PBS Video "The Unforeseen"

Janice Heidelberger, a student at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, has called our attention to this powerful PBS presentation. The video, titled "The Unforeseen," is about 26 minutes long. Enjoy!

A reflection from Dr. Jim Martin-Schramm

The following is a reflection from Dr. Jim Martin-Schramm, associate professor of religion at Luther College in Iowa.

Iowa IPL’s Lenten Carbon Fast: Real Stories from Real Iowans, Saving Energy as an Act of Faith

The disasters in Japan are pervading our reflection about Lent this year. The suffering caused by the record-setting earthquake and tsunami has been heart-breaking. The fear associated with the nuclear reactor crises has been overwhelming. My wife and I marvel, however, at the resilience of the Japanese people and their capacity to endure such hardship with grace and fortitude.

As an environmentalist and as a Christian ethicist, I have significant concerns about nuclear power and fossil fuels. I am co-teaching a course right now at Luther College on “Ethics, Energy, and Climate Policy.” Out of a desire to “walk the talk,” my wife and I have been making investments over the past few years to make our home more energy efficient. In addition, we have been setting aside money to purchase and install a grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) system that would produce about 80 percent of the electricity our home uses in a particular year. The one thing that has been holding us back is that installing the system would require cutting down a large, mature walnut tree on the south side of our neighbor’s property.

Recently Luther College established a Sustainability House where students can live together and collaborate on various projects related to sustainability. As it turns out, this house has a fabulous solar window to the south. After some prayer and reflection, my wife and I have decided to donate to Luther the funds we have been saving to install a 4 kilowatt PV system on our own home so that the system can be installed this summer at the Luther College Sustainability House. With a more optimal southern orientation the same number of PV panels will produce more electricity and reduce more greenhouse gas emissions than they would have on our home which faces west. In addition, the panels will produce 100 percent of the house’s electricity and they will have a greater educational impact at Luther.

Could these funds do more good in Japan right now? We wrestle with this question but we made our gift about one week before the earthquake and tsunami struck northern Japan. We have made other gifts to relief and development organizations doing work there. All of our contributions, however, feel like a drop in the bucket given the enormity of the problems in Japan and the level of the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and nuclear power. But this is what we can do, and it is clear from those pulling together in Japan, that the collective efforts of individuals can make a world of difference.

Peace,

Jim Martin-Schramm
IIPL Board Member

Where We Live: Creation Corner Column, April 2011

Stand For What You Stand On: Where We Live

As this is being written we are mindful of (1) our nation's worst coalfield disaster since 1970, a year ago, April 5, 2010, at the West Virginia Massey Energy Co. Upper Big Branch Mine; (2) the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power station explosion in the Ukraine, April 26, 1986; and (3) the most recent Tokyo Japan Electric Power Company Fukushima nuclear power complex catastrophe following an earthquake and tsunami there.

And of course the first anniversary of the 2010 BP (British Petroleum) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurs this coming Easter weekend, and the world will focus on lessons learned from that tragic event.

This year that same weekend is Earth Day and Earth Day Sunday. Our April monthly column focus for that is not global, but instead is local: "Where Two or More are Gathered" (www.nccecojustice.org/earthday), and raises up concerns we here are acquainted with, yet need to be reminded of so we may take action on behalf of all of creation.

As we "think globally" we also "act locally" in our Susquehanna River bioregion, especially the west branch of it, and more specifically along the various watersheds locally. Helping to steward water resources is an action that people of faith can do, and the Lycoming County PA Conservation District Watershed Notes e-newsletter (http://www.lyco.org/) provides information about each of our nine local watershed associations (Loyalsock Creek, Lycoming Creek, Muncy Creek, Greater Nippenose Valley, Black Hole Creek, Pine Creek Preservation Association, Rose Valley/Mill Creek, Pine Creek Watershed Council, and Larry's Creek Watershed Association).

Other watershed efforts include Trout Unlimited (Susquehanna Chapter: http://www.sqtu.org/); Northcentral PA Conservancy (http://www.npcweb.org/); Otzinachson region of the PA Chapter of the Sierra Club (www.pennsylvania.sierraclub.org/otzinachson); and the Susquehanna River Heartland Coalition for Environmental Studies (http://www.srhces.org/).

There is also, from the perspective of the humanities, the print and on-line "Watershed: The Journal of the Susquehanna" (see http://org.bloomu.edu/watershed/index.html).

Also see "Water Stewards: A Toolkit for Congregational Care of Local Watersheds" (www.nccecojustice.org/resources).

Regarding watershed food issues, studies about "food miles" (the average number of miles it reportedly takes for your dinner to get to your table), show that many factors determine whether a food item is "environmentally friendly." In order to shrink the fossil fuel (greenhouse gas emissions) in our diets, we need to consider not just what transportation accounts for, but also how the food is produced. Eating lower on the food chain is a key (switching from red meat and dairy products to chicken, fish, eggs, or a vegetable-based diet).

Eating locally also has its place, according to an article in the current March/April "E" magazine. "Local food builds community, poses a smaller risk for food-borne contaminants and tastes a lot better. It doesn't require the refrigeration for long-distance hauling, and is often free from packaging waste."

Also, on watershed food issues, see the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (http://www.pasafarming.org/) and http://www.localharvest.org/ and other examples of community supported agriculture (CSA).

Simple ways to act on behalf of local food production include purchasing food at a farmer's market, hosting a church "bioregional meal" (food taken from no more than 25 miles away), or growing a "garden of eatin'" on church land.

One watershed air issue, that of the "perils of barrels", (pollution from backyard burner barrel burning) is being addressed by bans in some communities, and this "Creation Corner" column compiler can provide more information on that subject (e-mail Michael Ochs, billtownmike@yahoo.com . Carpooling can also help offset air pollution.

Bible study on water, food and air issues can be guided through environmental social statements of your church.

For further aid in taking action, see http://nccecojustice.org/takeaction/action.php. For more information, contact the Eco-Justice Program of the National Council of Churches.

Remember, a healthy watershed is harmonious with the needs of people, the land and natural resources. By giving back to our environment, by providing for the health of the soil, water, air, plants, and animals, we help to create a watershed that will sustain generations beyond ours. Watershed care guides help us in this our responsibility.

Environmental Film Festival, Earth Day Weekend, Williamsport PA

We are in the final stage of preparations for the 2nd annual Billtown Film Festival in Williamsport PA, and the thematic focus this year, on Earth Day weekend, is the environment. We have a very eclectic mix of animation, live action, narrative and documentary styles. Please come and enjoy three wonderful evenings of creative, thought-provoking films.

In response to the heightened sensitivity of environmental issues facing our region, the Billtown Film Festival committee has selected films and videos that address the concerns of climate change, alternative energy technology, social and moral responsibility, and environmental sustainability. The films are artful, funny, poignant, profound, informative and entertaining.

While the audience is being seated the screenings will be preceded with 30 minutes of movie theme scores. Each night will be different, come out and enjoy all 3 shows!

While the audience is being seated the screenings will be preceded with 30 minutes of movie theme scores. Each night will be different. Admission is FREE! Donations welcomed.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

6:30pm Movie Music
7:00pm Short Films
Carbon Footprint
The Meatrix 1
Balancing Point
The Next 7 Generations
Garbage Angels

7:30pm Feature Film
Carbon Nation

Friday, April 22, 2011

6:30pm Movie Music
7:00pm Short Films
Child’s View of Recycling
Time Lapse Earth 1
The Meatrix 2
Corner Plot
The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger

7:30pm Feature Film
Renewal – Stories from America’s Religious-Environmental Movement

Saturday, April 23, 2011

6:30pm Movie Music
7:00pm Short Films
Plastic Perils of the Pacific
Soil in Good Heart
An Environmental Restaurant
Gone Fishing
The Meatrix 2.5

7:30pm Feature Film
The Great Squeeze – Surviving the Human Project

Sponsors and Community Partners in Williamsport PA are:

The Community Arts Center (film festival site), First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania, RPA Inc., The James V. Brown Library, The Williamsport Sun Gazette, Mainstreet - Williamsport, The Graphic Hive.

Please Note: Due to the seriousness nature of the theme, some films may not be suitable for children. Parental supervision is advised.

Richard James is the guest columnist for this March 2011 column compiled by Michael Ochs, which appears as the "Creation Corner" column in the print and on-line newsletter of the United Churches of Lycoming County, PA (http://www.uclc.org/) .

Please be sure to check out the Billtown Film Festival Blog website, http://billtownfilmfestival.com/category/blog/ . It has much useful information for film makers, policy makers, average citizens and movie lovers.

"God is my Rock"

Here's a stirring meditation from Fletcher Harper, Episcopal Priest and Executive Director of Greenfaith.

New Article from Derek Nelson: Disposability, Sustainability, and IKEA

Disposability, Sustainability, and IKEA

Rev. Derek R. Nelson

Lutherans Restoring Creation Blog

February 25, 2011

Walking into an IKEA is a deeply ambivalent experience for me. I am a Swede by ancestry, and what little pockets of quasi-nationalistic pride I have in me come bubbling up as I see the blue and yellow building rising up out of the pavement like a Scandinavian beacon of modernity. The smells of roasting meatballs, dill potatoes and lingonberries take me back to a wonderful year spent studying (frankly, “studying” should be in quotations) in Karlstad, Sweden. I have been, for most of my life, living right at or below the poverty line (As I’m frequently reminding my employer, I’m still way underpaid, but I can’t now nor ever have I been able to honestly claim to be “poor”). IKEA has always been right around what my budget would allow. Some of their designs are so dang innovative, clever and funky that it’s hard not to love them. And some of their stuff is quite well made and will stand up to the test of time.

What’s not to love, you ask? Well, I’m also a furniture maker. That I don’t do so professionally, settling instead for being a lowly college professor, means that I have broken at least a six generation tradition in my family. But I still do make furniture, and I take a great deal of pride in that work. Much of what I make comes from wood logged from my family’s farm in Minnesota. I try to make things that I can give to people that will last for a very long time. That way if they like it, they can give it to their children or grandchildren, and if they don’t, my imperfect generosity in giving it to them will stick in their craw for years – a deeply satisfying thing.

It might just be me, but I just can’t imagine anyone proudly passing along their BJURSTA dresser to their grandkids, or lovingly restoring a LEKSVIK shelf. That’s where the ambivalence comes in. There are genuine concerns about whether a person with as hyperactive a conscience as I have can conscionably shop at big box stores. In fact a recent article on IKEA in The Atlantic asks just those kinds of questions. Wig Zamore, an environmental activist working with the store on some greening initiatives, calls IKEA “the least sustainable retailer on the planet.” That might be a bit of overstatement, but partly he has a point. In order to keep costs down, IKEA locations are often far from urban centers, to take advantage of lower taxes. The average IKEA customer drives 50 miles per visit. The store is the 3^rd largest consumer of wood in the world, and despite employing over a dozen “forestry monitors” there is certainly no guarantee that much of the wood is harvested sustainably.

IKEA’s products are meant to last for a while, at least, and all of them are designed quite intentionally, with an eye to both function and style. Yet one wonders if something is not lost in seeing our furniture as essentially a disposable item. When your FÖRHÖJA breaks, you buy a new FÖRHÖJA. Or you upgrade to a STENSTORP if you’re doing better than you were when you went lowball on the FÖRHÖJA. In addition to being wasteful, this default to replacement makes us less appreciative of quality workmanship, and inclines us to think that furniture built to last is way overpriced.

The mother of a friend of mine had a helpful rule of thumb when trying to make choices about buying items. She said that if you plan on having or using a product for seven years or more, you should buy the best one you can realistically afford. But if you plan to use it just for a little while, go cheap. That makes sense to me. And it might counsel us to buy our coffee cups and light bulbs from IKEA with a clear conscience, but our furniture elsewhere. There is often a very high cost to low prices, and that cost will be passed on to future generations if we continue to view big-ticket items like cabinets, dining room tables and sofas as fundamentally disposable products.

Dr. Derek Nelson is co-director of the Global Institute and Associate Professor of Religion at Thiel College in Greenville, PA.

New Commentary for Ash Wednesday readings

A new, ecologically-themed commentary for the lectionary's Ash Wednesday readings by Dr. Dennis Ormseth is now up at the LRC site.

If you used Dr. Ormseth's commentaries for the Epiphany readings, then you already know that he brings a great deal of theological depth and nuance to these texts. Have you found the commentaries useful? Let us know in the comments section below.