Wednesday, December 1, 2021

12/21 CCC: Quotes, Enviro Actions, COVID-19, Announcements

                               Creation Corner Column for December 2012


          Notable Quotations, Environmental Actions, COVID-19 books, Announcements

Quotations Worth Noting

In 1989 TIME magazine chose the endangered earth as "Planet of the Year" in lieu of the usual "Person of the Year."

In 2021 TIME entitled their Nov. 8-15 issue primary contents as "Climate is Everything."

The climate battle is "a fight for our lives, an existential battle and we need to behave like it...and for some people in the world it already is absolutely existential: they're losing their lives."  John Kerry, United States climate envoy to the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP 26), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, quoted in TIME magazine of Nov. 8-15, 2022.

Among the COP26 goals are (according to the same issue of TIME):

1. Restore and protect the ecosystems that make human life possible.
2. Ensure a rapid and equitable transition away from coal.
3. Make climate solutions profitable.
4. Shift the global vehicle fleet from gas-powered to electric.
5. Finalize the Paris rule book to guarantee the integrity of carbon trading.
6. Persuade the world to invest in renewable energy.
7. Help vulnerable cities become more resilient.
8. Urge the developed world to share the burden.

"Human beings (said Steve Jobs, 1955-2011) have a responsibility to be guardians of the earth for future generations, to pay attention to problems and do something about them."

Action for the Environment

If you seek to help your church, temple or mosque to express care for the creation, consider "googling" these helpful web sites:

10 steps to greening your church
10 tips to help your church go green
7 simple steps to green your church
Greening your church: 9 stewardship strategies that won't break the budget
Greening your church: Getting started and doing the basics
20 ways to get your church thinking green, going green
10 eco-friendly practices you can make at church to help the planet

All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis.  Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katharine K. Wilkinson.

Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need.  Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, Danielle L. Eiseman, and Michael P. Hoffman.

Sustainability Made Simple: Small Changes for Big Impact (updated edition).  Rosaly Byrd and Lauren DeMates.

New Titles re: COVID-19 Pandemic

After Lockdown: A Metamorphosis.  Bruno Latour.

Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers:  Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis.  John Nichols.

Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus.  Danielle Allen.

The First Shot: The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine.  Brendan Borrell.

The Long Year: A 2020 Reader.  Edited by Thomas J. Sugrue and Caitlin Zaloom.

World War C: Lessons From the Covid-19 Pandemic and How to Prepare for the Next One.  Sanjay Gupta, M.D.

Announcements

Evangelical Christian and atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe has been appointed as the new chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy.  See her article, "A Climate For All Of Us" in the winter 2021 issue of "Nature Conservancy" magazine, nature.org/magazine .

The 2022 Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture Conference is Feb. 10-12, 2022.  pasafarming.org/conference .Virtual pre-conference January 4-28, 2022.

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Monday, November 1, 2021

11/21 CCC: Faith for Earth, Climate, Pandemic

                                           Lutherans Restoring Creation Blog    


                                            11/21 Creation Corner Column

                                        Faith for Earth/Climate Crisis/Pandemic


Ecology and Religion

Faith for Earth: A Call for Action.  Prepared in advance of the UN IPCC Glasgow Scotland meeting 10/31-11/12, this 57 page book is produced by the UN Environmental Program and the Parliament of World Religions.  Available on-line.

Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World.  John Philip Newell.

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.  Katharine Hayhoe.  (also see "The New Yorker" interview with her at "How to talk about climate change across the political divide"). Haydoe is an atmospheric scientist and evangelical Christian.

Climate Crisis Books

The Atlas of a Changing Climate. Brian Buma.

The Atlas of Disappearing Places: Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis.  Christina Conklin and Marina Psaros.

Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World.  Lisa Wells.

The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times.  Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams.

The Climate of History in a Planetary Age.  Dipesh Chakrabarty.

