On many weekends our daughter Emily and her partner Patty spend some time on Wolfe Island, just out from Kingston in the St. Lawrence river. It is Patty's family home and a lovely place to be, another world from the busy city which is a short ferry ride away. They feel fortunate that they are in the "wrong" end of the island for wind, because there are 86 massive wind turbines at the other end (see above.) Looking out from Kingston the wind vanes certainly dominate the landscape. There has been lots of controversy about these turbines, as there tends to be in most places they are erected. It is possible to have a turbine installed on one's land, far from buildings, but immediately adjacent to someone else's home on another property. While there are set-back rules in most municipalities those who are opposed or live alongside insist that they aren't sufficient to protect health.
Those who are affected say that the constant hum and rattle from turbines is compromising their physical well-being and driving them crazy. While officials insist there are no health effects, their is lots of controversy. Environmentalists point to the toll taken on birds, others label them unsightly.
As I listen to all this I am reminded that even good ideas must be balanced against the broad-reaching effects. Wind power may be an excellent energy alternative -- in rural Saskatchewan. It may be a lousy idea in more densely populated southern Ontario, even in farm country. This is part of the difficult process of seeking out alternatives to fossil fuels and monolithic energy sources such as nuclear. Exploring wind power, solar, micro-hydro, and thermal is important, but it may take decades to discover the best balance.
This week the Ontario government gave back some authority to municipalities to decide where wind turbines may or may not go. This makes sense to me, although political pressure at the local level can be fierce.
Should energy alternatives be considered a faith issue? I would say yes. Recently the United Church Observer did a cover article on wind power which was quite thoughtful. http://www.ucobserver.org/features/2013/02/ill_wind/ In an editorial in the Observer Larry Krotz speaks of eco-ethics and it is a good term. There is a whole new world of ethical consideration which emerges from these energy alternatives, and should be weighed alongside the ethics of fossil fuel dependency.
What are your thoughts? Which end of Wolfe Island would you want to call home? Is the search for alternatives foolhardy or essential? What about the faith component?
Yesterday we drove to Frontenac Outfitters north of Kingston so that I could try out a couple of kayaks. I have a kayak and we have taken our boats with us to the Bay of Fundy and the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during vacations. Still, my boat isn't exactly what I need and I am pondering a more suitable craft.
It was a glorious morning and the folk there set things up so we could both test paddle at a nearby lake. The boats I tried were impressive, but it was the setting which really spoke to my soul. It was a Canadian Shield lake which is "home" to us, and as we glided across the surface we could hear the raucous cry of a Pileated woodpecker, Canada's largest. There were many other birds and butterflies flitting across the water and I could feel my spirit moving into a simple joy which stayed with me throughout the day.
I feel badly for those who never really take or have the opportunity to allow the natural beauty of this country seep into their existence. We are children of the Creator, and while I know that God is present in urban settings in dynamic ways, time in the natural world orients us to our place in creation and the need to savour and respect it.
I can hardly wait to get established here, with our watercraft with us. Who knows, I might be in a new kayak!
Thoughts and comments?
The May issue of the United Church Observer magazine has a cover article with the title Why the extinction of Argentina's hooded grebe would be a tragedy for all of Creation.
I liked the emphasis on the word creation and I knew that the author, Alanna Miles, would write thoughtfully. The article is about the Hooded Grebe of Patagonia -- no, I'm not funning you. While you may not have heard of this bird, it appears to be on its way to extinction. Join the club. This water bird of Argentina's deep southern region is disappearing because of climate change, which reduces habitat, along with the introduction of North American mink as a source of revenue. When the mink farms failed, the animals were released and became a previously unknown predator.
Miles points out that all creatures eventually become extinct -- 99% of all creatures in the history of the planet have gone bye-bye. But humans are accelerating the rate of extinction by anywhere from 100 to 1000%. While you might not notice the disappearance of the Hooded Grebe, or feel that it has any measurable value, it can be argued that we are diminishing the planet through forced extinctions, and we really have no idea what reaching the "tipping point" of mass extinctions might mean for ecosystems and the human species.
This is a two-part article and I will be curious to see whether Miles explores the theological and philosophical implications of extinction in the next one -- the capital C part of the title. That wouldn't be easy in a few pages but it is important to consider. Are we compromised spiritually by contributing to the destruction of God's creatures? What does it mean to our relationship with God to act with unbridled hubris? What responsibility do we have as Christians to address these issues, both theological and practical?
