That's Not Heinz!

Okay, it's close to vacation time, so not only am I weary, I may be hallucinating. Does anyone else remember TV ads for Heinz ketchup where a person runs out of Heinz ketchup and when a substitute is offered the disdainful response was "that's not Heinz." I can't find any evidence that these commercials ever existed, so maybe I'm making it up.


Well, that's not Heinz in Leamington Ontario anymore. After more than a century in the community the Heinz plant is closing. It processed about forty percent of the province's field tomatoes, which means it was key to both agriculture and manufacturing. A deal was struck with Heinz to contract out processing which is a ray of hope for both farmers and plant workers, but production has been scaled back. Only about a third of the 700 employees will still have jobs making nine dollars an hour less than before. The farmers grew their tomato crops to Heinz's specific standards, and it's hard to imagine another market for what they grow.

We might throw a few rotten tomatoes at Warren Buffett Heinz, but we can pray for the best. Perhaps more of those out-of-work employees will be rehired. It is just another example of the ugly way production shifts to other parts of the world for a better bottom line.



Should we care, really, and should we care as Christians? The production of tomato products seems like a bit of a stretch as a justice issue. Yet we should be concerned about agriculture in the places where we live. In Ontario we just don't seem to care that so much of what we eat as fresh and processed produce comes from somewhere else, often a great distance. We are highly dependent on fruit and veggies from California, a state where persistent drought is creating a crisis for growers. We can't eat what they can't grow. It's as simple at that.

Am I stretching it to think we should care about the closure of the Heinz plant? Should we be paying more attention to agriculture and processing in this province? Do you know any good tomato prayers?  

Drought and the Prayer of Stewardship

 

 

⁴¹ Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of rushing rain.” ⁴² So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; there he bowed himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees. 

 ⁴³ He said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” He went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” Then he said, “Go again seven times.” ⁴⁴ At the seventh time he said, “Look, a little cloud no bigger than a person’s hand is rising out of the sea.”

Then he said, “Go say to Ahab, ‘Harness your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” 

 ⁴⁵ In a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind; there was a heavy rain. Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ But the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; he girded up his loins and ran in front of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.   1 Kings 18 NRSV

Our next door neighbour is a great guy, friendly and helpful. He takes care of his property to a fault, including his lawn. Which means that at 4:45 each morning we hear a sputter and a hiss to mark the first watering of the day by the timed, in-ground sprinkler system. Our lawn on that side of the driveway is lush and green as well because the experts haven't figured out how to get sprayed water to stop at a property line...yet. What fascinates me is that we haven't exactly been in drought conditions this year. Tons of snow, then plenty of rain have kept everything lush and green. But, sputter, hiss, spray.

I'll be interested to see what happens if we have a dry summer. Last year there was a second watering which took place late in the afternoon. Sometimes the jets were a pumpin' in the midst of God's watering job because that's what happens when you're on a timer. You may be thinking, "cool your jets David," so to speak. It's his water bill and there is hardly a shortage. Yet our local water authority encourages us to think conservation in water usage, including wastewater. It wants us to develop the habits of moderate use, and to change our attitudes about this precious resource.


There was an article in  Berkley's California Magazine recently examining water usage in a state now plagued by drought http://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/summer-2014-apocalypse/doomsday-3-california-may-oscillate-between-drastic It pointed out that the agriculture of California, which we depend upon all winter, is very inefficient. It explores options, including how wastewater may be recycled for human consumption, a thought which gives most of us the heebie jeebies. But we may all be pushed into different habits and practices in a world which is warming.

Praying for rain is an option, as we read above. But God has given us brains and wills to make different choices. Isn't responsible stewardship a form of prayer?

What do you think?

Applause Please!

                                                                       (chorus from Isaiah 55)

When last winter's ice storm ravaged Toronto's tree canopy it was pointed out that one of the "savings" of the Rob Ford regime was eliminating several million dollars worth of tree maintenance. With all the mayor's scandalous behavior the lack of arboreal hygiene may seem rather insignificant. But I though of this when TD Bank released a report on the value of Toronto's urban forest. Here is an excerpt from the Globe and Mail newspaper:

Toronto’s 10 million trees are worth an estimated $7-billion or about $700 per tree and the benefits of maintaining an urban forest outweigh the costs, says a new report.
“The replacement value (what it would cost to remove a tree and replant a similar one) of the 10 million trees that make up Toronto’s urban forest is valued at over $7 billion,” TD Economics chief economist Craig Alexander said in an analysis published Monday.

The city’s urban forest provides residents with over $80-million -- about $8 per tree -- in environmental and cost savings every year, the report found.“For the average single family household, this works out to $125 of savings per annum.” Every dollar spent on annual maintenance of the tree stock returns between $1.35 and $3.20 worth of benefits and cost savings per year, according to the report’s estimates.
Among the annual benefits provided by the more than 116 tree species:

• $53.95-million from the reduced strain on water transportation and infrastructure thanks to rain and wet-weather flow interception
• $19.09-million from air pollutants absorbed, removed and avoided by street trees
• $6.42-million from energy saved through shading and climate moderation
• $1.24-million from carbon sequestration and emissions avoided through energy savings

The amount of particulate matter removed annually by Toronto’s urban forest is equivalent to the amount released by over one million cars or 100,000 single family homes,

Like, wow. I don't know what is more impressive, the analysis, or that a bank has done the research. The bible tells us that trees are creatures, and gifts from God. I think they are probably applauding this report.

Comments?

