Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #34... Shouldering our greater responsibility

Remember the hole in the ozone layer? It's still there... but the good news is that humanity has stopped producing the chlorofluorocarbons that caused the hole. The Montreal Protocol was adopted by our world in 1987, and as a result, we still have most of the ozone layer that protects us and our earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation, and it could potentially recover over the next 50 years, especially if we can adopt another working protocol when it comes to climate change. Here's an interesting video about what could have happened... which leads into what we still need to do, and today's reflection on Laudato Si.

This week's section of Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home reminds us that humanity is capable of working together to change the course of history when it comes to caring for our planet. We're looking at paragraphs 168 to 172, which you can access by clicking here and scrolling down. Paragraph 168 carries an important message about positive experiences where different conventions made good decisions for the sake of life on earth: the Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes, the Convention on international trade in endangered species, and the Vienna Convention for the protection of the ozone layer, which led to the Montreal Protocol which eliminated CFCs which were creating the ozone hole.

When the ozone hole was discovered, it was a serious problem for the entire planet. Every living thing on earth is touched by the sun. Everyone was affected by the news. And global climate change is the same sort of problem -- there is nothing on earth that can't be affected by weather which causes droughts and fires, floods and disasters. Here in Edmonton we had a tornado in 1987. Calgary had the flood of 2013. And for most of us in Alberta, these were fairly minor events. But for people living in developing countries, a typhoon like Haiyan causes more deaths and destruction than we can imagine, and the people there don't possess the resources we have to deal with such disasters.

"With regard to climate change, advances have been regrettably few," says the Pope in Laudato Si, his letter to the entire world. "Reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility, above all on the parts of those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most" (paragraph 169). That would be most of the countries in the western world, including us.

Unfortunately, instead of just tackling greenhouse gas reduction by adopting more stringent measures when it comes to reducing the use of fossil fuels, our past leaders have pointed fingers at other countries, poorer than ours, who aren't doing their share to protect the environment. So we in Canada have wasted valuable time, and haven't done much to stop climate change as of yet. But the Pope reminds us:

there is a need for common and differentiated responsibilities. As the bishops of Bolivia have stated, "the countries which have benefited from a high degree of industrialization, at the cost of enormous emissions of greenhouse gases, have a greater responsibility for providing a solution to the problems they have caused." (Quote from the Bolivian Bishops' Conference Pastoral Letter on the Environment and Human Development in Bolivia, El universo, don de Dios para la vida from March 2012 (86).)

Those Bolivian Bishops have a lot to say when it comes to the environment, and Bolivia has been a leading country in fighting for the rights of Mother Earth. I wish I could read the entire letter, but it's not available in English, so I'll stick with Laudato Si.

I was happy to see that the Pope and his encyclical writing team addressed the issue of "carbon credits" in paragraph 171. It has never made sense to me that countries could pay a certain amount of money to "remove" so many tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- after the fact. If I fly to Tahiti and buy a carbon offset so that I can feel better about "dealing with" the greenhouse gas emissions caused by my tropical vacation, someone might plant a tree somewhere with that offset money, but it will take years for that tree to actually remove my emissions. It would be better not to fly at all... and maybe I need to be more serious about how I'm creating greenhouse gases from the beginning.

Unfortunately, so far no one really believes that climate change is so serious that we shouldn't be taking tropical vacations. Of course, I applaud people who do what they can to offset their air travel, and I'm not saying that carbon offsets are bad -- heaven knows our world needs all the help it can get with trees being planted and whatever else offsetters do. But we also need to reconsider frivolous things like tropical vacations! And our big, polluting corporations need to stop polluting instead of buying carbon credits from developing countries that don't produce their share of greenhouse gases. The idea is to reduce our greenhouse gases and improve the health of our atmosphere, not just to maintain things at the present level of pollution!

Paragraph 172 references the difficulties faced by poor countries and the help they will need from wealthier nations to develop less polluting forms of energy production. It also contains the encyclical's first mention of solar energy as a solution, noting that

Taking advantage of abundant solar energy will require the establishment of mechanisms and subsidies which allow developing countries access to technology transfer, technical assistance and financial resources, but in a way which respects their concrete situations, since the compatibility of [infrastructures] with the context for which they have been designed is not always adequately assessed (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Energy, Justice and Peace, IV, 1, Vatican City (2014), 53.)

