January 2022 Creation Corner Column
New Year's Resolutions/Quotations; MOOC; Creation Care Viewpoint; Pandemic Lit.
Quotations for Resolutions in the New Year
"Drop the Patents" sign on a carboard coffin carried during a demonstration against Covid-19 patents in London on October 12, 2021, also signs "A Grave Injustice" and "Greed Kills."
"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. You have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." Jane Goodall, UN Messenger of Peace. Quoted in the 12/21 newsletter from the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter.
"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope." Martin Luther. First quote in the adult coloring book issued by the (Jacques) Cousteau Society.
"In the Face of Climate Change, We Must Act So That We Can Feel Hopeful---Not the Other Way Around." Katharine Hayhoe, Christian and Climate Scientist, quoted in a recent letter from CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies).
"We seek a world free of war and the threat of war. We seek a society with equity and justice for all. We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled. We seek an earth restored." Friends Committee on National Legislation (fcnl.org).
"What God requires of us is that we not stop trying." Bayard Rustin (1912-1987).
"If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours." Noam Chomsky.
"Put your heart, mind, and soul into even you smallest acts. This is the secret of success." Swami Sivananda (1887-1963).
"You are never too small to make a difference." Greta Thunberg, young Swedish climate activist.
"The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it." Katharine Hayhoe.
Free Online Course
"Religions and Ecology: Restoring the Earth Community" can be found at fore.yale.edu/online-courses. It is what is known as a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). This one is sponsored by the Forum on Religion and Ecology, based at Yale University, hosted by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim (formerly at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, where I first met them).
A retired ELCA pastor's view of creation care:
"When God spoke creation into being, God's grace was woven into the world's fabric. Creation's ecology, which is just right for sustaining life, is God's grace made flesh. Yet as scientists have shown, a habitable planet is a rare occurrence. We believe that amazing occurrence is a gift from a loving God. This giftedness of a just-right creation also is God's grace.
We sing our praise of God for this just-right planet. But we live out our praise as we tend Earth's diverse life, so that creation flourishes. Life serving life is the best praise."
From the December 31, 2021 meditation by writer Wendy Wirth-Brock, in "The Word in Season" from Augsburg Fortress Publishers.
Announcements
The annual report of the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership, linking river towns with education and outreach, land and water trails, may be found at their web site susquehannagreenway.org .
From the Archives: The Spring 2007 issue of MS. Magazine featured a cover story, "Heat's On---We Respond: Rising Up To Stop Global Warming" with a story by Laura Orlando, "The Melting Point."
New Titles re: COVID-19 Pandemic
After the Virus: Lessons from the Past for a Better Future. Hilary Cooper and Simon Szreter.
Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic. Rachel Clarke.
The Covid Consensus: The New Politics of Global Inequality. Toby Green.
Covid by Numbers: Making Sense of the Pandemic with Data. David Spiegelhalter and Anthony Masters.
The Enablers: How Team Trump Flunked the Pandemic and Failed America. Barbara Kellerman.
Failures of State: The Inside Story of Britain's Battle with Coronavirus. Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott.
Intensive Care: A GP, a Community & a Pandemic. Gavin Francis.
Life Support: Diary of an ICU Doctor on the Frontline of the Covid Crisis. JIm Down.
New Pandemics, Old Politics: Two Hundred Years of War on Disease and Its Alternatives. Alex de Waal.
Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History. Kyle Harper.
Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy. Adam Tooze.
Spike: The Virus Vs. The :People---The Inside Story. Sir Jeremy Farrar and Anjana Ahuja.
The Spirit of Green: The Economics of Collisions and Contagions in a Crowded World. William D. Nordhaus.
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