Have you read the article? It is available online. Will you choose not to because it might leave you feeling desperate? Does your faith inform your concern about these issues?
This past Saturday the Globe and Mail included a lengthy, interesting article on four individuals who engage in a high risk activity -- bicycle commuting in Toronto. That is my editorializing because they don't describe it that way. The longest of the four commutes is about seventy five minutes from Scarborough to the downtown. It would scare the bejabbers out of me to cycle in Toronto but they are all committed.
From time to time I muse about cycling as an alternative to getting in a car. I grumble about the cluelessness of motorists who seem to view cyclists as an annoyance rather than those who share the road. I am here to say that this was the case in Bowmanville, and unfortunately this holds true in Belleville as well. The provincial highway act is clear that cyclists are entitled to make their way from point A to point B the way motor vehicles are, and they must observe the rules of the road. But this message just doesn't seem to have any traction, so to speak.
Yesterday Ruth and I did cycle in Belleville and covered roughly twenty kilometres out to the far east end of town, then north along the Moira River to highway 401. It was a glorious ride, but nearly all of it was on, or could have been on, the paved pedestrian/cyclist path. My brief forays onto Dundas St. have been disturbing, and I have taken to doing short sections on the sidewalk for personal safety.
I should add here that I saw a piece yesterday on the development of a fifteen kilometre raised and graded bike path started between Pasedena California and downtown Los Angeles -- in the late 1890's! Only two kilometres were built, a portion seen above. Why? The growing popularity of the automobile. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2319942/The-abandoned-1897-plans-bicycle-route-Pasadena-downtown-nearly-got-built.html
As a Christian I want to do what I can to reduce my use of fossil fuels and cut down on producing greenhouse gases. I also want to do what I can to be physically active and healthy. This too is a faith commitment as well as common sense. It's too bad that we haven't progressed very far when it comes to challenging the "car culture" and including "cycle culture."
What are your thoughts?
Many Christian high and holy days have been borrowed and adapted from other traditions. It's what happens when you're the new kid on the block and may fear persecution. Sometimes Christians "hid" their celebrations behind those of other religions. Pentecost is one of those creative borrowings. Jews were gathered in Jerusalem for Shavuot or Pentecost, including the followers of the Risen Christ. The Holy Spirit transforms them from "scaredy cats" to bold proclaimers of the gospel, according to Acts chapter two.
While I'm all for celebrating this birthday of the church, perhaps we all need to revisit the traditional meaning of Shavuot/Pentecost. It is a "first fruits" festival, a celebration of the abundance of the earth and harvest. Don't we need to explore every opportunity to celebrate the stewardship and abundance of God's good earth. A Jewish writer Shoshana Friedman offers this in a recent article:
In her book Scripture, Culture and Agriculture, Ellen F. Davis describes agrarianism as "a way of thinking and ordering life in community that is based on health of the land and of living creatures." She argues persuasively that the Hebrew Bible is, at its heart, agrarian literature; it is the story of a particular people who live in a particular fragile ecosystem and who struggle to maintain intimacy with God through their care of local, family-held lands that produce food over generations.In the midst of our global ecological crisis, Jews -- and indeed all people who hold the Hebrew Scriptures as canon -- must turn our attention to the deep connection among Judaism, agriculture and healthy communities.
I like this thought, and we Christians do honour the Hebrew bible, or what we often call the Old Testament. There can be an ecological component to Pentecost which informs our Earth-honouring faith.
It seems I can't buy a comment for this Groundling blog, but hope springs eternal. What are your thoughts?
It's nerdy scientists and earnest environmentalists with moss growing between their Birkenstocked toes who believe in climate change, right? Well, how about a less likely candidate, the massive insurance industry? This is the monolith we love to hate, but it is now deeply affected by pay-outs in the tens of billions of dollars for weather event related catastrophes. Even though the US government insures flood and crop losses and there is a reluctance for the industry to get involved in politics, insurers see the writing on the wall. In a recent New York Times article on the subject one of the insurance experts reflected on what is evolving:
Peter Hoppe who heads Geo Risks Research at the reinsurance giant Munich Re. “The rise in sea level caused by climate change will further increase the risk of storm surge.” Most insurers, including the reinsurance companies that bear much of the ultimate risk in the industry, have little time for the arguments heard in some right-wing circles that climate change isn’t happening, and are quite comfortable with the scientific consensus that burning fossil fuels is the main culprit of global warming.