Deep Adaptation: Navigating the Realities of Climate Chaos.  Edited by Jem Bendell and Rupert Read.

Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for our Clean Energy Future.  Saul Griffith.

The Environmentalist's Dilemma: Promise and Peril in an Age of Climate Crisis.  Arno Kopecky.

Gasoline Dreams: Waking Up from Petroculture.  Simon Orpana.

How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers and Others Who Defy Reason.  Lee Mcintyre.

The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis.  Amitav Ghosh.

Our Biggest Experiment: An Epic History of the Climate Crisis.  Alice Bell.

Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet---and How We Can Fight Back.  Kate Aronoff.

Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire.  Lizzie Johnson.

Psychological Roots of the Climate Crisis: Neoliberal Exceptionalism and the Culture of Uncare.  Sally Weintrobe.

They Knew: The US Federal Government's Fifty-Year Role in Causing the Climate Crisis.  James Gustave Speth.

White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism.  Andreas Malm.


Plagues/Pandemics/Covid-19 Books

After the Virus: Lessons from the Past for a  Better Future.  Hilary Cooper and Simon Szreter.

The Biomedical Empire: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic.  Barbara Katz Rothman.

Chronic: The Hidden Cause of the Autoimmune Pandemic and How to Get Healthy Again.  Steven Phillips, M.D.

Coronavirus Politics: The Comparative Politics and Policy of COVID-19.  Edited by Scott L. Greer et al. 

The Enablers: How Team Trump Flunked the Pandemic and Failed America.  Barbara Kellerman.

To End a Plague: America's Fight to Defeat Aids in Africa.  Emily Bass.

Global Health Security: A Blueprint for the Future.  Lawrence O. Gostin.

The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-1782.  Elizabeth A. Fenn.

House Arrest: Diary selections from the Pandemic Year March 2020 to March 2021.  Alan Bennett.

How Bad Thinking Happens to Good People: How Philosophy Can Save Us from Ourselves.  Steven Nadler and Lawrence Shapiro.

Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine.  Jim Downs.

Misunderstanding Health: Making Sense of America's Broken Health Care System.  Rohit Khanna.

The New Normal: A Roadmap to Resilience in the Pandemic Era.  Jennifer Ashton, M.D.

New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and its Alternatives. Alex de Waal.

The Origins of COVID-19: China and Global Capitalism.  Li Zhang.

The Palliative Society; Pain Today.  Byung-Chul Han.

Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History.  Kyle Harper.

Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82.  Elizabeth A. Fenn.

The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class (Special Covid-19 edition).  Guy Standing.

Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response.  Andy Slavitt.

Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World.  Fareed Zakaira.

Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic.  Scott Gottlieb, M.D., former FDA Commissioner.

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Sunday, October 3, 2021

10/21 CCC: UN Climate Change Conf. of 11/21, Scotland

 


                                 Creation Corner Column, October 2021

              Thoughts preceding COP 26 (UN Climate Change Conference)

COP26 (The Conference of the Parties), another name for it is the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, begins in Glasgow, Scotland, next month, the purpose of which is to "ratchet up ambition to mitigate climate change."

As it gets underway, the church may also ask itself what it is doing.  Here are some suggestions for parishioners. 

Ideas for upholding the integrity of the creation, derived from Leah Schade's book, "For the Beauty of the Earth: A Lenten Devotional", and its list of 50 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day.  Chalice Press, 2019.   https://chalicepress.com/products/for-the-beauty-of-the-earth-lent-devotional-perfect-bound 

Call your local legislators today and ask their position on climate change.  Tell them you are a Christian who votes on climate issues and ask them to support climate legislation.

Make a sign that you could carry or post, such as "Christians Care About Climate."  "All God's Children Deserve a Healthy Planet."  "If you mess it up, clean it up---Love, God."

Adjust your thermostat one degree to save on either heating or cooling costs (depending on where you live" and lessen your environmental impact.

