It really felt like spring yesterday with the warm sunshine even after the early morning, which was cold. In the old growth forests small hibernating animals are beginning to emerge. But since 1970, due to habitat loss, scientists say there has been a 69% decline in wildlife populations. Central and South America have experienced a greater loss than we have, but the threats are real and serious.
We usually think of birds and bears, but forests are homes to all kinds of critters, such as frogs, toads, and salamanders, to name a few. The sharp decline in their numbers are a warning sign for the loss of other species, including us.
So, what does it matter that critters we will never see survive or fail, huge companies with their power equipment and chainsaws ask. The quality of our lives is inextricably tied to habitat preservation. The forest canopy is essential in this world of changing climate. We cannot live by air conditioners alone.
Prayer for the Day
Trees too tall for us to even see the tops stand as your creation, O God,
Reminding us that even birds we can only hear belong to you;
Streams flowing with creatures so small that we walk by them,
Call to us to protect them and all others dependent on clean water.
Grant, O Creator of all around us, that we tread softly and gently,
So your creation thrives and is not destroyed.
In the name of the One who walked on the earth,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Finland is officially the happiest country in the world. It is also 75 percent forest. I believe these facts are related.
- Matt Haig, travel writer
If the day comes when our descendants can venture with wonder into chestnut forests, we will have gained back more than a perfect tree. We will have gained a new reason for hope.”
- Susan Freinkel, science journalist
Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;
Shout, O depths of the earth;
Break forth into singing, O mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
Isaiah 44: 23