This morning so far the air seems clear but evidently we are in for another bout of bad air from the smoke of Canadian wildfires. Warmer winters and the lack of rain are fueling the fires, resulting in smoky haze across the upper Midwest down into the mid-Atlantic. Scientists say there’s no question that climate change is at fault.
There are still the nay-sayers, of course, usually fueled by their own financial interests in building pipelines across sensitive areas. And the oil companies are still greenwashing their desire to pump more oil. The world isn’t what it used to be.
New Jersey is the first state to have a climate curriculum opposed by some because it might frighten the children. One hopes it would frighten enough young people so there is real meaningful action to reduce, if not eliminate, our dependence on what cold kill us all. The fires, the heat, the droughts are harbingers we cannot ignore.
Prayer for the Day
We know you are there, O God, somewhere out there,
But we want you here, in here with us on this earth;
Step out before us, renew our dreams for a better world,
Bringing us into communion with you and your creation.
Let not our souls be possessed by things we hold
But by the truth of love that abides in you.
In the name of the One who shows us the path,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
We simply don’t have what we need for a climate-worsened environment, and we are sorely behind in the land use choices, the building codes, the type of changes that would keep us much safer in a hotter, more dangerous world.
- Alice Hill, Council on Foreign Relations
Wildfire smoke and heat are] different things, but the common factor is climate change. Heat waves occur naturally, as do fires, but climate change makes the heat waves more intense and the fires more intense.
- Andrew Dessler, Texas A&M atmospheric science professor
May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in the works of creation –
The Lord looks on the earth and it trembles, touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to God, for I rejoice in the Lord.
Psalm 104: 31-34a