Earth Day celebrations abound, of course, including tree plantings and forming new flower beds. It was a driving force in the passing of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, but there are many gaps in that act. Still over a third of America’s wildlife and fish species are on the verge of extinction. In the Senate the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act was introduced. It will keep what we consider common species common and help to protect species form becoming rare.
The core issue is protecting the habitat of disappearing species. This means keeping greedy developers out of wetlands as well as protecting forests from overdevelopment. This is a threat not just in New Jersey and the Northeast but across America and the world. What happens in Brazilian and Indonesian rainforests affects us and vice versa.
Saving our habitat should not be a partisan issue. We owe this to our children and grandchildren.
Prayer for the Day
We come to you, O God, acknowledging you as Creator,
And we see the glory of your creation even in a grain of sand.
Even the wolf and the bear, the lynx and the cougar call to you
And the tortoise and the butterfly look to you in silence.
Come, O God, and remind us that we are not the owners
Of your earth and your creation, but caretakers.
In the name of him who walked among grass and lilies,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.
- Cree saying
Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.
- Theodore Roosevelt, President (1858-1919)
The heavens are telling the glory of God; the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.
There is n speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;
Yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
Psalm 19: 1-4
There is no Planet B