3/21 Creation Corner Column: Environmental Group Goals, Part 2, Earth Day, Film
Fest., Stewardship Sunday, etc.
Opening quotation: "Be part of the solution, not the pollution."
Environmental Group Goals, Part 2 (part 1 in February column)
Help curb climate disruption and reign in the abuses of the fossil fuel industry, prevent the erosion of safeguards for water, air and land, remind elected officials and bureaucrats who they work for, continue to publish the "Sierra: Explore, Enjoy, Protect" magazine, with environmental hard-hitting investigations, interviews, natural world photography, etc., and help support local affiliates, The Sierra Club.
Provide a comprehensive guide to greening your home and purchases, address global crises (from climate to hunger and corruption to racism), help create a more just and sustainable society, help reverse the climate crisis and protect people from exposure to toxic chemicals. Green America, (formerly Co-op America).
Supports animals by initiatives that protect them from harms of suffering, abuse and neglect. Raises concerns about wildlife roaming on protected federal lands being targeted by trophy hunters, big cats abused and imprisoned in roadside zoos, thousands of dogs locked away in puppy mills, forced to reproduce over and over again until their bodies fail, or their profit-driven owners simply kill them. Urge legislation such as the Puppy Protection Act, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and the Prepared Act to add regulations to the Animal Welfare Act. Humane Society of the U.S. Legislative Fund.
Make the most of opportunities for stronger protections against leasing public lands for oil and gas development at bargain basement prices, seek the overdue restoration of national parks and protections for park wildlife, build on the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act to seek the overdue restoration of our National Park Service's ability to deal with backlog of repair and maintenance needs, continue conservation efforts to reduce the threat to parks by climate change, to ensure the unmatched beauty and breathtaking wonder of our national parks for generations to come. National Parks Conservation Association.
Challenges rainforest destruction and disastrous pipeline projects with allies in the Amazon and Indonesia, initiates corporate reforms to build on the Banking on Climate Change 2020 flagship report and the 2021 Keep Forests Standing: Exposing Brands and Banks Driving Deforestation campaign, to target funders and insurers of projects to address deforestation, land degradation, compromises of the rights of indigenous communities, the poisoning of Black and Brown communities, etc. Rainforest Action Alliance.
Continue partnerships world-wide (local communities, governments, global corporations, non-profit organizations, and foundations) to help achieve the goals of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by boosting rural prosperity to stop deforestation, develop and implement technological innovations, deploy an enhanced Agricultural Certification Program, build and grow responsible supply chains, advocate for global forest-friendly economic policies. Rainforest Alliance
Building on 50 years groundwork from its first direct action in 1971, as a global movement of activists it works to stabilize the climate with litigation, investigation of possible environmental crimes, circulates petitions, changing public perceptions of fossil fuel versus renewable energy business models, pressuring companies to expand investment in renewable energy infrastructure, speak at public hearings, network via social media, and engage in worldwide days of action. Greenpeace.
Continue being an environmental watchdog for PA through a Green Stimulus and Recovery Program Platform for sustainable industries that don't include fracking and petrochemicals, push the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), promote regulatory changes for the fracked gas industry, and provide help to protect communities from air and water pollution. PennFuture.
With international affiliates, it helps stop the suffering, abuse, neglect, cruelty, and abandonment of animals. Urges a vegan diet inasmuch as raising animals for food is at the root of a litany of deadly diseases that include avian and swine flu et al. Quoting the UN Food & Agriculture group, it educates that animal agriculture is responsible for 20% of human-caused Global Greenhouse Gas emissions. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Takes steps to strengthen the ESA (Endangered Species Act), inasmuch as "in the last 40 years, we have lost nearly half of all wild animal species on Earth." The ESA since 1973 "safeguards more than 2,300 of the world's most vulnerable plant and animal species". The focus of the group is chimpanzees and their African habitat, through their Research and Rehabilitation centers, efforts to combat wildlife trafficking and disease. The founder/leader is a UN Messenger of Peace. Jane Goodall Institute.
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Four Non-environment specific Groups with an Environmental Agenda include:
It hopes to raise concerns about the sustainability of a growing global population and the demands that population growth makes on natural resources, thus making population an environmental issue, one that is impacted by reproduction, health, and rights. It helps to empower women to plan their families so the world population can be stabilized, thus fostering a better, safer and healthier future for people everywhere. Population Connection Action Fund.
Because gun violence is a public health epidemic that harms our health in various environmental settings (home, work, school, houses of worship, etc.), this group helps youth make their voices heard through the campaign team ENOUGH program, promotes legislation that would help create communities that are more safe and secure, educates about ending "family fire" with in-home steps to prevent gun suicide and avoidable tragedies, urges gun industry accountability, and wants police to be held responsible for their own gun violence. Brady Campaign: United Against Gun Violence.
Helping to elect gun safety politicians to public office, from county sheriffs to state and national legislatures, this group promotes universal background checks, opposes the gun industry lobby in legislative action proposals to protect the public from gun violence, educates the public about gun safety, and uses digital and virtual events, campaign videos, as well as a Political Action Committee for lobbying purposes. (Gabby) Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence.
Always calling for an end to wasteful military spending, and investing in the health and welfare of our communities, it advances "natural security" as necessary to "national security." A focus on real threats such as the pandemic and global climate heating changes, the risk of nuclear weapons being accidentally or purposefully used (thus a need for their abolition to preserve human life and the integrity of the environment), and their peace agenda campaign of "Move the Money" is supported by active members and chapters nationwide. Peace Action.
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29th Annual Environmental Film Festival, March 18-21, entirely online.
11 days of films, panels, and Q&As from the nation's capitol. Visit DCEFF.ORG .
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April 22, 2021 is Earth Day
CreationJustice.org upholds an Earth Day Sunday theme of "A New Heaven and a New Earth" as it focuses on health, environmental racism, and eco-justice. Educational materials available.
EarthDay.org is the official secular site theme of "Restore Our Earth" with campaigns of The Canopy Project, Food and the Environment, the Great Global CleanUp, climate literacy, and Earth Challenge. With many partners, it is grateful that the Biden administration will host an Earth Day global climate summit, "The World Turns to Climate Action."
April 30 is Arbor Day and as it begins a year-long celebration up to its 150th anniversary, this year it advises "6 Ways to Celebrate Arbor Day in a Time of Social Distancing."
Soil and Water Stewardship Week and Sunday, sponsored by local affiliates of the National Association of Conservation Districts. Since 1955 the NACD Stewardship Week has encouraged individual responsibility for the caring of natural resource conservation, between the last Sunday in April and the first Sunday in May. "Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities" is the theme this year, and at the NACD marketplace can be found downloadable materials such as student booklets, an educator guide, placemat/activity guide, poster, bookmark, church leader guide, litany and program insert.
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Book for March Women's History Month:
Writing Wild: Women :Poets, Ramblers, and Mavericks Who Shape How We See the Natural World. Kathryn Aalto.
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Closing Quotation: "Make the Planet Greta Again" (re: Greta Thunberg, teenage climate activist, nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize).
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Note: This LutheransRestoringCreation (LRC) blog column now celebrates its tenth anniversary, having been "adopted" as a blog ten years ago, March of 2011, by the LRC web site hosts. The column originated as the monthly "Creation Corner Column" for the ecumenical United Churches of Lycoming County (UCLC), PA in October of 1997, in-print and on-line at uclc.org . This year the UCLC celebrates its 75th 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.
