Hope in great uncertainty

December 9, 2024 Cj Willie Featured

We are living in very difficult times, times of great uncertainty. I can write about all that is wrong in the world today, but I think that at this moment, we need to have hope, so I would like to begin this blog with a parable from the Native American tradition.

A long time ago, before anyone can remember, the peoples of Earth lived in harmony with each other and with all of the Great Spirit’s creation. But gradually, they separated themselves from the oneness they knew, and the elders became greatly concerned because they understood that the gift of living in harmony was no longer being followed. They gathered in Council and decided to gather up this gift and hide it until the people were once again ready to receive and respect it.

Their first thought was to hide it deep inside a cavern within a cave, but one of the elders spoke up and said that these people often went where they did not belong and might find it before they were ready. Another elder said that he knew of a lake that was so deep no one had ever found the bottom. At first, they thought they had their answer, but another spoke up and said that these people liked to fish and surely one of them would bring this gift up before it was time. The elders were becoming increasingly distraught because they felt so keenly responsible for preserving this great gift, but they did not know where to hide it. Finally, the eldest woman in the Council spoke up and said, “Let us hide it inside of them. They will never think to look there.” And they all knew they had found the answer.

It is time to look within and find the wisdom that is urgently needed today. Following are the thoughts and writings of those who have come before us and discovered the wisdom within. Take time to reflect on the words of these prophets and sages and allow yourself to look within to discover, in the words of theologian Fr. Thomas Berry, “A vision that needs to be as boundless as the cosmos, forever unfolding and inspired by the interrelatedness of all things.”

Berry is calling us to an Ecozoic Age in which humanity would again learn to live in true and sustainable relationship with Earth. Author John Philip Newell writes, “Berry was like a wolf crying out from the wilderness. His prophetic voce was ‘a throat open wide’ calling us back into awareness of the universe as our home and challenging us as human beings to be guided by the interrelatedness of all things-religiously, economically, and politically.” Newell also writes, “It is the brilliant spiritual insights of other traditions as well as the deep wisdom of our own that we need to look to if our vision is to be true to the essential oneness and interrelatedness of the universe.”

Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’ writes fourteen times that “everything is connected.” He also values the wisdom of other traditions and often quotes in his writings from prophets and sages of other faith traditions.

In his book, The Great Search: Turning to Earth and Soul in the Quest for Healing, Newell introduces us to wisdom figures from multiple traditions who understood the interconnectedness of all elements of creation. Take time this Advent season to reflect on their words of wisdom.

Carl Jung calls us to a journey into wholeness to be open to the deepest recesses of our being to a true relationship with the heart of one another and Earth. Jung also reminds us that “Everything hangs together with everything else.” “Christianity slumbers,” said Jung, “ for it has neglected to keep nurturing its essential insights into Earth and the human mystery of the centuries.” He frequently talks about life moving forward. He firmly believed that we cannot go back to what was but must allow our faith to live in ever-new ways, forever flowing into greater and greater awareness. He calls it a journey of love, love for Earth and one another, and love for ourselves.

Julian of Norwich believes that the creativity of God resides deep within each person and in those depths are the healing energies of the divine and the ability to come back to true relationship with the source of well-being deep in all things. She writes that “Nature and grace are in harmony for grace is God as nature is God.”  Among her many visions she saw the interrelatedness of all things and all people. “In God’s sight, she says, we are all ‘one…The fullness of joy is to see God in everything.”

Jalaluddin Rumi, the Islamic poet, scholar and Sufi mystic quoting from the Quran says, “Whichever way you turn, there is the face of God.” Rumi speaks lovingly of Jesus and invites us to see the light of love we see in him, rather than be concerned with dogma. For Rumi, we are all bearers of the Christ mystery. Rumi reminds us that the word Islam means “surrender” and also “Peace”.  For Rumi, surrendering to God meant surrendering to love. “There is a ‘love-lion’ grazing in the pasture of your soul,” says Rumi. As the Quran says, “You have but to remember and you will see the light.”

Hindu Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renaissance. His collection of poems entitled Gitanjali describes God as the Hearth within our heart, the Soul within our soul, and the Light within all life. According to Newell, “Tagore saw clearly that when humanity falls out of spiritual relationship with the natural world it creates ‘bewildering problems’ for itself and for the future well-being of Earth.” Tagore also had a love for Jesus and believed that it was important for the West to be reminded that Christianity had its origins in the East.

Tagore writes, “I can say with certainty that there is something that is living in me. It is a feeling of mystery, not a dogma. He calls this something “the God-within-me and he looks for this presence everywhere. He quotes from the Vedic scriptures of Hinduism when he writes, “O thou self-revealing one, reveal thyself in me.”  Tagore’s lifelong quest was for the spiritual unity of humanity. “We are to be ‘world-workers,’ he says, identifying with the soul of all people, not simply with the soul of our own tribe.”

