people of faith engaging creation and justice
County Mayo, in northwest Ireland, has the kind of landscape that people yearning for Ireland imagine – rocky cliffs towering over ocean, green fields, and picturesque peaks. It has rivers known for salmon fishing, megalithic tombs and Early Christian monastic sites. There was tremendous suffering here during the Famine but also resistance. The land rights movement began here and non-cooperation with an abusive landlord named Captain Boycott added a word to the English language. Read more of this post
And as a result 8 million people hear a positive and unshrill message about veganism from a woman who looks like a supermodel. Kathy Freston’s book promoting veganism, which references the spiritual and religious benefits of compassionate eating, and even occasionally quotes Anglicanism’s own Andrew Linzey, rockets to the NUMBER ONE spot in the Amazon list (now down to number 4 at last check).
This weekend, I hazard to guess, was the beginning of the next stage of what is going to be a huge cultural shift.
And if people aren’t motivated by positive messages like that of Kathy Freston, there is always this predictable news out of England.
When Generals Sullivan and Clinton marched through the Finger Lakes in 1779 they cleared the land of its indigenous peoples by wrecking devastation on the food supply, including cutting down 1,500 peach trees. When General Sherman marched to the sea from Atlanta to Savannah in 1864, he burned fields, destroyed the crops, and consumed supplies. Stories from the ancient world tell of armies salting the earth to prevent crops from growing, the most famous story coming from Carthage during the Punic Wars.
In light of this what are we to make of incidents of the deliberate poisoning of water? Read more of this post
I have to start off this blog post by saying I do think people can change. This title comes from a recent This American Life episode entitled Kid Politics, which delves into whether or not a young climate change disbeliever – a teenager deeply skeptical about the scientific method and scientists – can be convinced of two things: that the climate is changing and that people are at least partially to blame for the change. In the episode, a young Glen Beck fan is introduced to a scientist, who talks about how she and other scientists came to believe these things. The teen, whose name is Erin, says at the end that she’s still not convinced (I feel for her – she’s a teenager, and throughout the story her voice is shaking, indicative of perhaps nervousness about being interviewed, but also of being put up against someone with a degree.)
I doubt we’d need only proof of climate change to help drive innovation for sustainable energy development, since new technology has myriad other benefits besides being good for the environment (it creates new jobs, it makes our country more secure, in some cases it’s cheaper than coal, oil and natural gas). Still, I asked a question on Greenblade’s Facebook group a while ago, and still wonder about the answer: if people treat the earth better, does it matter what their motivations were?
Fracked drinking water
Thanks to the persuasive efforts of Elizabeth and others, I think I’m slowly moving over into the “not in our back yard” camp regarding fracking. Today’s revelation about the possibly illegal use of diesel — among the other chemicals that end up in the watershed — as well as the apparent frequency of spills and migrations of these fluids out of the well bores, makes the whole thing seem impossibly, uncontrollably nasty.
I do still think, however, that some sort of compromise is inevitable — given the amount of money (and thus lobbying) involved. But it now seems best — I agree — that the fracking be kept as far away as possible from inhabited areas, and that it be maximally regulated (and taxed!), even if some of our less fortunate neighbors would see near term profit from leasing their land.
Do we have a sense yet of where Cuomo stands on this issue?
For a week… 