During the prayers of the people, pray for Planet Earth and ask for people to be be united in caring for our common home.

Call your denominational head office and ask if they have divested from fossil fuels.  If the answer is yes, thank them.  If the answer is no, ask why.  Tell them why this is important to you as a member of the church.

Borrow a copy of Pope Francis' Encyclical Laudato Si' from your local library or listen to it as an audio book.  Notice the way he frames caring for Creation using theology, scripture, and the teachings of the church.

Find out what environmental legislation is currently under consideration in Congress.  Call your representative and senators and encourage them to support the strongest protections for the planet.

Write a prayer of lament, confession, or intercession regarding Creation.  Share it with your pastor and ask if it could be read at the service on Sunday.

Call your local mayor's office and ask if there is a task force for addressing climate preparedness.  If there is, thank them and ask how you can help.  If not, ask why.  Share with them what you've learned about how climate change will likely affect your community.

If you have investments, look at where you have placed your money.  Have you divested from fossil fuels?  Have you invested in clean energy firms?  How might you "green" your financial portfolio?

Line dry your clothes to minimize the use of your electric dryer.  The average household can save up to $200 per year and reduce their carbon footprint by 2,400 pounds.

Reach out to organizations such as GreenFaith, Blessed Tomorrow, and Interfaith Power and Light to join environmental efforts with a wider coalition of interfaith religious climate activists.

Make a donation to a local environmental organization.  Make it in honor of a special child in your life.

Air pollution, environmental toxins, and extreme weather events exact a heavy toll on neighborhoods already struggling with poverty, crumbling infrastructure, lack of access to good healthcare and nutrition, and neglected education systems.  Connect with the Poor People's Campaign to learn more about how you can join with others to address the intersections of poverty, race, and environmental issues.

Pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1907.  Borrow a copy of her book Silent Spring from your local library or listen to it as an audiobook.  What points of resonance do you notice from when she wrote it 1962?  Think about why her work is still so relevant today and what she can teach us.

The book Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit helps pastors craft sermons that address environmental issues from a biblical and theological perspective.  Purchase a copy to give to your pastor.  Of if you are a clergyperson, get a copy for yourself to help you "green" your preaching.

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From The Green Bible: Understand the Bible's Powerful Message for the Earth come recommended actions for individuals and families (with general emphases, and those for oceans, health, endangered creatures, land conservation, how to be a deep green family and practical tips to get started).  Here are some action ideas for churches:

Help your church hold a "Creation Sunday" worship service.

Start a Bible study on what the Bible says about the environment.  Consider inviting people outside the church.

Get your church to conduct an energy audit and implement improvements.

Become a "sister congregation" with a church in a community where toxic waste or pollution threatens the health of church members.

Set up a booth at an environmental fair or Earth Day event, or plan one for your church (such as on St. Francis Day, yearly on October 4).

Adopt a local stream, park, or roadway for cleanup, monitoring, or restoration.

Identify an important environmental issue and visit or write letters to local, state, or national leaders about it.

Plant trees, shrubs, and perennials in places where shade and beauty are needed at your church.

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Preparations for the COP26 November event in Glasgow, Scotland include:

A Joint Statement, "Listen to the cry of the Earth" issued by leaders of the Roman Catholic Church (1.3 billion members, Pope Francis), Orthodox Church (85 million members, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I), and the Anglican Church (85 million members, Canterbury Archbishop Justin Welby).  

Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition (Pre-COP Youth event) with such emphases as sustainable recovery, nature-based solutions, empowering and protecting the most vulnerable, driving innovation, entrepreneurship, adaptation and resilience, ambition, youth and local action.

In the U.S., in an effort to influence domestic policy, 3400 faith leaders have signed on to a petition from Interfaith Power & Light, asking for federal investments in expanding clean and renewable energy and modernizing our electric grid; electrifying transportation and expanding public transit; providing clean water infrastructure for all communities; and investing with justice.