Jewish philosopher Martin Buber wrote extensively about the I-Thou relationship at the heart of life. He urges us to see the divine in our encounters with every life form, to see God in people, in other species, and in the body of Earth itself. He cautions us not to put too much emphasis on ideas about God but on finding the divine presence in one another and all things.

One of my favorite prophets of the past, although not mentioned in Newell’s book, is St. Hildegard of Bingen. I will let her own words speak for themselves:

“In all creatures, animals, birds, fishes, herbs, and fruit trees, mysterious healing powers lie hidden, which no one can know unless they are revealed by God himself. “

“We shall awaken from our dullness and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.”

“Everything that is in the heavens, on earth, and under the earth is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness.”

“Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of the earth’s greening. Now, think. What delight God gives to humankind with all these things. All nature is at the disposal of humankind. We are to work with it. For without it we cannot survive.”

“All living creatures are sparks from the radiation of God’s brilliance, emerging from God like the rays of the sun… Every creature is a glittering, glistening mirror of Divinity.”

“Humanity, take a good look at yourself. Inside of yourself is heaven and earth and all of creation. You are a world – everything is hidden within you.”

Each prophet’s message is “the wisdom is within.” As we begin this Advent season, let each of us take the time to pray and reflect on the wisdom we possess that is needed in the world today. Pope Francis reminds us that “Hope opens new horizons, making us capable of dreaming what is not even imaginable.” We are called to be people of hope. Remember, the wisdom is within.

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STEP UP YOUR SUSTAINABILITY QUOTIENT

September 16, 2024 Cj Willie EarthConnection

STEP UP YOUR SUSTAINABILITY QUOTIENT

(The material for this blog is taken from the following website:

https://zontausa.org/re-cycling-isnt-working-learn-the-7-rs/)

WE all know the common R’s of Sustainability: Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling. Today you can add another 4Rs – Recover, Repair, Refuse Regift.   Rethink your relationship with things and the Earth.

Reduce

  • Reducing is about using, consuming, and sourcing less plastic.
  • Reducing is, perhaps, the most important aspect to leading a zero-waste life and thankfully the solution is pretty simple.
  • Simply decrease the frequency at which you consume plastic.

Examples of Reducing:

  • Using less plastic bags – taking your own bags to the store would allow you to reduce the amount of plastic bags you need
  • Using no plastic straws by choosing to bring a reusable alternative with you
  • Driving your car less. Yep, you read correctly. Albeit a more niche suggestion, driving actually causes plastic from tires to grind against the road, releasing micro-plastics into the environment!

Reuse

  • “To use again or more than once”
  • Single-use plastics are some of the most harmful type of plastics to our environment.
  • Examples of single-use plastics include, plastic straws/stirrers, plastic drinking bottles, bottle caps, plastic packaging and even chewing gum.
  • Not only is using reusable alternatives simple and effective, but it is also likely to save you money in the long run!

Recycle

  • We’ve all heard of recycling – it’s about turning the waste we produce into something else with value.
  • Most countries have now developed impressive infrastructure, making it easier for households to recycle some of their waste.
  • Many environmentally-focused companies are now even utilising recycled household waste to create items such as bags and clothing.
  • It’s clear that we all need to recycle where we can although it seems that recycling plastic is harder than it may appear.
  • Indeed, around 42% of packaging in most supermarkets cannot actually be recycled ‘easily’.
  • The plastic recycling rate is falling in the United States but plastic waste generation is soaring.
  • The US petrochemical and plastic industry has called for improved recycling, but faces pressure to stop its own production of plastic.

Refuse

  • “To Indicate that you are not willing to accept something offered or requested”
  • Linked to reducing, refusing is basically the art of saying ‘no’ to an offer of something you perceive you neither want or need.
  • Refusal costs nothing and can have a huge impact on the world. Single-use products such as plastic bags, plastic straws and chewing gum should be refused wherever possible and reusable alternatives should be sourced if necessary in their place.
  • The U.S. Is the World’s Number One Source of Plastic Waste
  • Americans purchase about 50 billion water bottles per year, averaging about 13 bottles per month for every person in the U.S.!
  • Americans throw away 100 billion bags annually– that’s the equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of crude oil! By switching to reusable shopping bags, we can eliminate that waste– which amounts to about 307 bags per person.[7]Americans alone use half a billion drinking straws every day.[8]
  • Americans alone throw away around 25 billion Styrofoam coffee cups every year.

Repair

  • “To restore (something damaged, faulty, or worn) to a good condition”
  • Repairing items is a fantastic way to save money and keep plastic out of landfill sites.
  • For example, you may own a chair that has a broken or split leg, instead of throwing it out could it be glued back together and used again?

