There are times, I am sure, that as we drive about the area where we live, that we wonder what it must have been like two hundred fifty years ago, what kind of trees must have grown, how tall they must have been, before we began clearing areas for farmland and our growing towns and cities. The air, even in the summer heat, must have felt clean, the water flowing must have been pristine.
Even as our towns and cities grew and the streets had produce and chickens sold to feed us, industrial pollution had not yet really begun. Then, of course, we grew and cities began being dirty from factories, and the lack of sanitation. Then that changed as we became more aware of the importance of community health.
We used to rely on our government to protect us from industrial pollution, but now the DOJ is suing to dismiss a lawsuit against Musk’s xAI data center polluting the water and air in Southhaven, Mississippi, noting that the EPA had not issued permits. The DOJ claims this is a national security issue and that residents be damned. Where is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people? It’s not here, for sure.
Prayer for the Day
We have only begun to treasure your creation,
So vast and mysterious it is to us;
We want to tame it and reign it in to fit our limited view,
But you call us to broaden our vision,
Let not the silt of our limitations confine our sight.,
But let the flow of the river wash us clean.
In the name of the One who opens the river of knowledge,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The Court threatens to upend the national government’s ability to safeguard the public health and welfare at the very moment when the United States, and all nations, are facing our greatest environmental challenge of all: climate change.
Richard Lazarus, Harvard environmental law professor
If environmental damage caused by companies can be even indirectly connected to federal responsibilities, companies like Chevron and xAI can be granted a form of special protection, allowing hem o do whatever they want
Max Sedlar, Center for Economic and Policy Research
To you, O Lord, I cry, for fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,
And flames have burned all the trees of the field.
Even the wild animals cry to you because the watercourses are dried up,
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
Joel 1: 19-20