Enviro(ish)
  • Blog
  • Meet Megan
  • Legal(ish)

Everyday Eco: Christians and Climate Change

1/28/2015

2 Comments

 
I have started writing a blog post on being a pragmatist vs. activist vs. slacktivist....and that blog is coming....but sometimes synchronicity wins out.  If the head of the Environmental Protection Agency is getting a short audience with the Pope on the moral issue of climate....well we can all take a second to think this whole thing through.

Most Sundays I volunteer at my Catholic church here in LA as a small group leader with teens.  A recent session was about science and faith, and I was telling my co-leader how excited I was to discuss environment/eco/climate change with the small group since I experience resistance all the time....particularly from conservative Christians on that topic.  The words are hanging in the air, and I see a WashPost article on a study that showed half of Americans think the increasing severity of natural disasters is a sign of Biblical end times (77% of White Evangelicals and 74% of Black Protestants).  Oh, where to begin...

I'm inspired that I'm nowhere near the first person to draw the connection between being a Christian and stewarding the environment (aka God's creation for all my non-religious peeps).  Leading climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe from the Years of Living Dangerously first episode (watch for free!) draws from her evangelical Christianity when speaking with others about climate change and faith:
"When I look at the information we get from the planet, I look at it as God's creation, speaking to us.  And in this case, there's no question that God's creation is telling us that it is running a fever."
 
Sit with that a second.  That right there's the bomb diggity of explanations.

Until the Pope Francis encyclical on ecology comes out, you'll have to survive with my opinions!  (Ok, well I'm basing it on off-the-cuff remarks he gave on the topic...but I digress...)

There's two reasons the mentality that is so prevalent in evangelical Christians is a huge problem....
1) it's a gigantic loophole and out for people who are causing climate change (Americans) to not deal with the issue (which I won't go into this blog post, but is important to note!), and 
2) more importantly, it's antithetical to what being a Christian is all about, caring about the poor and social/environmental justice is at the heart of the Gospel....

Read More
2 Comments

Inspirations: A Century of Passion

1/26/2015

2 Comments

 
Especially when writing this blog, but often when writing about environmental issues, I feel like a lone voice crying out in the wilderness.  And resonating with that phrase is not by accident...vox clamantis in deserto is the motto of my beloved college on the Hill where I spent 4 years learning about the environment (and getting a serious eco-butt-kicking!)

Recently, the prolonged lack of technology in my life has led me to reconnect, to catch up on my reading, to "slow down to speed up".  Over the weekend I finally read my backlog of alumni magazines from the past year (sorry Jess!).  In the Class Notes, there's an absolute gem series from a man named Edward Gerson, Class of 1935, who just celebrated his 100th birthday (HBD Ed!) Most Class Notes focus on the happenings of others, but Edward has taken this platform as his way to share his views, his thoughts, his passions, his worries and his hopes for the future (longer text below the jump). He draws similarities from growing up in the 1920s and 1930s to now.  He worries about the future of our democracy, the power of corruption and advocates for exercising your vote.  He encourages alumni to get involved, be the change we want to see, so to speak. It got me thinking....

So often I hear that my passion for the planet, my "fight", is because I'm young.  That somehow age will make me give up and care less about what we're all doing to the planet.  I've noodled on it, but never landed an opinion until now.  With help and many thanks to Edward Gerson!  I don't think age will diminish my passion at all.  I hope someday to be living like Ed..."I still study every day because it opens up new worlds to me, and what could be greater?"   Passion is a state of mind, and there's no reason not to have spades of it for the long haul! 

Keep on keeping on Ed...GO BIG GREEN!  :)
Picture

Read More
2 Comments

EcoPartyDownload: Don't bring a knife to a Climate Fight

1/22/2015

2 Comments

 
Climate has been a contentious issue for as long as I've been doing environmental work (read: over a decade).  I wish it weren't a "fight"....I wish deniers hadn't trumped up a "debate" on climate in which they undermine the value of science itself and required non-profits to try to run counter-campaigns.....in which they take news of 2014 as the hottest year on record and 13 of the 14 hottest years happening since 2000 and nitpick about satellite vs. air vs. sea temperature.  Most of all, I wish I could unring the bell of knowing that the same guy who fought against public health officials on the science that showed cigarettes causing cancer is a lead voice in the climate change denial movement (but I digress).

Point is, as environmentalish peeps we have to recognize that despite public opinion poll after poll showing Americans are starting to come round to the rest of the world's view, fighting about climate change science by many but not all conservatives is still a reality.  A big spin reality in our news media.  A reality that doesn't reflect the enviro(ish) belief in people being smart, logical and good.  Therefore, an unfortunate reality.  And in the face of this reality, we have to choose if we engage or avoid this fight.  I have decided that because people look to me on environmental/eco/green issues, I won't allow the deniers to "win" the opinion of people I know just because they are yelling the loudest and because I feel pressure to back down.  Nobody puts baby in a corner.  Truth is on the side of climate science, and the future of our livelihoods and planet hangs in the balance.  IMHO, that's big enough to be worth purposeful engagement. In the face of such opposition, I stand even more firmly planted and use the following facts and tools below the jump.  But before I get all practical on how to engage in this "fight" and arm you with my favorite "weapons", it's important you get the skinny.  This is not a theoretical, abstract experience for me, and boy, it can be draining.... 
Picture

Read More
2 Comments

Being Personally Sustainable

1/20/2015

2 Comments

 
Apologies for not writing here in a while.  I've been experiencing a severe lack of technology since November 24 that led me to be disconnected, and then choose to stay disconnected.  If you've read Meet Megan, well, you know where I work.  Sorry to disappoint, but that's all I'm going to say about that experience.

The time "disconnected" has given me lots of insights though, and I hope to share.   It's a new year, free from the experiences of last year (inshallah! Haha. XOXO). But those experiences, just like all of life's trials, leave impressions. Some of my coworkers had to work over the holidays, are still working at a breakneck pace....all while I had the opportunity to power down and recharge and renew.  And it made me consider...most of the actions I focus on on this blog are about outward eco actions, external sustainability.  It's time I take a beat to focus inward on the importance of being personally sustainable. 

Below the jump are my top 5 activities to be personally sustainable this 2015.  I believe our greatest source of power comes from and is renewed from within, so here's hoping you find these strategies helpful in your own life.  To start us off inspired-like, here's a Buddhist parable that goes something like:
  "One day as the Buddha was sitting under a tree, a young, trim soldier walked by, looked at the Buddha, noticed his weight and his fat, and said: “You look like a pig!” The Buddha looked up calmly at the soldier and said: “And you look like God!” Taken aback by the comment, the soldier asked the Buddha: “Why do you say that I look like God?” The Buddha replied: “Well, we don’t really see what’s outside of ourselves, we see what’s inside of us and project it out. I sit under this tree all day and I think about God, so that when I look out, that’s what I see. And you, you must be thinking about other things!”
                                                                                                                                                                image courtesy of URL
Picture

Read More
2 Comments

    Enviro(ISH):

    (adj) balancing caring about the future of our planet with enjoying and living everyday life to the fullest

    Social(ish):

    Categories

    All
    DailyResistance
    EcoPartyDownload
    Energy & Climate
    Environmentalish
    EverydayEco
    Forests & Nature
    @Home
    Inclusion
    Inspirations
    Links I Love
    Mountainfilm
    Reuse
    @TheOffice
    Water & Oceans

    Archives

    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    September 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly