“For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise
this, our hymn of grateful praise.”
For the Beauty of the Earth, English Hymn, 1864
Thousands of people have been protesting in the streets of the Serbian capital in August against restarting of a controversial lithium mine set to serve as a vital power source in Europe’s green energy transition. The Serbian government greenlit the project’s restart and signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Union that is seen as the first step in developing Serbia’s lithium resources.
The project is unpopular with many in Serbia due to concerns the mine would pollute water sources and endanger public health.
God, as communities around the world are faced with choices about how to develop resources, we pray for wisdom. We pray for clear, accurate information to be available to the public and for policies that truly prioritize the environment and the people. As we collectively move from fossil fuels, help us to make wise decisions.
The Pantanal wetland, which falls within Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, covering an area almost half the size of Germany – is facing the proposed construction of a commercial waterway which involves dredging wetlands and permanently altering natural flood cycles. The Brazilian government wants to develop the upper 435 miles (700km) of the Paraguay River into the Paraguay-Paraná hidrovia (waterway). In 2022 and 2023, preliminary licenses were issued for the construction of port facilities within the Pantanal. A cohort of 40 scientists have released a paper, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment saying that this waterway development represents an existential threat to the ecosystem: reducing the floodplain, increasing the risk of fires and transforming the area into a landscape that could more easily be farmed.
Prof Karl M Wantzen, an ecologist from the University of Tours, and Unesco chair for river culture, said the wetland “is a real paradise on Earth. Nowhere else will you see so many hyacinth macaws, jaguars, swamp deer, anacondas, caymans, more than 300 fish species, 500 bird species, 2,500 species of water plants … All of that is at risk.”
God of all creation, we have taken it into our hands so many times, disregarding how you have created it all to work together. Help this government provide economic development that doesn’t diminish your glorious vision for creation. Protect the animals, the water cycles and the humans from a kind of unfettered development that promises so much and delivers only harm. Your creation is so precious; may we serve and keep it like you commanded.
This month, federal funding has been given to study the health effects for communities downstream from oilsands operations over the next 10 years. This has been requested for over 30 years from First Nations leaders in the area who have high levels of illness and cancers. This is pertinent especially after the news from 18 months ago that the tailings ponds from Kearl’s oilsands mine near Fort McMurray, Alta., had been seeping into the groundwater for months. The ponds contain toxic chemicals including mercury, benzene and arsenic. That news was delivered only after another leak was discovered at a Kearl containment pond, though the company says most of that leak was captured before it caused any damage.
Documents later filed by Imperial Oil showed seepage from the tailings ponds was anticipated when they were designed, and that it had been documented for years.
We pray for clarity and justice to come from this study and for companies to be held accountable for how they affect the communities around them. We need your Spirit to help us truly love our neighbours and want good for them and may your Spirit be present in our Oilsands operations. May these findings bring insight and direction for how companies will function in our communities. May reparations and justice flow where needed from these studies.
Hearts Exchanged is a learning and action journey designed to equip Reformed Christians to go beyond the headlines into deep work that wrestles with how our churches can become places of belonging and embrace God’s call to reconciliation with Indigenous neighbours. Get more information and sign up for the fall.
Season of Creation 2024 is globally centered around the theme, “To hope and act with Creation.” Talking about climate change is a starting point for hopeful action, and For the Love of Creation shows you just how to do that by using the Faithful Climate Conversation guides.
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