The U.S. 2021 Climate Action Plan advanced by the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council, with 3 million members and on-line activists) preceded the Biden administration pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent by the end of the decade, and to conserve 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.

Food and Water Action Watch advocates three solutions:  a safe, sustainable food system; the right so clean affordable water; and powering the clean energy revolution.

The Environmental Defense Fund is spearheading reforms that will force businesses to disclose the growing financial risks of climate change.  ExxonMobil shareholders voted to elect three new board members who have pledged to move the company away from fossil fuel production and toward a low-carbon future.

Climate displacement, potentially wiping out 15 percent of Pacific Islands with a one meter rise in the sea level, needs to be addressed at its cause by dramatically reducing greenhouse gases.  Such displacement strategies need be devised by developed countries, and are being advanced by the Ocean Conservancy.

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"The earth groans in travail"  Romans 8:22

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Mike Ochs finds common ground between religion and politics in his concern for the environment.

Politically he self-published the first "Greens Bibliography" of the English-language literature on the international Green Party movement (1989), the project for his Master of Liberal Arts in International Studies degree at Lock Haven (PA) University. He also helped plant the seeds for the Green Party of PA at that time, and remains a cyber-activist with it.

For a monthly newsletter of the ecumenical United Churches of Lycoming County (PA), he has written the "Creation Corner Column" since 1997.  It became a blog in 2011 at 


He received a B.A. degree from Gettysburg College in 1965.

Thursday, September 2, 2021

9/21 CCC: Religious Context for "Code Red for Humanity"

                                        Creation Corner Column 9/21


A Religious Context for Reading the UN IPCC report characterized as a "Code Red for Humanity".

Christians may regard the "first commandment" as that of Genesis 2:15.

 Various interpretations are that we humans were placed by God in the Garden of Eden...

"...to tend it and watch over it." New Living translation

"...to tend it and keep it." New King James version

"...to take care of it and to look after it."  Contemporary English version

"...to serve it and to keep it."  Literal Standard version and also Young's literal translation

"...to care for it and to maintain it. New English Translation 

"...so that it would be attended and preserved... Catholic Public Domain version

This leaves no doubt as to what our first responsibility is.  The question is: Is there is a gap between what we now know about climate change, and what we do about it?

A significant contribution to our understanding may be found in The Green Bible: Understanding the Bible's Powerful Message for the Earth (2008) that is a "green-letter" edition, highlighting 1000 verses, and included lists of denominational environmental programs, statements, activities, and faith-based organizations.  Over 100 actions are advised for individuals, families, churches, etc., for people who want to take practical steps to get started on turning their words into deeds.

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Some updated web sites for churches (kindly supplied by the PA Interfaith Power and Light) are:

Recent Environmental Books

The World We Need: Stories and Lessons from America's Unsung Environmental Movement.  Edited by Audrea Lim.

Books by Stan Cox of The Land Institute in Salina Kansas

The Path to a Livable Future: Forging a New Politics to Fight Climate Change, Racism, and the Next Pandemic, 2021.

The Green New Deal and Beyond: Ending the Climate Emergency While We Still Can, 2020.

Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World, 2010.

How the World Breaks: Life in Catastrophe's Path, from the Caribbean to Siberia, 2016, with Paul Cox.


Pandemic Book Titles

Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary.  Timothy Snyder.

Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine.  Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley.

Religion and Ecology Books

For the Beauty of the Earth: A Lenten Devotional.  Leah D. Schade.  In addition to a devotional guide from Ash Wednesday to Resurrection Sunday, this 58-page paperback includes 50 practical steps (practices, activities, and ideas) to "Make Earth Day Everyday" that are useful throughout the year.

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Mike Ochs finds common ground between religion and politics in his concern for the environment.

Politically he self-published the first "Greens Bibliography" of the English-language literature on the international Green Party movement (1989), the project for his Master of Liberal Arts in International Studies degree at Lock Haven (PA) University. He also helped plant the seeds for the Green Party of PA at that time, and remains a cyber-activist with it.