In the United Church we have spoken out regularly about climate change as a faith issue, the violation of a sacred trust bestowed by God for humans to be humble and faithful stewards of Creation. We haven't received much credit for raising the concern, but it may be the "bottom line" which motivates new outlooks.
What do you think? Not holding your breath on business and industry taking the lead? Hopeful that they will?
Remember Al Gore? The former Veep of the United States rose from the ashes of a suspect defeat in the presidential election of 2000 to become a prophet about climate change. His film and book An Inconvenient Truth were hugely popular and he captured the polar bear demographic.
I wrote along the way about Gore's Christian faith and that he took some theology classes in college. He speaks about his faith in an early book Earth in the Balance and offers his criticism of earth-denying forms of Christianity: "For some Christians, the prophetic vision of the apocalypse is used - in my view, unforgivably — as an excuse for abdicating their responsibility to be good stewards of God's creation."
Gore is back to the future, so to speak, in a new book which came out of a question posed to him: what will be the drivers for the future of the planet? The six are summarized below:
• Ever-increasing economic globalization has led to the emergence of what he labels “Earth Inc.”—an integrated holistic entity with a new and different relationship to capital, labor, consumer markets, and national governments than in the past.
• The worldwide digital communications, Internet, and computer revolutions have led to the emergence of “the Global Mind,” which links the thoughts and feelings of billions of people and connects intelligent machines, robots, ubiquitous sensors, and databases.
• The balance of global political, economic, and military power is shifting more profoundly than at any time in the last five hundred years—from a U.S.-centered system to one with multiple emerging centers of power, from nation-states to private actors, and from political systems to markets.
• A deeply flawed economic compass is leading us to unsustainable growth in consumption, pollution flows, and depletion of the planet’s strategic resources of topsoil, freshwater, and living species.
• Genomic, biotechnology, neuroscience, and life sciences revolutions are radically transforming the fields of medicine, agriculture, and molecular science—and are putting control of evolution in human hands.
• There has been a radical disruption of the relationship between human beings and the earth’s ecosystems, along with the beginning of a revolutionary transformation of energy systems, agriculture, transportation, and construction worldwide.
What do think of these six? I am intrigued by his "flawed economic compass" because our wonky moral/ethic compass is strongly connected, in my view.
Is Gore "old news?" Do we still need Gore and others as prophets for our time? What about these six drivers?
Most high, all powerful, all good Lord!
All praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.
To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.
No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Canticle of the Sun -- St. Francis
Many of you are aware that I have often shared images of sculptures depicting Francis of Asissi, the namesake of the recently elected Roman Catholic pope. Francis lived an austere and devoted Christian life and while he died young he had already developed a strong following which became the Franciscan order.
St. Francis is also known for his love of all living things and there are stories of his befriending and preaching to the birds, depicted above in the work by Frederick Franck. The sculpture below by Paul Granlund is based on Francis's canticle Brother Sun, Sister Moon, or the Canticle of the Sun. I would love to see both of them in situ.
24-30 What a wildly wonderful world, God!
You made it all, with Wisdom at your side,
made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.
Oh, look—the deep, wide sea,
brimming with fish past counting,
sardines and sharks and salmon.
Ships plow those waters,
and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them.
All the creatures look expectantly to you
to give them their meals on time.
You come, and they gather around;
you open your hand and they eat from it.
If you turned your back,
they’d die in a minute—
Take back your Spirit and they die,
revert to original mud;
Send out your Spirit and they spring to life—
the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.
Psalm 104 The Message
Well after more than a month of absence from my Groundling blog I am going to resume. It's strange how buying a house, Holy Week and Easter, saying goodbye to a beloved congregation, moving, and starting over can cramp one's writing style.
I wanted to share the sheer joy of a video in which a family delights in a pod of seventeen to twenty orcas, or killer whales, who essentially surf in the wake behind their boat. Even though the footage is just a couple of minutes long it serves as a glorious reminder that humans are not the only creatures which can be playful and enjoy the pleasure of life. http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/05/01/video_surfing_killer_whales_stun_divers_in_mexico.html
Anyone who has seen a puppy or kitten cavort around knows this to be true. At our friend's farm I have watched calves in what looked a lot like a game of tag.
We are all creatures of the Creator and we should celebrate this rather than deny it.
Comments?
