Environmental Action Group

The following questions could be a stimulus for some of us to continue our approach to our federal (and state) representatives.  They have been adapted from questions compiled by four prominent US scientists in preparation for the presidential debates to be held over the next two months.  The original article is at: https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/09/five-science-questions-that-ought-to-be-asked-at-the-debate/

These are not 'gotcha' questions that are likely to receive only defensive answers. They are questions that might help us become clearer about what our federal (or state) political representatives support or don't support.  

How could we use these questions?  

Here is a suggestion: that we take a question that addresses something we really want to focus on, put it in a polite le...

INTRODUCTION

The original mandate given in 2O14 by the then Synod and Presbytery of South Australia charged the Environmental Action Group [EAG] to enable the church to: express its concern for all created life on the planet; model ways of living and working that minimise our impact on the environment; relate our concerns for the environment to our Christian life in prayer, worship, study and communal decision making; and research the impact of human-induced climate change and advocate for appropriate lifestyle change  To further this mandate the EAG adopts the following Mission Statement.

MISSION STATEMENT- WHAT IS OUR CORE BUSINESS?

In response to call of the Spirit of the Living Christ, we undertake to

1. Acknowledge that we, along with all living things, are enmeshed in a complex web of
life...

Some people have been working away at linking COVID-19 with climate change.  Of course, it would be a long-shot to link the two in any causal way.  But if we were to think in terms of systems  – biological systems and human created systems – rather than isolating one particular aspect of our environment for analysis there are connections.  We are beginning to see the emergence of a kind of thinking that, while not new, is seriously neglected: a systems view of the world.  In this view, everything is linked in some way – because everything is a part of a huge complex system and of equally complex sub-systems – from the stars to the virus, from the cosmos to the atom.  Sally McFague says it well: “Never before have we had to think of everyone and everything all together”[1].

...

Introduction and background

The world is in the midst of a severe disease pandemic which has come when creation is already in the midst of another major crisis, climate change. While climate change may have no direct connection to the emergence of the current pandemic, it is a timely reminder that humans are a vulnerable species like any other species, especially when placed in an unnatural or sub-optimal environment. 

With the current pandemic, it seems that the unnatural environment created in a wet market, with sub-optimal hygiene and a mix of animal species not normally in close contact, enabled a virus to jump species. While climate change appears to have played little part in creating this environment, climate change is creating a sub-optimal environment for many species through a range of fac...

The 3 pages below invite us to take an action on each day of Lent to modify our ways of doing things in order to lighten our environmental footprints and lead towards a carbon neutral future.

The Care for Creation team of the Catholic Parish of St Dennis, Madison, in the US State of Wisconson, has put together this Carbon Fast for 2020.

As I write, 'unprecedented' fires in the Eastern States of Australia in November 2019 have been burning for days.  They are likely to continue for weeks yet. They have already burnt out more than 1m hectares.  Lives have been lost, livelihoods disrupted and homes destroyed.

In the previous three northern hemisphere late summers, California has experienced devastating fires.  Bill McKibben has recently written that so serious has the situation become, that parts of California may well have become uninhabitable. (McKibben) He notes that already, some large cities in Asia and the Middle East are approaching the point where they will become uninhabitable due to extreme heat.  In other places, every high tide event washes through living rooms.

Animal species are going extinct at a rate that is...

Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
which was brought upon me…

Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes,
but have seen oracles for you that are false and misleading. 

Greta Thunberg:
People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

Lamentations:
When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot, 
when human rights are perverted in the presence of the Most High, 
when one’s case is subverted —does the Lord not see it? 
Why should any who draw breath complain about the punishment of their sins? 
...

The World Council of Churches has released an invitation to Congregations, Communities and Churches to be a part of a pilgrimage – an international and ecumenical movement of transformative faith.

"The way we interact with the economy and creation – not only as individuals, but also as congregations, communities, and churches – is strongly connected with our faith convictions."

A roadmap towards a just and sustainable community can be downloaded at:

https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/roadmap-for-congregations-communities-and-churches-for-an-economy-of-life-and-ecological-justice-pdf-for-home-printing

The roadmap suggests simple, but effective, responses that may lead to our committing to make changes in the way we live, to share successful ideas and to encourage one another. It is an excellent...

Featuring eco-theologian, author, and TEDx speaker, Rev. Michael Dowd, ProFuture Faith is a dynamic eight-session DVD and internet-based course that bridges the gap between head and heart, science and faith.

The basic format for each 1 – 1½ hour session includes conversation around the readings, a 20-minute video presentation and guided discussion. Purchase of ProFuture Faith Curriculum Edition includes a one-year renewable license to use the downloadable/printable participant reader and facilitator guide.

Part 1 — Coming Home to Reality (4 sessions)

1. Un-Trivializing God — Reality as Thou — (20 min)

2. The Purpose of Religion and Necessity of Science — (20 min)

3. The Epic of Evolution — A Cosmic Timeline — (20 min)

4. Thus Sayeth Reality — What is Inevitable; What is Needed — (20 min)

Par...

Conserving the Natural World – for its own sake or for ours?

We have just returned from spending time with family on Christmas Island.  Two thirds of the island is a National Park, the responsibility of Parks Australia.  It's a small island (19km by 14km), most of which is covered by monsoonal forest and it is home to several endemic plant and animal species.  Since human settlement in the late 19th century some species have already become extinct.  Several of the animal species are on the endangered list.  One of these, the Christmas Island flying fox, the last remaining native mammal, is an important pollinator and rainforest seed-disperser.  Without the fruit bat, the forest may be endangered. They are the subject of constant monitoring. Two bird species are also endangered (Abbott's boobie and...