I am underlining and bolding the statement that follows the above comment: "The costs of this would be low, compared to the risks of climate change."

It seems to me that, here in North America, we are too afraid to change, to take on our greater responsibility as people who live in some of the countries that contribute the most to climate change. We think it will be too expensive, or too difficult, but in reality, climate change will be more expensive, and more difficult. We're especially concerned about our livelihoods here in Alberta, where fossil fuel extraction and related industries have been our main employer for fifty years. But if we really think about it, fossil fuels are a dead end because our great-great-grandchildren can't live on a planet choked with greenhouse gases and terrorized by catastrophic events caused by an unstable climate. So we need to change now.

Out on my garage roof, a fellow named Paul has been working away for the past week. He used to work in the Oil Sands near Fort McMurray, but he saw that the future for highly polluting chemical processes to extract bitumen from the sand, water and clay up north was going downhill, fast. So he pulled the plug on that career and retrained to install solar panels. Clearly it's hard work, but he says it feels right. Rather than adding to climate change, he's participating in less polluting work in the energy field and improving the earth's health, long term.

And more of us need to think this way. How can we change and find better ways to deal with the pollution created by our lives? How can we reduce waste? How can we save energy? How can we in North America, who have created greater greenhouse gas emissions with our larger homes, multiple vehicles, and excessive possessions, shoulder our greater responsibility for providing a solution to the problems our lifestyles have caused the planet?

What is one right thing we can do in the week ahead? Or one change we can make?

We found a way to help the ozone layer. Now we need to help the rest of our beautiful planet.

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next up: Looking after our 'global commons'

Easter Alleluias!

Join us for our Easter Taizé Prayer! Tomorrow evening (April 10) 7 p.m. at Grace United Church, 6215 104 Avenue. We'll sing this one, for sure!

Simple Suggestion #249... Attend an education session

Life is about learning, when you really think about it. We don't stop learning until we die. But often we think that once we're done with school, college or university, we're done. Sure, we can get a book from the library or watch a TV documentary to learn about subjects we're interested in, but our formal communal learning is over.

That's why I'm making this week's Simple Suggestion, thanks to a nudge from my friend Debbie. She's on the organizing committee for an education session on food waste and the practical steps we can take as a society to reduce it. It's open to all Edmontonians, and it's an opportunity to get together and learn in a more active way. There's no final exam, and hopefully we'll all take away some ideas of how we can use food in a more sustainable way and waste a lot less.

Here are the details:

Come celebrate Earth Day!
Friday, April 22 @
Trinity United Church
8810 Meadowlark Road
Edmonton

Join the Food Justice Team @ Trinity United
for a screening of Just Eat It

Just Eat It is a Canadian Story about food waste
and a look at how we might make changes
for the sake of the environment and food security.

6:30 pm Doors open
7:00 pm Screening of Just Eat It
Question and Answer to follow

Admission is pay what you can,
and tickets are available through Eventbrite.

There are probably dozens, if not hundreds of other opportunities to gather and learn within our communities -- it's just a matter of looking for them on community poster boards, websites, and newsletters. The Just Eat It website alone offers a listing of many similar sessions across Canada and the US. What I'm really looking forward to at the session above is the Question and Answer, when we take what the documentary offers and apply it to our own situation in Edmonton. When enough people know about how we can reduce food waste, things will begin to change. The tipping point toward sustainability can't be that far off, can it?

And this is just one example, one topic out of zillions of possibilities for educating ourselves and our communities. We never stop learning, but I find that an experience of attending an education session and learning with others stays with me longer than any TV documentary you care to name. How about you?

Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

Simple Suggestion #154 revisited... Go fragrance-free

Today's remoodling comes courtesy of my youngest daughter, Julia. She has always enjoyed her connections with church ladies, but lately when a church lady tries to engage Julia in conversation on the bus it doesn't work -- simply because Julia's eyes water and her throat itches whenever the lady comes near. Of course, Julia, being who she is, is afraid to offend the lady, so she sits at the very back of the bus, hoping the lady won't notice her.

It kind of makes me think of this guy...

There is an easy answer to this whole problem, and that would be for Julia to tell the lady that she's allergic to perfume, and for the lady to really tone down her floral fragrance, or just stop wearing it.

It's been three years since I first posted this Simple Suggestion, but it's worth revisiting. We never know when we will run into someone with fragrance allergies, but the best random act of kindness we can perform for them (without them even realizing it!) is to go fragrance-free. Think of it as an easy and inexpensive act of love.

In case you're interested, here's my original, much more detailed post: Simple Suggestion #154... Go fragrance-free (March 2013)

For more Simple Suggestions, click here.

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #33... Digging ourselves out

I'm digging, I'm digging...

Yippee, we've finally reached Chapter Five of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home! The reason this makes me happy is that Pope Francis and his encyclical writing team spent the last 4 chapters "pointing to the cracks in the planet that we inhabit as well as to the profoundly human causes of environmental degradation"... but they've finally had enough of that... "now we shall try to outline the major paths of dialogue which can help us escape the spiral of self-destruction which currently engulfs us" (paragraph 163).

Of course, it's going to take more than discussion to sort out the ecological and social messes we find ourselves in, but before I get ahead of myself and the Pope, we're looking at paragraphs 163-167 this week. You can read them for yourself if you click here and scroll down.

I like the first line of paragraph 164 -- "Beginning in the middle of the last century and overcoming many difficulties, there has been a growing conviction that our planet is a homeland and that humanity is one people living in a common home." Basically, this underlines the idea that we are interdependent -- "one world with a common plan." Unfortunately, we've been sold a bill of goods by consumer culture that insists we must all exist independently, apart from our neighbours, with our own homes, possessions and live-it-up-lifestyles that take us far from the idea of the common good. Similarly, our countries too often act independently of each other when what we really need is to pull together:

A global consensus is essential for confronting the deeper problems, which cannot be resolved by unilateral actions on the part of individual countries. Such a consensus could lead, for example, to planning a sustainable and diversified agriculture, developing renewable and less polluting forms of energy, encouraging a more efficient use of energy, promoting a better management of marine and forest resources, and ensuring universal access to drinking water (paragraph 164).

Imagine what that would look like! Canada growing grains for drought-ravaged Sudan, Sudan developing solar farms that can give energy to Europe, Europe and the Pacific Rim countries working together for better ocean management programs (Canada being one of that group) and everyone everywhere working together to protect our most precious resource, water, and ensure that all species on earth have enough of what we need to live.

Utopia? No, reality -- if we can set aside our differences, listen to our scientists, and follow through on some good management by working together.

Perhaps our biggest challenge is found in the first lines of paragraph 165: "We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels -- especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas -- needs to be progressively replaced without delay." Climate change is a reality. But "Politics and business have been slow to react in a way commensurate with the urgency of the challenges facing our world. Although the post-industrial period may well be remembered as one of the most irresponsible in history, nonetheless there is reason to hope that humanity at the dawn of the twenty-first century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities."

Paragraphs 166 and 167 mention how "Worldwide, the ecological movement has made significant advances," (paragraph 166) and that World Summits have tried to be responsible for getting us on the right path to saving our planet, though in many cases, the lack of political will to implement the Summits' recommendations has caused too much delay. Pope Francis and friends note that that 1992 Earth Summit in Rio was "a real step forward, and prophetic for its time," but that "its accords have been poorly implemented, due to lack of suitable mechanisms for oversight, periodic review and penalties in cases of non-compliance" (paragraph 167).

The Earth Summit (ECO92) came up with 27 principles (that you can read by clicking here) that I had never read until this week. Some of Laudato Si 's ideas sound like they could come directly out of them. For example, here's principle 6:

The special situation and needs of developing countries, particularly the least developed and those most environmentally vulnerable, shall be given special priority. International actions in the field of environment and development should also address the interests and needs of all countries.

I can't help but wonder where we would be as a planetary people if we had inscribed these principles on our hearts and begun to live by them almost 25 years ago... but I think my church was too busy preventing one of its liberation theologians, Leonardo Boff, from speaking at the Earth Summit to really pay attention to what the Earth Summit was all about. I appreciate that Pope Francis is revisiting that territory now, but in the meantime, we've lost valuable time to dig ourselves out of all this trouble we're in.

