Forest, by Andy Hirsch.  Other titles include Coral Reefs, Volcanoes, Plagues, Sharks, Robots & Drones, Dogs, etc.

Sinking Chicago: Climate Change and the Remaking of a Flood-Prone Environment.  Harold L. Platt.

Symbiosis in Cell Evolution.  Lynn Margulis.

Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet.  Varun Sivaraam.

The Taste of Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World.  Lizzie Collingham.

Toward a Better Worldliness: Ecology, Economy and the Protestant Tradition.  Terra Schwerin Rowe.

The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife.  Lucy Cooke.

Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed Our World.  Andrea Barnet.

Whose Dog Are You?  The Technology of Dog Breeds and the Aesthetics of Modern Human-Canine Relations.  Martin Wallen.

Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm.  Isabella Tree.

Wildlife Crime: From Theory to Practice.  William D. Moreto, editor.

Win-Win Ecology: How the Earth's Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise.  M. L. Rosenzweig. 

Women Who Dig:  Farming, Feminism, and the Fight to Feed the World.  Trina Moyles.

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Post-Script to my  May "Creation Corner Column" on Plastics, see the June issue of The National Geographic magazine: