Friday, April 22, 2016

Earth Day - Let's Care for Our Planet

Happy Earth day! Today we remember our great and beautiful home. Our "spaceship" flying around in the solar system 365 days a year.

The above is a photo of our home. Isn't she a beauty? Just looking at this picture puts me in to a contemplative mood.

The Earth is so small, so fragile in a sense, yet so important to us all.

This planet unfortunately has gone through a lot of abuse, not from earthquakes, storms, asteroids or solar flares, but from a creature that lives on it that sometimes thinks it is God. This creature is the Human being. The reality of the harm caused by human beings along with the Christian views of John McConnell led him to begin Earth day.

McConnell was born on March 22, 1915 and died on October 20, 2012.  He was the son of a Pentecostal traveling preacher.  His Christian faith inspired him greatly. As a peace activist, he fought for peace, the promotion of science and the environment. He believed we all have a God given duty to protect the Earth and each other.  McConnell is correct.

We must care for our home. We must stop polluting it and destroying it. Numbers 35:33 says, "Do not pollute the land where you live..." The book of Jeremiah has a few more verses that speak about humans defiling the Earth.  In Genesis 1:26 God commands man to care for the Earth and all living things and in Psalm 115:16 we read how God gives His children (us) the Earth.


  • We must develop technology that does not destroy the environment. 
  • We must throw garbage not on the streets or fields, but in their right place. 
  • We must recycle items so that they won't end up in landfills. 
  • We must conserve water and not let it run without use.
  • We must find better energy sources such as solar power which is what powers the solar system. 
It is not news that the global temperature is rising.  While some believe this to be a hoax, it is not. Studies clearly show that the ice caps are melting at an extraordinary rate.  This is causing an increase of ocean levels as well as the temperature, PH and salt balance of the worlds ocean. While this may not seem like a big deal on paper, in reality it is a big deal.  These gradual changes effect the food chain which in turn effects the many species that reside in the oceans of the world.  Moreover, the change of water temperature interferes with weather patterns since temperature is part of the system that regulates the pressure in the atmosphere.  The carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere trap UV rays causing more fluctuations in temperature which bring about storms that may be catastrophic as we have seen recently. I address more of this in this post: http://www.sacerdotus.com/2015/12/ego-greatest-obstacle-to-grace-truth.html.    

Pope Francis has also spoken strongly against the harm being done by humans against our planet. In his encyclical Laudato Si he draws upon what his predecessors have stated:

4. In 1971, eight years after Pacem in Terris, Blessed Pope Paul VI referred to the ecological concern as “a tragic consequence” of unchecked human activity: “Due to an ill-considered exploitation of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying it and becoming in turn a victim of this degradation”.[2] He spoke in similar terms to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations about the potential for an “ecological catastrophe under the effective explosion of industrial civilization”, and stressed “the urgent need for a radical change in the conduct of humanity”, inasmuch as “the most extraordinary scientific advances, the most amazing technical abilities, the most astonishing economic growth, unless they are accompanied by authentic social and moral progress, will definitively turn against man”.[3]
5. Saint John Paul II became increasingly concerned about this issue. In his first Encyclical he warned that human beings frequently seem “to see no other meaning in their natural environment than what serves for immediate use and consumption”.[4] Subsequently, he would call for a global ecological conversion.[5] At the same time, he noted that little effort had been made to “safeguard the moral conditions for an authentic human ecology”.[6] The destruction of the human environment is extremely serious, not only because God has entrusted the world to us men and women, but because human life is itself a gift which must be defended from various forms of debasement. Every effort to protect and improve our world entails profound changes in “lifestyles, models of production and consumption, and the established structures of power which today govern societies”.[7] Authentic human development has a moral character. It presumes full respect for the human person, but it must also be concerned for the world around us and “take into account the nature of each being and of its mutual connection in an ordered system”.[8] Accordingly, our human ability to transform reality must proceed in line with God’s original gift of all that is.[9]
6. My predecessor Benedict XVI likewise proposed “eliminating the structural causes of the dysfunctions of the world economy and correcting models of growth which have proved incapable of ensuring respect for the environment”.[10] He observed that the world cannot be analyzed by isolating only one of its aspects, since “the book of nature is one and indivisible”, and includes the environment, life, sexuality, the family, social relations, and so forth. It follows that “the deterioration of nature is closely connected to the culture which shapes human coexistence”.[11] Pope Benedict asked us to recognize that the natural environment has been gravely damaged by our irresponsible behaviour. The social environment has also suffered damage. Both are ultimately due to the same evil: the notion that there are no indisputable truths to guide our lives, and hence human freedom is limitless. We have forgotten that “man is not only a freedom which he creates for himself. Man does not create himself. He is spirit and will, but also nature”.[12] With paternal concern, Benedict urged us to realize that creation is harmed “where we ourselves have the final word, where everything is simply our property and we use it for ourselves alone. The misuse of creation begins when we no longer recognize any higher instance than ourselves, when we see nothing else but ourselves”.[13]
7. These statements of the Popes echo the reflections of numerous scientists, philosophers, theologians and civic groups, all of which have enriched the Church’s thinking on these questions. Outside the Catholic Church, other Churches and Christian communities – and other religions as well – have expressed deep concern and offered valuable reflections on issues which all of us find disturbing. To give just one striking example, I would mention the statements made by the beloved Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with whom we share the hope of full ecclesial communion.
8. Patriarch Bartholomew has spoken in particular of the need for each of us to repent of the ways we have harmed the planet, for “inasmuch as we all generate small ecological damage”, we are called to acknowledge “our contribution, smaller or greater, to the disfigurement and destruction of creation”.[14] He has repeatedly stated this firmly and persuasively, challenging us to acknowledge our sins against creation: “For human beings… to destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for human beings to degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life – these are sins”.[15] For “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God”.[16]
9. At the same time, Bartholomew has drawn attention to the ethical and spiritual roots of environmental problems, which require that we look for solutions not only in technology but in a change of humanity; otherwise we would be dealing merely with symptoms. He asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which “entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God’s world needs. It is liberation from fear, greed and compulsion”.[17] As Christians, we are also called “to accept the world as a sacrament of communion, as a way of sharing with God and our neighbours on a global scale. It is our humble conviction that the divine and the human meet in the slightest detail in the seamless garment of God’s creation, in the last speck of dust of our planet”.[18]
The pope continues in Laudato Si by calling on the world to do more to fight the abuse against our planet and criticizes even those believers who are in denial regarding global warming:

13. The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. Here I want to recognize, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the home which we share. Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded.
14. I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all. The worldwide ecological movement has already made considerable progress and led to the establishment of numerous organizations committed to raising awareness of these challenges. Regrettably, many efforts to seek concrete solutions to the environmental crisis have proved ineffective, not only because of powerful opposition but also because of a more general lack of interest. Obstructionist attitudes, even on the part of believers, can range from denial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant resignation or blind confidence in technical solutions. We require a new and universal solidarity. As the bishops of Southern Africa have stated: “Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation”. [22] All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents.



I hope you take this time to pledge to save our planet not only for us now but for future generations to enjoy.

May God bless and protect His planet Earth. We Thank Him for creating it and us.

God is quite an artist I must say. :)



source:

http://www.earthday.org/

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