The northern hemisphere is moving into spring, the south into fall. The edge season we are in is a wonderful time to consider our earth as it begins to awaken or settle into its dormant season. But no matter where we live, we are all called to wake up to the actions we can take to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel energy, to cut our emissions of CO2 as much as possible. Our family is taking a big step this week, installing solar panels to provide most of our electricity. It's required a fair bit of effort on our parts (that hand-dug trench is 3 feet deep and 29 feet long!) but it's worth it.

Here is an excellent list from Ontario of ten ways for anyone to reduce greenhouse gases:

Ten Ways to Reduce Greenhouse Gases

How many do you follow? And how many more can you try to implement? What can you start with this week?

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next reflection: Shouldering our greater responsibility

Return to my happy place

It's good to be back. In the greenhouse, I mean.

Of course, these little babies didn't plant themselves.

I've been in and out since mid February, when I brought

little planters into the dining room to start 

peppers, tomatoes and eggplants.

Also decided to plant a pot of lettuce, pictured above,

which now needs to be thinned...

These are the early tomatoes, that we hope to enjoy 

by the end of June.

When you save your own seed, you can plant

plenty of extras in case some don't come up. 

These are the later summer tomatoes. 

I only have room for about two dozen of them,

so I might have a few extra to give away...

depending on how much space I have to keep them.

 This year I thought I'd try growing my own bedding plants,

and they're taking up my usual tomato space, but it's all good.

I'm happy, surrounded by green growing things, and this morning

I planted lettuce in our cold frame. Looking forward to

organic homegrown veggies!

On another note, there are guys on our garage at the moment,

beginning the process of installing some solar panels.

Stay tuned...

It's too quiet

The house isn't the same these days... missing are the happy chirps, chattering and whistles of Pebbles, the little blue and white friend who graced our home and made us laugh for the past five and a half years.

Pebbles feasting on chick weed

The life expectancy of strictly seed-fed budgies is between four and six years -- though Pebbles ate enough chunks of my umbrella plant that I might have expected him to live longer and the girls often picked chick weed from the garden for his enjoyment, his main fare was seed, some of which we recently realized was actually rancid. We replaced it with good seed, but the damage had already been done. For a while we thought he would recuperate, but it wasn't to be. The last weeks of Pebbles' life were bitter sweet -- we were saddened by the fact that he wasn't able to make a comeback, but we were also able to enjoy cuddling him, something he never allowed when he was his usual perky self.

Budgies have been a part of my life for all but eleven years, so it's always strange when a little feathered friend dies, leaving a bigger gap than a person would expect. We won't be getting another budgie while we have a dog -- I always felt a bit sad for Pebbles because he couldn't fly as freely once Shadow joined the family, but the girls would often take him to their rooms and let him socialize there.

Pebbles gave us plenty of laughs, and his life is better documented than any of our other birds, as he arrived after Simple Moodlings was well established. I posted several budgie updates with video in these Moodlings, and they're fun to watch and to remember what a little spaz our bird was. He loved Suzanna best, and every day when she came home, he'd listen for her voice and call out to her. I've gathered the budgie updates here for her to access whenever she feels like remembering, as one final Budgie Update:

#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7

It's not hard to imagine Pebbles somewhere in the great beyond now, singing in chorus with Fritzy, Max, Houdini, Sunny, and Buddy, other cheeky little birds from our past. Such a bright little spirit doesn't end here, of that I'm sure.

An Easter coulee walk

Easter Sunday afternoon turned out to be a bigger adventure than we were expecting. We were in Lethbridge to celebrate Easter with my husband's parents, and after church and lunch we decided to take the dog for a walk in the gorgeous coulees that line the Old Man River as it flows through town. Things are just starting to green up, and we saw some tiny flowers on the slopes, budding trees, and a very low river. It was a dry winter in Lethbridge, too.

