April 2019 Creation Corner Column
Earth Month/Climate Week
ecoAmerica (Building Climate Leadership for Climate Solutions) has a faith component, "Blessed Tomorrow: Caring for Creation Today" that works with religious and denominational leaders to help clergy become climate literate, and strives to engage congregations and congregants, all for the purpose of accelerating collective action on this moral, religious and justice issue.
Faith Climate Action materials from Interfaith Power and Light (A Religious Response to Global Warming) are suitable anytime in the year (thus "evergreen") although Faith Climate Action Week is set for April 5-14. The theme for 2019 is "Our Love for Earth." The free downloadable kit includes:
a. organizer's information
b. prayers and blessings for Earth Day
c. global warming facts
d. legislative advocacy networking opportunities
e. "how-to" suggestions for making a video
f. nature walks ("forest bathing") advice
g. outdoor service project examples
h. a movie offer
i. a welcome letter for participants from Interfaith Power and Light
MILESTONE ANNIVERSARIES
50th anniversary of the Union of Concerned Scientists. UCS puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with people across the county, it combines technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
100th anniversary of the National Parks Conservation Association. NPCA advocates to strengthen the National Parks System, protect its air and water, keep wildlife habitats intact, and connect millions of people to the parks.
For over 125 years, since 1893, The Parliament of the World's Religions (POWR) has encouraged interfaith harmony, and in addition to its promoting a global ethic; advocating justice; countering war, hate, and violence; advancing the next generation and women's dignity; having an indigenous people's program; POWR now has an ecology emphasis, climate action.
Beginning its 30th year is the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy, a 12-county effort to conserve working forests, working farms, and regional waterways. It networks with the PA Land Trust Association and the Susquehanna River Heartland Coalition for Environmental Studies.
DOCUMENTARY SERIES
For eight weeks starting April 5, on Netflix, "Our Planet" by Richard Attenborough will follow-up his widely acclaimed prior nature DVD documentaries of Planet Earth (2006), Life on Earth (1979), and others (Blue Planet, Blue Planet II, and Frozen Planet). It highlights the beauty and fragility of world habitats, and our role in endangering such. It may also empower us to defend the world.
NEW BOOKS
Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?, is Bill McKibben's 18th book, his first in 1989 being The End of Nature. Reviewed initially in the April 2019 issue of Men's Journal (Notebook profile column: "Final Warning" article by Adam Bluestein).
The End of Ice by Dahr Jamail is reviewed by Ralph Nader in the April 15, 2019 issue of "The Progressive Populist" (In the Public Interest column: "Who Will Displace the Omniciders?" article.)
Unprecedented Crime: Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival by Peter D. Carter and Elizabeth Woodworth, reviewed by Andrew Glikson in the March 2019 issue of Monthly Review as "The Criminal Dimension of Climate Change."
"Terracide and the Terrarists: Destroying the Planet for Record Profits" article by Tom Engelhardt.
DEFINITIONS
genocide: conscious slaughter of a racial or ethic group
ecocide: conscious destruction of aspects of the natural environment
terracide: conscious act of destroying the planet
omnicide: total extinction of the human species as a result of human action
QUOTATIONS
"Even if we do everything right from this point on, it's going to take luck to get out of this." Bill McKibben
"Everything is connected to everything else." Barry Commoner's first law of ecology
"Disrespect for nature is leading to our own destruction...This is the direct result of our inability to understand our part in the natural world." Dahr Jamail
"There are 600 cable channels in the U.S. transmitting largely junk programs" (and fewer than) 1% of them (six) (are) being dedicated to the global stories and urgencies of climate catastrophes." Ralph Nader
"The willful, methodical blocking of vital survival information" (meaning the mainstream media collusion with climate change denial and its cover-up) is "an unprecedented crime against life on the planet." Peter D. Carter and Elizabeth Woodworth.
"The question is, Are we going to be in time, and are we going to do enough? And the answer to both of those is no. We won't be able to mend everything. But we can make it a darn sight better than it would be if we didn't do anything at all." David Attenborough, quoted in TIME magazine, April 8, 2019.
-30-
Mike Ochs blogs at http://lutheransrestoringcreationblog.blogspot.com .
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.
