Creation Care

Many of us are trying hard to reduce our household carbon footprint.  We’re changing the sources of our electricity, switching to solar power and electric heating, using public transit, reducing waste, recycling, composting, and more.  As we continue to make these changes in our lives, we are meaningfully reducing our emissions and living in increasing balance with God’s creation.  There is one lifestyle choice, however, that can undo all of our annual emissions reduction work in a matter of hours – and that is air travel.

 "God of the poor, Friend of the weak
Give us compassion we pray
Melt our cold hearts, Let tears fall like rain
Come, change our love, From a spark to a flame."

- A prayer in the words of Graham Kendrick

Single Use Plastics

Canada has announced a ban on the manufacture and import of named single use plastics to take effect next December.

Lord of all, even our inventiveness,

What happens to you when you die? No, this question isn’t about your soul. It’s much more literal. What happens to your actual body when you die? This is an often uncomfortable question, only broached upon necessity, for the consideration can be gruesome. Yet for Christians concerned about caring well for the environment, how we choose to have our physical body interred after death is an important decision.

Why should we care? The process of traditional burial is surprising in its toxicity for the environment. Consider the following:

In one of this Sunday’s lenten lectionary texts, the prophet Isaiah conveys a vision to exiled Israel: 

"It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful." - 2 Corinthians 4:6 

In Jeremiah 32, we read that Jerusalem is being attacked by the Chaldeans and Jeremiah is imprisoned by King Zedekiah of Judah. Jeremiah’s cousin comes to him to ask him to buy a piece of land. Jeremiah agrees, even though purchasing property during wartime when you are in prison can be an unwise venture. As the Bible tells it, Jeremiah declared it was God who told him to buy the land, explaining that buying the land protects it for future generations. “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be brought to the land” says verse 15.

We are living through an era of ecological devastation and climate breakdown, with its immense injustices against people and places for the short-term benefit of a few. Many of us have already been directly impacted, some of us haven’t yet, but all of us will be in some way. 

It’s a lot to process. 

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. - Matthew 5: 14-15

In this episode, Kyle Meyaard-Schapp, vice president of the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) shares how he got involved in climate advocacy as a Christian - including the middle-school humor nickname for the lake near the town where he grew up! Kyle and Chris also talk about lament as a necessary component of hope, how to encourage folks wherever they are on their justice journeys, and taking the long view when it comes to bringing about change.

How do we move the needle on climate action? According to Dr. Katherine Hayhoe’s new book Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, the answer starts with meaningful conversations, and requires both the love to speak out and the wisdom to understand our audience. To help believers dig deeper into what these types of conversations look like, the Climate Witness Project hosted a virtual “Climate Huddle” on January 18th, 2022.