It’s all connected. The catastrophe of red tide caused by toxic algae blooms, tornados in December, hurricanes that rip through the heart of states like Kentucky into the mid-Atlantic – they are all connected to the ongoing neglect of the earth. Individual states cannot be shielded from the effects of what happens in other states. In the meantime, utiltities want to regulate solar power costs so people continue using fossil fuels.
Here in New Jersey and along the Eastern seaboard, we make plans to hold back rising waters, which are warmer, killing fish and other sea life. In Florida conservationists struggle to save manatees, the strange looking gentle mammals with large heads and small eyes starving because the algae bloom is destroying the sea grass they eat.
We sing the old hymn “For the beauty of the earth,” but we must do more than raise hymns of grateful praise. The trees will not clap their hands for joy if we humans continue to treat the earth as a possession to be discarded when its usefulness is past.
Prayer or the Day
You brought us out of the dust, Eternal Creator,
Forming us into your likeness and giving us life;
You have made us sentient beings, Spirit of Life,
Who can see your creation even in a grain of sand.
Remind us, O God, that we do not possess the earth,
But are only caretakers of all who inhabit it.
In the name of the One who cares for a blade of grass
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
You may not believe in climate change and what happens to veggies but by the time Napa Valley migrates to Canada, it would be wining after it’s too late.
- Lisa Goddard, climate scientist (1966-2022)
If you think the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money.
- Guy McPherson, evolutionary biologist, University of Arizona
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all;
The earth is full of your creatures,
Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there,
Living things both small and great.
There go the ships, and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
These all look to you to give them their food in due season.
Psalm 104: 24-27