Saving Turtles and Turtle Island

                                                        Sea Turtles on Ship Deck 

 If you've been reading this blog over time you'll know that I have an admiration for turtles because of their prehistoric lineage, developing alongside dinosaurs. I certainly brake for turtles and help them across roads. I also appreciate their prominence in Indigenous spirituality and the concept of the Earth as Turtle Island. I've mentioned the base of the baptismal font in M’Chigeeng Immaculate Conception Church on Manitoulin Island which is shaped as a turtle. 

I'm thinking about turtles today because of what it proving to be a catastrophic Winter storm throughout a large swathe of the United States and particularly the state of Texas. The freezing temperatures have been accompanied by snow and ice leaving millions without heat and water.as the power failed.

The sudden and deep cold also affected water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, stunning and incapacitating untold numbers of sea turtles. Thousands have been rescued, thankfully, but who knows how many will perish. At least 4,000 are sheltered in a convention centre on San Padre Island. 

                                         Sea Turtles in Convention Centre 

This is the largest cold stunning event ever recorded, and a reminder that unprecedented weather events affect creatures of all kinds. This is likely a result of climate change and the global weirding which comes with it. This is a term coined by climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe to describe the unpredictability of weather, which is short-term, when climate, which is long-term is altered by human behaviour. Hayhoe is a Canadian and an evangelical Christian who lives in Texas, a climate-denial state despite intensifying weather events, including hurricanes, which have been catastrophic. 

We can pray for the well-being of those turtles and other wildlife affected by this deep freeze. But in some respects they are passengers on the ark with humans at the helm. We can pray for leaders in government who are at the helm, and the millions of people who claim allegiance to Christ and the God of Creation, they might steer in a new direction for the benefit of all. I just hope that the turtle convention doesn't vote us off the island, and the ark!

                   Turtle base Baptismal Font (to left of altar) M’Chigeeng Immaculate Conception Church