Fairlawn Green Action: Earth Day

Earth Day Service, Sun. Apr. 26, 2009 Guest speaker Alanna Mitchell, author of Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis

All life — whether on land or in the sea — depends on the oceans for two things: Oxygen. Most of Earth’s oxygen is produced by phytoplankton in the sea. These humble, one-celled organisms, rather than the spectacular rain forests, are the true lungs of the planet. Climate control. Our climate is regulated by the ocean’s currents, winds, and water-cycle activity. Alanna Mitchell examined the current state of the world’s oceans — the great unexamined ecological crisis of the planet — and the fact that we are altering everything about them; temperature, salinity, acidity, ice cover, volume, circulation, and, of course, the life within them.

Earth Day Service, Sun. Apr. 13, 2008

Children’s time

- led by Will Cullen

How many of you know the story of the Wizard of Oz?
Yes, it's a story about a girl named Dorothy who dreams about being carried away to a magical land, where she has a great adventure.
Well, today we are going to see a similar story called The Wizard of Off.

In this part of the story, Dorothy meets the Saving Witch in the Land of Off, a magical far-away place, where everyone uses just the energy they need, and they all look after the world.

[The skit was enacted by Kit Muir as Dorothy, and Laura Schlee as The Saving Witch.]

You can see the full production of The Wizard of Off by Brian Kennington in the Fairlawn Assembly Hall on Friday, May the 2nd, at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets can be purchased at the door.  Come out and see a play that is fun for all ages, that helps us to be good to the Earth.

Now, let’s say a prayer together
Dear God
I promise
to love all creation.
I promise
to take care of the world
so we all have
a healthy place to live. 
Amen

'Sermon' for the Earth Day Service
- introduced by Rev. David Lander

Earth Day may seem like a new invention of us supposedly ‘with it’ folks of the last few years, but when I was growing up there was always a Rural Life Sunday which later morphed into camping Sunday, and both were derived from Rogation Sunday, that was instituted in the year 469.  Louis 14^th commanded his people to pray on Rogation days for the crops being destroyed by rust.  They were days set aside for Christians to offer Thanksgiving and ask God’s blessing on their crops, -clearly being way more conscious than we are -of where their wholeness comes from.  Most of the Jewish festivals are earth day harvest festivals.

The John passage has John saying, “I am the gate, or I am the door” – to wholeness, that we sheep are interdependent.  People come in…, and go out… to find pasture, nurture, wholeness.  Wholeness is found by coming in, to be nurtured, and going out to serve others and the earth.  Jesus is the door or the gate, the way in, the way out, the invitation –though likely a barrier to those who prefer to jump the fence in John's words, and are threatened by sharing, as the Acts church did - sharing all things in common.

 We tend to think that we are the door to wholeness, that we can figure it out with a few self help books, without going through the door -of the One who made it all, and without accounting for what gates are for, without accounting for the rules of nature, or the ramifications of how one action affects another, and the interdependency of all things, including our health.  Is not Jesus saying, in that he is the door, that pasture is precious, and fragile, and if all we sheep are to be whole, there’s an attitude that leads that way, and one that's a dead-end.

Roger and Tom will offer us a conversation of the Ethics of Green, of what happens when we think we are the door, and can run the world as we choose, and also what possibilities there are when we acknowledge the truths of nature, and who made the earth, and indeed in Isaiah’s words instead of exploiting the land -making covenant with, even marrying the land.

 Environmental Dialogue:  “Roger and Me”
- with Tom Cullen and Roger Martin

T - That play the kids are doing, The Wizard of Off, sounds like fun

R - But what does that have to do with church?

T - Well, you know, it’s part of the creed - “living with respect in creation”

R - That’s true, “living with respect in creation” is part of our United Church creed…

T - But, why do YOU come to church?  For the coffee?

R - Well, coffee, cookies and conversation with friends is certainly part of it.  So is praying and singing together as a community.  I feel I’m tapping into a rich tradition with friends, and receiving inspiration and direction from that experience.  I think it strengthens me to be a more faithful person.

T - What do you mean by faithful?

R - Well, I think of these words from Paul’s letter to the Philippians:

“Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice.”

I think being faithful means putting these things into practice today – in the here and now, in today’s world.

T - Well, I don’t know much about religion, but Jesus knew that what every good teacher knows.  What He did was more important that what He said.  He was a role model.  That’s why I got involved with the church property committee and greening stuff.  It’s important to lead by example.  That’s why the heating system we choose is important or what kind of car we drive or how much we drive, or any of that “green” stuff.  We’ve created climate change.  It’s ours to fix as best we can.  It’s part of the way we treat the world God has entrusted to us.  And on a more personal level, it’s about what kind of world we are leaving for our children and grandchildren.

R - I know you’re right, but sometimes trying to face these things feels so discouraging and overwhelming.

R - Sometimes it’s just the way we look at an issue that makes it seem overwhelming.  Let’s take a look at the first video clip.  The numbers are based on the U.S. but the elephant in the room is the same.

R - The elephant???

T - Watch the clip.

      ECO SPOT  “The Sky is Falling”
      http://current.com/items/87610321_ecospot_grand_prize_winner_sky_is_falling

R - Well, I see what you mean about the elephants.  Cute, but pretty depressing.

T - Yes.  We need a kick in the butt sometimes, to spark some action.

R - This problem involves the whole world; we all need to be sparked.  Do you see parallels in history?

T - It’s like 1939, when the Second World War started.  The threat is real, powerful and urgent.  And the consequences of not acting, are much worse than taking action.

R - I heard lots about the difficulties and suffering of the Second World War from my parents.  I also heard about the deep satisfaction of working together in a just cause and the huge achievements that people can make once a problem is fully faced.

T - Well, thank God our parents’ generation did act when they did.  Deciding to act and taking action as a community is extremely empowering and energizing.  We’ve experienced a bit of that here with our greening and social justice activities. 

R - Well, in terms of dollars, according to Sir Nicholas Stern, in his report to the British government last year, the cost of not acting on climate change would cost more than the depression and both world wars combined, and that’s not assigning any value to the damage to the natural world, the creation.

T - Yes.  In B.C., we have the pine beetle infestation, the pollution of the water due to oil sand projects and the water levels in Georgian Bay, just to name a few.

R - You mean like all the docks in Georgian Bay being high & dry?

T - Yes, according to one of the experts the city has on their adaptation to climate change panel, Dr. David Pearson, the 1.4 degree C increase has caused a 30% INCREASE in evaporation.  The results are a long list of changes to water conditions... like lower lake levels, lower soil moisture, less ground water, lower water table, water quality and quantity issues, loss of wetland habitat and species and shoreline infrastructure issues.

T - And in human terms, the effects are pretty scary too.  There are already more refugees due to climate change than all other causes.  And using corn for ethanol production is making it worse.  On the front page of yesterday’s Globe showed the cost of food staples, such as rice, is doubling in a little over a year.  Extreme weather events like Katrina and the 2003 heat wave are much more frequent and cause death, disease and much suffering.

R - Stern also said that the cost of acting adequately on climate change would only cost about 1% of GDP.

T - That seems like a lot but the sooner we act, the less it will cost.  By taking action earlier, the impact can be reduced.  We’ll also need to adapt to changes that are already happening no matter what we do.  On the other hand, there are huge opportunities.  For example, a Canadian company in the Photovoltaic business is building a plant in Germany and the entire renewable energy sector is growing. 

R - This is giving me a lot to think about.  Have you brought another film clip for us?

T - Yes.  This one is the “Story of Stuff” – a little movie that looks at how our whole economy works in our world.  It poses a question, so put on your thinking cap.

      STORY OF STUFF
      http://www.storyofstuff.com/

T - So who pays for it???

R - That’s a good question.  I’ll think about it.

T - Well, the answer is in the film, which you can watch in 17 minutes on your own computer using the link from our Fairlawn web page for Fairlawn Green Action http://www.storyofstuff.com/ .  Here’s a hint... - Think about the spaceship earth.  We have a complete survival system that’s called the ecosystem.  It provides all the resources we need for a spectacularly beautiful life ... air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, and a complete waste management system, the untold wonders of nature to explore and try to understand.  We have brains and muscles to allow us to provide for ourselves and our families.  All God asks us to do is look after our home, the earth, and be kind to each other.  Jesus said that he was the gate or the way into that good life.

R - And listen to the psalmist and the Gospel writer as they wonder at the creation, our natural inheritance:

From Psalm 139:

“For you formed my inward parts;   you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”

And from the Gospel of Matthew:

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Now we struggle to properly value our natural inheritance in the ways we live our lives.  We haven’t valued it adequately yet; too much of what we do continues to degrade creation, the womb in which we are woven.

T - It is the closest I think I’ve ever come to God is experiencing the miracle of the growth and birth of my son.  And the earth nurtures all of us just like a mother’s womb.  And yet we treat it as we do and have created a huge environmental deficit.

R - We have, and we owe it to our children and their children’s children to begin to overcome that deficit now, in our lifetimes, and to begin to restore the earth.

T - So ... I’m a man.  I can change.  If I have to.  I guess.

R - That’s the Possum Lodge prayer isn’t it, from the Red Green Show?

T - Yes.  I hope they don’t mind.  It seemed appropriate.  Because the situation is really very simple: We’ve been exploiting the world that God provided for us – beyond its capacity to continue to support us. 

We have to change.  So let’s do it.  We are blessed with good health, an abundant earth, ingenuity and a compelling case for action.

Don’t settle for the status quo, in our government, our home lives, our jobs, our friends, neighbours, churches.  We can be leaders.  Our faith demands it. 

Do we come here to play church?  Or, do we come here to help live our faith?

R - That’s a question that’s answered in the asking.  May we all have the strength to do what it takes to be fully faithful stewards of the Earth. 

T - Amen

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