For a monthly newsletter of the ecumenical United Churches of Lycoming County (PA), he has written the "Creation Corner Column" since 1997.  It became a blog in 2011 at 


He received a B.A. degree from Gettysburg College in 1965.

Sunday, August 1, 2021

8/21 CCC: Summer Reading Part 2; Seasons of Creation

 


                                     Creation Corner Column, August 2021

Summer Reading Part 2: Seasons of Creation

Imagine It: A Handbook for a Happier Planet.  Heather Reisman and Laurie David.

Letters From Animals: To the people who think they're just beasts.  Frederic Brremaud, art by Giovanni Rigano.  Adapted from wildlife conservationist Allain Bourgrain Dubourg's celebrated book.  (Intended for middle-aged readers aged 8-14 or above.  It may contain scenes of light intensity.  Includes information on how to care for animals in your neighborhood).

Living with Yards: Negotiating Nature and the Habits of Home.  Ursula Lang.

Losing Eden: Our Fundamental Need for the Natural World---and Its Ability to Heal Body and Soul.  Lucy Jones.

Loving Animals: On Bestiality, Zoophilia and Post-Human Love.  Joanna Bourke.

The Lure of the Beach: A Global History.  Robert C. Ritchie.

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.

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans From Colonial Times to the Present.  Harriet A. Washington.

Migrations: A Novel.  Charlotte McConaghy.  climate fiction.

Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism.  Mariana Mazzucato.

Moving Water: The Everglades and Big Sugar.  Amy Green.

Natural Grace: God and Nature in our Slice of Pennsylvania.  Thomas Ask.

The Nature of the Future: Agriculture, Science, and Capitalism in the Antebellum North.  Emily Pawley.

Nature Shock: Getting Lost in America.  Jon T. Coleman.

The New Climate Activism: NGO Authority and Participation in Climate Change Governance.  Jen Iris Allan.

The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet.  Michael Mann.

The New Possible: Visions of Our World Beyond Crisis.  Varshini Prakash (Sunrise Movement).

On Trails: An Exploration.  Robert Moor.

Only God Can Make a Tree: A Meditation.  A book of pen and ink drawings. Vol. 1. Peter Grimord.

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion.  Elizabeth L. Cline.

Overview Time lapse.  Benjamin Grant & Timothy Dougherty (satellite images of earth over time).

Plagues and Princes: The Great Mortality.  Thomas Schultz.  Historical Fiction.

Planetary Mine: Territories of Extraction under Late Capitalism.  Martin Arboleda.

Planting the World: Joseph Banks and His Collectors: An Adventurous History of Botany.  Jordan Goodman.

Pollution is Colonialism.  Max Liboiron.

Post Growth: Life After Capitalism.  Tim Jackson.

The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity.  Toby Ord.

The Rights of the Defenseless: Protecting Animals and Children in Gilded Age America.  Susan J. Pearson.

Sauntering: Writers Walk Europe.  Duncan Minshull, editor.

A Search for Safe Passage (re: wildlife corridors).  Frances Figart.  Illustrations by Emma DuFort.  For youth 7-13.

Second Nature: Scenes from a World Remade.  Nathaniel Rich.

Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don't Know about the Ocean.  Naomi Oreskes.

Scorched Earth: Environmental Warfare as a Crime Against Humanity and Nature.  Emmanuel Kreike.  A global history of environmental warfare and the case for why it should be a crime.

Seed to Dust: A Gardener's Story.  Marc Hamer.

Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate.  Chad T. Hanson.

Snowflake: A Climate Thriller.  Arthur Jeon.  Fiction.

The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction.  David Quammen.

The Spirit of Green: The Economics of Collisions and Contagions in a Crowded World.  William Nordhaus.

The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations.  Dorceta E. Taylor. 2014.