Repurpose

  • “Adapt for use in a different purpose”
  • Perhaps one of the most difficult ‘R’s’ to incorporate into our lives, repurposing plastic is another fantastic way of minimising plastic waste. By repurposing, single-use items can be made into multi-use products.
  • Examples of repurposing:
    • Cutting up plastic bottles and using them as vases or storage containers for refillable dried foods
    • Using plastic boxes to plant flowers or fruit/vegetables
    • Repurposing plastic containers into toys by sticking bottle caps to them for wheels of a car

Rethink

  • “To consider doing something, especially a course of action in a different way.”
  • If you want to make the biggest difference, however, maybe you could rethink the manner in which you shop.
  • Indeed, thousands of refill shops are beginning to crop up around the world.
  • Have a quick internet search to find your nearest place and head over with some empty jars!
  • This way, you’re helping a local business AND doing your bit for the planet.

September 24, 2024

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Why a More Plant-based Diet?

March 4, 2024 Cj Willie EarthConnection

Every day there is news about the effects of climate change…severe droughts, flooding, fires, catastrophic storms, etc. Our planet is in serious trouble and the behavior of human beings is the primary cause. Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si’, challenges us to adopt a more Earth-friendly sustainable lifestyle. Moving towards a more plant-based diet is often cited as a crucial means of addressing climate change. But why? Below are some of the reasons a plant-based diet can both address climate change and provide multiple health benefits.

Animal agriculture is currently the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, making it one of the largest drivers of climate change. Key to this contribution is the release of methane gas from livestock production: Since 2007, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere has risen significantly, faster than any other greenhouse gas. According to National Geographic, “The 20-year global warming potential of methane is 84. That is, over a 20-year period it traps 84 times more heat per mass unit than CO2.” A leading cause of this increase in methane is the billions of livestock grazing in pastures and confined in feedlots around the world. Decreasing the consumption of meat, even by one or two days per week, can make a difference.

Livestock currently graze on more than one-third of Earth’s ice-free land surface which was once forest or grasslands that had captured and stored carbon dioxide. In the Amazon rainforest, clearing land for grazing cattle accounts for 70 percent of recent deforestation, with additional forest being cleared for growing soy to feed livestock. Restoring these lands to native ecosystems or forests has the potential to sequester quantities of carbon dioxide that could significantly offset decades of global fossil fuel emissions.

Animal agriculture is a major cause of water pollution, contaminating drinking water, causing toxic algae outbreaks in local waterways, and killing fish. Slaughterhouses that process and package poultry, beef, pork, and other meats dump millions of pounds of harmful substances directly into our nation’s rivers and streams.

Humans consume more animals today than ever before. Worldwide, some 80 billion animals are raised and slaughtered for food each year; in the United States about 10 billion are slaughtered, approximately 1 million per hour. According to one analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average U.S. citizen consumes about 21,000 land animals in his or her lifetime.

Most animals raised for human consumption in the United States are raised on factory farms where they are subjected to small spaces and horrendous conditions. The majority of these factory farms are currently exempt from federal animal welfare laws.

A plant-based diet also has personal health benefits. The overconsumption of meat in our diets increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and other chronic diseases. As early as 2016 a University of Oxford study stated that “a global switch to diets that rely less on meat and more on fruit and vegetables could save up to 8 million lives by 2050, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds, and lead to healthcare-related savings. It could also avoid climate-related damages of $1.5 trillion (US)”.

Small changes can make a huge difference. For instance, the World Resources Institute tells us that “Americans eat approximately 10 billion burgers each year. Replacing 30 percent of the beef in those burgers with mushrooms would:

  • Reduce agricultural production-related greenhouse gas emissions by 10.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per year, equivalent to taking 2.3 million cars (and their annual tailpipe emissions) off the road.
  • Reduce irrigation water demand by 83 billion gallons per year, an amount equal to 2.6 million Americans’ annual home water use; and
  • Reduce global agricultural land demand by more than 14,000 square miles, an area larger than the state of Maryland.”

Reflect on your daily diet and, if it is high in meat consumption, think about adding one or more meatless days to your week as your contribution to a healthier planet. Pope Francis reminds us that there is a connection between the abundance of food available in the developed countries and the hunger which plagues those in the less developed countries. He noted that “The future is not up somewhere in the clouds, but is rather built by promoting and accompanying processes of greater humanization. We can dream of a future without hunger, but this is only reasonable when we engage in tangible processes, vital relations, effective plans, and real commitments.” What commitment will you make today?

Resources:

World Resources Institute at https://twitter.com/WorldResources/status/1021787231672049664

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