“When we choose thankful prayer over wallowing in anxiety and worry, we are demonstrating an unwavering trust in God.” –Priscilla Shirer In advance of 2021 will you practice gratitude with us for the past year?
Australian scientists working to map the seafloor around the northern Great Barrier Reef made a major discovery in October, finding a 1,600-foot-tall detached coral reef. This is the first newfound reef in 120 years. It is taller than the Empire State Building and almost a mile wide at its base. Marine geologist Robin Beaman, who is leading the expedition, said the team is "surprised and elated by what we have found." Underwater imagery is being captured and mapping data being collected will help people understand this new reef's role within the Great Barrier Reef.
There’s been a marked improvement in European air quality over the past decade, with European Union, national, and local policies and emission cuts in key sectors making a big difference in lowering air pollution levels. Better air quality has led to a significant reduction of premature deaths over the past decade in Europe. According to the Air quality in Europe — 2020 report, since 2000, emissions of key air pollutants from transport have declined significantly, despite growing mobility demand and associated increase in the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. Pollutant emissions from energy supply have also seen major reductions.
Indigenous Amazon leader Nemonte Nenquimo just won the world’s foremost award for grassroots environmental activism, known as the “Green Nobel,” for her organizing work to save Ecuador’s rainforests. Nenquimo led an indigenous campaign and legal action that resulted in a court ruling protecting 500,000 acres of Waorani territory in the Amazon rainforest from oil companies. Nenquimo’s leadership and the lawsuit set a legal precedent for Indigenous rights in Ecuador, and other tribes are following in her footsteps to protect additional tracts of rainforest from oil extraction.The Waorani people, numbering around 5,000 today, are traditional hunter-gatherers in this pristine rainforest that overlaps with Yasuni National Park, which, according to the Smithsonian, “may have more species of life than anywhere else in the world.”
A group that since 2020 has protected half the world’s children against some of the deadliest diseases has announced new donations for its fund that aims to protect the world’s adults against the new coronavirus pandemic. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, says it received $360 million from the European Commission, France, Spain, The Republic of Korea, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to bring its total fundraising revenue, so far, to $2 billion. This funding will allow it to reserve and access 1 billion doses for low- and middle-income economies. The announcements come as 94 higher-income economies have officially joined the COVAX Facility, a global effort to ensure rapid and equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines for the most vulnerable groups across the world.
God who provides, who protects, who sustains, and who loves us -- we turn our attention toward these pieces of good news. We are so grateful. We are grateful for courageous people, filled with a spirit of compassion and a vision for equity. We are grateful for brilliant scientists, for generous donors, for innovative technology, for effective policy-making. We so long to see good things happen, Lord. For these good things, we give you thanks.
Kick off the New Year with this great workshop from the Office of Social Justice. By listening to the immigration stories of various CRC and RCA members, this project is intended to remind us of where many of us came from and what we have in common with today's immigrants. Get more details here.
Advocacy matters! When you speak out, you reflect the biblical call to work towards a just world in which structures and institutions give all of creation the opportunity to thrive. This workshop will equip you to connect with legislators. Contact us for more details.
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