As I am sure you are aware, these are crucial times. Indeed, we have potentially reached the global warming tipping point that we have been warned about now for years. However, this is not the time to sit around feeling powerless and defenseless. If you are like me, you are feeling angry and apprehensive about the state of our environment and the damage that we as humans have caused. Ideally, our anger is inspiring us toward action, rather than overwhelming us toward inactivity. Anger is a powerful tool that can be channeled toward action and passion. For those of you that are involved in communities, have you considered what you can do as a group? We are capable, intelligent, and adaptable beings and when we come together we are a force to be reckoned with. This is not the time to be complacent. This is the time to draw upon all our resources- emotional, financial and time- to do something…anything. As Ian Lawton reminds us in one of his 5 part series on the climate, we need to persevere, like the blade of grass that pushes through the concrete, even after its been trampled time and time again- we need to be irrepressible. And as Fred recommends in his article Trees and Things that Live, even just the shift toward seeing nature as living beings to hug, protect, and adore can help inspire us toward action. And others in this eBulletin call us toward reverence, awe, and commitment.

Every living being on this planet and indeed this universe is interconnected in a deep and meaningful way. We are literally made of the stars, we breathe the air that the trees cleanse for us, and we are in a symbiotic relationship with every creature in this web of life.

Take Yellowstone National Park, as an example. By the 1930’s all the wolves in the park were completely wiped out and there were zero remaining. Within a few years, the conditions in the park had declined drastically. The land was eroding and the plants were dying off. The elk were multiplying inside the park and deciduous, woody species such as aspen and cottonwood suffered from overgrazing. Many scavengers and river animals also began disappearing Once scientists began to realize that all levels of the ecosystem were being negatively affected by the absence of the wolf predator, they began calling for re-introduction. As the wolf population began to slowly increase, elk populations began balancing again and their natural behavior returned, flora and fauna like the Aspens and Cottonwoods that had suffered or disappeared began re-growing, scavengers that depend on wolf predators returned to the area, river beds that had dried up began flowing again, bringing back fish and water colonies. The top-down effect of the reintroduction of an apex predator like the wolf on other flora and fauna in an ecosystem is an example of the reality of our interconnectedness. Yellowstone is a micro example of what will potentially happen on the macro level.

We can’t continue to let species disappear, we can’t continue to let chemical companies overwhelm our ecosystem with toxins that are causing a die-off of our pollinators. Now is the time for us to come together and BE the change that we want to see in this world. As progressive Christians, we are called to protect and nurture our environment, to stand together in awe and gratitude of the gifts of creation, and to be agents of social change. So, the questions are- what can you do today? In what ways can your community create positive change? How can you channel your anger and dissolution toward meaningful action? As we journey together on this spiritual path, we need to consider the next seven generations as well as the lessons from the past. Spiritual teachers like Jesus, St. Francis of Assisi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Berry, and Rudolf Steiner remind us to see God within All living things. So, then the question begs- how do we treat that which is god?