Today is Earth Day, a day when we are supposed to look at what we are doing to our planet and how to repair the damage we have done. It was the idea of Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), triggered by a massive oil spill in 1969 off the California coast. This event also spurred the creation of the EPA, now led by someone who thinks oil rigs in our waters is just fine not to mention arsenic and other pollutants in our drinking water.
Satellite images show oil spills occurring in the Strait of Hormuz, a result of the bombing campaign by both the U.S. and Iran. The waters affected will contaminate the fish eaten by the more than 100 million inhabitants along the coastlines, not to mention the filtering mechanisms of desalinization plants that provide drinking water.
Here at home, last week the Supremes handed fossil fuel companies a gift, forcing any lawsuits filed by impacted communities to go to federal court, friendlier to fossil fuel companies, impacting at least 40 actions over environmental degradation. So as we continue to choke on dirty air and drink dirty water, just remember who is brining you all this goodness on Earth Day.
Prayer for the Day
Where is the garden, O God, you gave to us in the past,
For we cannot see it through the fog of unbreathable air?
Where are the streams and rivers, once flowing free,
For we have dumped our waste and clogged them?
Where are those leaders who took oaths to protect us,
We who must rise up against them to restore your creation?
In the name of the One who walked among the lilies,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thoughts for the Day
A human being is part of a whole – the universe. We experience thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of our consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons near to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread out he earth and what comes from it,
Who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it,
I am the Lord, and I have called you in righteousness….
Isaiah 42: 5-6a