10/19 CCC: Rooted and Rising, book review

Creation Corner Column, October 2019

Book Review: Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis, Rev. Dr. Leah Schade and Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, editors.  Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.

With the first commandment in mind (Genesis 2:15, that we are to tend and keep the earth), to be stewards of the creation that God created and found good, ecologically balanced, readers of this new book will find of interest the "eco-biographies" of a wide variety of writers from inter-faith perspectives that help shape their efforts to conserve/preserve/restore the integrity of God's creation.

The book, suitable for personal use and adult discussion groups or courses in religious education, does not dwell on a long list of environmental consequences of a warming planet, nor extensively detail scientific explanations of the same, nor relate the reasons or causes for inaction from personal, institutional, and policy sources said to be responsible for the climate crisis.  But neither are these subjects absent or overlooked.

Rather, it offers a moral and ethical clarity as to why and how people of faith can and should step up to address such climate concerns, as they have also done for concerns about hunger, justice, war and peace, and other social issues.

That is, for Christians, just as we look vertically from the cross to God and spiritual values, and horizontally to our right relations with humans, we need to be mindful that the cross is also an ecological symbol, of a dying man on a dead tree planted in the earth.

Examples from the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths, and other perspectives, fill the book's seven sections with three essays of several pages each.  For personal reflection or group discussion, each section ends with "questions to ponder and a spiritual practice", each of which is helpful to engage the reader personally with what the author wrote.

The section themes are: interfaith friendship; local activism; science and policy; voices from the margin; liturgy, moral vision, and vocation; being uprooted; and grief, love and trees. Excellent end notes of a bibliography, scripture and text index, and brief glances of the contributors are present.  Also there is a foreword by Mary Evelyn Tucker (Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology), and a special introduction by United Methodist layman Bill McKibben (founder of 350.org, the first planet wide grassroots climate change movement).

Co-editors Schade (ELCA) and Bullitt-Jonas (Episcopal) provide their introductions, noting that one textual theme is that of our emotions resulting from our intellectual understanding of rising CO2 and temperature levels.  While there may be denial from ignorance, more aware people may experience the grief from sadness over what has been lost and what is now occurring, and a feeling of being powerless can give rise to hopelessness and helplessness. 

But the authors throughout offer examples of resourcefulness, purpose and hope, wisdom, inspiration, resilience, transformation, strength for sustaining the efforts, leadership, positive results derived from actions, personal lifestyle changes multiplied to have widespread changes, shared core values and commitments, interlinkages and intersectionality among other social movements, spiritual practices, convincing arguments for our engagement, advice for staying "grounded" and balanced to avoid "burnout", ways of finding one's "love force" spiritually for God's creation and ways to apply it, how to deal with uncertainty, finding community support in one's endeavors, and seeing scriptural teachings to motivate us about our earthly obligations.

On the secular side some consideration is given to the science of atmospheric physics (our opponent), insurance industry consequences from environmental catastrophes, food and military security concerns arising from changing ecological conditions, the connection of climate change and population movements (refugees, immigration, geographic density), the many ways extreme heat can affect personal health, the importance of holding oneself and others accountable (legislative policy makers, our churches, etc.), ways to be supportive of green businesses and the clean energy movement, learning lessons from other social movements (HIV/AIDS, LGBTQ, Civil Rights, etc.), appreciating how a "climate generation" of young people worldwide perceive climate change as a "threat multiplier" amplifying other threats (poverty, human rights violations, war, etc.) and must be matched by a "love multiplier," the insights from how we responded to WWII and Sept. 11, 2001 and applying  them to our current situation, promoting green infrastructure with energy conservation and efficiency measures, etc. In considering ways to make it politically possible to do what is scientifically necessary, one essay offers a thought-provoking brainstorm of whether we can think of a stable climate system as a constitutional right, as is argued in the lawsuit Juliana v. U.S.A., and if so, can the Supreme Court order a science-based-climate-recovery plan?  Consider too, as American Indians resist the colonization of their minds and are urged to assimilate away from their ancestral culture, do we Americans need to consider if our minds have been "colonized" (captured) by a corporate hyper-capitalism insisting "there is no alternative"? (Google "TINA" acronym).

But more emphasis is given to topics such as coping with climate realism; being a climate activist for a livable world as a way to love and define our humanity and serve God; finding optimism while being discouraged; discovering faith when hope is missing; accepting our vulnerability yet taking risks; making ourselves available to the Spirit, and appreciating the many ways to love God and His Creation; resisting climate change denial and its manifestations; finding alternatives to emotional fear; understanding "the Greatest Commandment" (that we love our neighbors as ourselves) means to act on climate change and protect the natural world we all inhabit; learning from the Orthodox Church's Ecumenical ("green") Patriarch Bartholomew and the worldwide Roman Catholic Church's Pope Francis; consider what meaning is present when Christians pray that God's "will be done on earth" and contemplating the challenge of our hands doing God's work; ways to proceed with ways to have solidarity with our children and grandchildren and future generations; what directions to take to pursue our moral and ethical power; how to deal with our guilt and complicity due to our lifestyles that are built into and impacted by economic and socio-political systems that are not of our making but into which we are born; envision a. what is, b. what could or should be (hope), c. what God's intent for us is, and d. see the goodness of Creation that God wishes to be abundantly sustainable, and how we can work for such eco-justice; the need to gain the maturity that life includes paradox (hope and despair, beauty and brutality, joy and sorrow).

Furthermore, we are tasked with the question of how we might convert our current sense of vocation ("calling") that it might move us to become restorers of Creation, with whatever time, talent and treasures we have.  Might we be capable of becoming a second version of the WWII "Greatest Generation" who proudly said "We don't get to do what we want; we have to do what needs to be done"?  As we receive the gift of Creation (air, light, soil, water, etc.) with thankfulness and gratitude, shall we re-connect with it too?  Might our hope grow only through our actions, that our optimism and hope arrives after our hands do the work to grow it?  Are false idols entering our lives---consumerism, domination and the greed of individualism, a belief in perpetual growth on a finite planet?  Do we have other more important roles, as citizens, expressing solidarity of a "one for all" ethic, restraint, a sense of limits, and sacrifice?  Through our pain and grief over ecocide can we articulate a critique of injustice that leads to a promise of resurrection?

Is the "Tree of Life", with its roots, trunk and branches that rise, a suitable metaphoric symbol for our place in the natural environment?  If you have immersed yourself in a forest retreat, to "listen, linger, and love," what lessons have you learned from reading the "Book of Nature"?  Is it helpful to you to live neither in hope or hopelessness, but to have courage to live in fear?  Do we need to stay connected in active love and care, whatever the future holds?  Can we make gratitude a reality by choosing an appropriate way to sustain what we are grateful for (forests, ocean life, butterflies, etc.)?  Our bodies are part of nature.  Are we engaged in self-destructive ways that sabotage our health?  Consider how our behavior also impacts a fragile earth.  If God helps you make peace with your body, can God also help humanity make peace with the body of earth? How might prayer and ritual create a deeper eco-wisdom that leads to actions on behalf of planetary life?  Is the future of the "Tree of Life" at the mercy of our decisions and indecisions?

All of the above, and more, are considered in this book, and it is worthy of your attention.

To see the table of contents, go to: https://www.amazon.com/Rooted-Rising-Voices-Courage-Climate/dp/1538127768

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