Fish Tales

I saw a tweet this morning reminding us that today is the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, a Franciscan who preached to the fish. "Many soles were saved" was the accompanying pun.   As someone who admires St. Francis and his legacy of honouring creation, along with any legends of Christians and nature, so matter how whimsical, I had to check this out. Here is a description:   In the area near Padua, there was once a group of heretics who criticised and ridiculed his preaching; the Saint went to the edge of a river, looked in the distance, and said to the heretics so that everyone would hear: "From the moment in which you proved yourselves to be unworthy of the Word of the Lord, look, I turn to the fish, to further confound your disbelief". And filled with the Lord's spirit, he began to preach to the fish, elaborating on their gifts given by God: how God had created them, how He was responsible for the purity of the water and how much freedom He had given them, and how they were able to eat without working. The fish began to gather together to listen to this speech, lifting their heads above the water and looking at him attentively, with their mouths open. As long as it pleased the Saint to talk to them, they stayed there listening attentively, as if they could reason. Nor did their leave their place, until they had received his blessing.   Do I believe this story? Well, it depends on what you mean by believe. Did it literally occur. Probably not, at least not the rapt congregation of fish part. Do I believe that often in the annals of the Christian church holiness was associated with reciprocal reverence between humans and creatures? Yes.   We see the images of Francis preaching to the birds and read of Celtic saints who are friends with the residents of forests and lakes. We could do with a little more of that reverence in a time when supposed Christian leaders ignore care for God's good Earth with a one-trick-pony (well, maybe without the pony) message of personal salvation. I don't believe that "only humans may apply" when it comes to God's grace.   Comments?

Canada and the Wild

George Monbiot is an award-winning environmental writer and activist with exceptional story-telling abilities. He is British and in his latest book, Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life he explores what it might mean to "rewild" areas of the British Isles. Great Britain has been virtually tamed through relentless deforestation and agricultural development, not to mention a relatively large population in a small geographical area. Monbiot describes the efforts, on a minimal scale, to allow areas to "go native" in both flora and fauna, without necessarily fitting the ideal of a restored landscape. After all, restored to what? Monbiot points out that the British populace seems to have a greater suspicion and fear of the wild than other European countries.

As I say, he is an excellent storyteller, although at times I wondered about the meandering thread of his thesis. What stung me about Monbiot's book was his introduction, in which he uses Canada as an example of what can go right and wrong when it comes to protecting wild places and ecosystems. He offers two "parables" and a cautionary tale. He describes the crash of the Atlantic cod stock, which was once seen as inexhaustible. It was only when the fish no longer existed that our government curtailed fishing. Duh. The other parable is of the forestry industry on Vancouver Island and the activists who persistently and bravely resisted the logging of Clayoquot Sound and surrounding forests. The cautionary tale is what is happening with the vast oil sand reserves in Alberta.

As a Canadian I actually see all three of these stories as failures of our various levels of government to protect what is both a natural resource and a sacred trust. In this vast, beautiful country we simply haven't been able to use our God-given brains to get past the "drawers of water and hewers of wood" mentality in order to live with some degree of balance with the natural order.

This past week Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot was in Canada and he fawned all over Prime Minister Stephen Harper as mentor and friend. Sadly, both have dismantled laws protecting the environment and insist that the economy trumps the environment. In what seems like a "dumb and dumber" pairing, they don't get that a sustainable environment will ultimately enhance the economy.

I do see care for our Earth as a sacred trust. I don't know about rewilding, but there is enough which is wild in Canada that we can protect it and live alongside it.

Thoughts?

The Beginning of a New Outlook?

Wow. I had to blow a lot of dust off my Groundling blog and call in a mechanic to get it up and running today. It has been months since I wrote an entry...that sounds like something I might say in the confessional. Even though eco-faith issues are my passion, sufficient time in an active ministry becomes an issue and I have reverted to including environmental comments in my Lion Lamb blog.

Yesterday's announcement by the Obama administration concerning reduction of carbon emissions created by burning coal was too significant to pass by though. And Groundling seemed to be the appropriate place to write about it. Obama appears to have grown impatient with the endless Republican stonewalling when it comes to environmental legislation. He has taken a "damn the torpedoes" approach and declared that emissions will be reduced by 30% by 2030.

Finally, finally, finally, the United States has taken a bold step in this regard, and the goal is attainable, if challenging. Of course the naysayers are already squawking, the way they have with other important environmental issues such as acid rain. Then, as now, opponents insisted changes would be an economic disaster. It wasn't, and it won't be. A New York Times editorial today offers this:

The greenhouse gas reductions required by the Obama administration’s proposed rule on power plants will not get the world to where it has to go to avert the worst consequences of climate change. But they are likely to be enormously beneficial: good for the nation’s health, good for technological innovation, good for President Obama’s credibility abroad, and, in time, good for the planet and future generations. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/opinion/nearing-a-climate-legacy.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0

God bless America for demonstrating leadership in care for God's good Earth. Now, can we convince our Canadian government to do the same? Yesterday's claim by Prime Minister Harper that we are out ahead of the US is ridiculous. Oil sands development is the parallel to rapacious coal extraction and consumption and we have to come up with a better, more sustainable plan. Please notice that I did not say that development should cease and desist. But we have to do this better and realize that there are economic alternatives to resource extraction.

Perhaps the American initiative will encourage First Nations, environmental, and religious groups to keep pressing for change.

Will Obama succeed, or will this be one more disappointment? Can this happen in Canada? Will it require a change of government? Should our United Church continue to champion the cause of sustainable development?