Tales of Two Planets: Stories of Climate Change and Inequality in a Divided World.  John Freeman.

A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind.  Harriet A. Washington.

Theory of the Earth.  Thomas Nail.

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

Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future.  Elizabeth Kolbert.

Up to Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom and Community in an American Town.  Colin Jerolmack.

Vesper Flights: New and Collected Essays.  Helen Macdonald.

Wanderers: A History of Women Walking.  Kerri Andrews.

Waste: One Woman's Fight Against America's Dirty Secret.  Catherine Coleman Flowers.

The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China.  Philip Ball.

Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World.  M.R. O'Connor.

We Are the Land: A History of Native California.  Damon B. Akins and William J. Bauer, Jr.

We Are Water Protectors.  Carole Lindstrom, author; Michaela Goade, illustrator.  Caldecott Medal winner for illustration of a children's picture book, indigenous theme.

What It's Like to Be a  Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing---What Birds Are Doing and Why.  David Allen Sibley.

Winning a Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can.  Varshini Prakash. Guido Girgenti, Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Bill McKibben, Rev. William Barber II, Joseph Stiglitz, Mary Kay Henry, et al. 

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments.  Aimee Nezhukumatathil, with illustrations by Fumi Mini Nakamura.

Eco-theology Titles

See the home page for Lutherans Restoring Creation for "books" and also "google" "ecotheology books" for a variety of titles.  A more recent publication is

Celebrating Nature by Faith: Studies in Reformation Theology in an Era of Global Emergency.  H. Paul Santmire.

Climate Change Titles

One list can be found at earthday.org for 12-best-books-on-climate-change

Acronyms of Interest

30 x 30 Movement plan would place 30% of U.S. lands and 30% of U.S. waters under federal guidelines protection by 2030, as announced by the Biden administration April 16, 2021 for conservation purposes and to help offset climate change.  This mirrors similar international efforts.

RECLAIM is the "Revitalizing the Economy of Coal Communities by Leveraging Local Activities and Investment More) Act to fund reclamation projects and community-led economic development in Appalachia, if passed by Congress.

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Groups

Centre for Science and the Environment, Sunita Narain, director, whose article " Why Climate Matters" appeared in TIME magazine of June 21/28, 2021, in their series of articles on "A New Hope For Health Care."

Climate Litigation Network, Tessa Kahn, co-director ("Save the Planet, One Lawsuit at a Time" article in The Guardian Weekly, August 21, 2020, one in a multiple of articles in its "The Future Starts Here" series).

Lifelong Learning Courses (from Great Courses.com) 

The National Geographic Guide to Birding in North America.

The Science of Gardening.

Wonders of the National Parks: A Geology of North America.

The World's Greatest Geological Wonders/36 Spectacular Sites.

COVID Pandemic Title

The Pandemic Century: A History of Global Contagion from the Spanish Flu to Covid-19.  Mark Honigsbaum.

Season of Creation in September 2021

September is the Season of Creation in the church liturgical year.  So for four Sundays in September, before St. Francis of Assisi Day on October 3, you are invited to join in celebrating with creation, and to re-commit yourselves to a ministry of healing Earth, with Christ and Creation as partners.

Resources:

seasonofcreation.com
seasonofcreation.org
letallcreationpraise.org
lutheransrestroringcreation.org 

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Mike Ochs finds common ground between religion and politics in his concern for the environment.

Politically he self-published the first "Greens Bibliography" of the English-language literature on the international Green Party movement (1989), the project for his Master of Liberal Arts in International Studies degree at Lock Haven (PA) University. He also helped plant the seeds for the Green Party of PA at that time, and remains a cyber-activist with it.

For a monthly newsletter of the ecumenical United Churches of Lycoming County (PA), he has written the "Creation Corner Column" since 1997.  It became a blog in 2011 at 


He received a B.A. degree from Gettysburg College in 1965.