Once we got to river level, we were out of the wind and enjoying a pleasant afternoon. Christina brought her gear for making #coffeeoutside. We had a few sips of some very strong coffee, skipped stones, took funny family pics and proceeded to walk twice as far as necessary to get back to where we started. We cut through a NO DOGS ALLOWED cemetery at the end, rather than climb down and up three more steep valleys. It was a pretty good three hour hike if you ask me. Here are a few picture highlights.

Lots of cottonwoods along the river's edge...

and pussywillows...

An old tree that hung out over the river provided a peaceful perch...

Cooking coffee...

heading back... but shouldn't we be going the other way?

Julia is the little spot on top of the middle hill...

this isn't going to get us back...

we're parked a few gullies to the right...

down, and up...

and down and up again...

no more downs or ups -- Christina cheers...

cutting through the graveyard to avoid a few more gullies...

with the little black dog hidden in Lee's jacket...

My good old Canon camera died, so these are rather sad shots from an iPod touch, but you get the idea. If you ever get to Lethbridge, Alberta, a coulee walk is not to be missed!

Happy Easter! We're still in the octave...

Laudato Si: Easter Reflection

Today is the day when we remember that we are Easter People -- that all the evil and darkness in our broken and messed up world can not overcome light and love.

The anointed one known as Christ helps us to realize that we are all children of God, and as such, we are loved beyond all telling. Even so, we are far from perfect, and our planet is suffering from our particular faults -- greed being one of the main. With 7.4 billion of us inhabiting our Mother Earth, the importance of remedying our greed is critically important -- or life will become unsustainable.

None of this is news -- we have known for a very long time about the poverty, pollution, deforestation, war, global climate change and other destructive problems created by the human race. The difference now is that we are reaching the tipping point. I see it as a hilltop where God's creation sits in a little red wagon, and we either steer safely forward for a happy ride, or roll backwards, unable to steer, and end up crashing somewhere.

Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home is Pope Francis' letter to the world, his insistence and encouragement to steer our wagon in the right direction. But I fear that, less than a year since its publication, it is being forgotten -- or worse -- ignored.

Fortunately, we have the example of a Good Friday that has never been completely forgotten. We know that resurrection is possible, and that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. So as bleak as our environmental outlook is for the moment, there is hope. Especially if the Easter People of Mother Earth speak up for her every chance that we get.

So here's what we do: we take every opportunity presented to us to make choices that help our planet, and remind others to do the same. We talk to our priests and pastors about our sister, Mother Earth, and our concerns for her. We ask them to share the ideas of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home from their pulpits (especially Chapter 5, which we will get into next week). We lobby our elected officials to keep creation and all our sisters and brothers in the developing world at the forefront of their minds as they govern. We think, act, and pray for positive changes in the way resources are shared and managed around the globe.

And we always live in the hope of resurrection -- our own and our earth's. We remember always, as Peter Mayer sings below, that everything's a miracle.

To you and yours, a joyous Easter!

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

A simple Easter prayer

O God,
you love us.
You want only good things for your children.
But you give us freedom
to make our own decisions,
and our mistakes fill our world
with struggle and pain,
even as they lead us
to acknowledge our need of you.
Jesus showed us by his life and death
how to carry our crosses
with patience, humility, and love.
And so, God, we offer you
all the heavy and difficult things we carry.
We entrust to you our heartaches and hurts,
as well as our hopes and happinesses,
and we offer our lives to you.
Bless those we love,
those we are struggling to love,
and all who really need to feel your love.
Show us how to be your gentle presence
for those who need it most.
Thank you for loving us,
for giving us freedom,
and for walking with us through our calvaries,
into the abundant life
you have promised.

+AMEN.

Good Friday, again

I can't believe how quickly time goes. Here we are, at the end of Holy Week. As always, if you are in the Edmonton area, I invite you to join in two beautiful ecumenical events...

The cross at the top of Mount Tzouhalem
near Cowichan Bay, BC

The first is the 36th Annual Outdoor Way of the Cross, which begins at George Spady Centre (10015 105A Avenue) at ten a.m on Good Friday. I love this way to mark the day because has a strong social justice component, it attracts people of all ages and Christian denominations, and there's just something really amazing about being together and walking with our inner city sisters and brothers for two hours in an atmosphere of prayer and song. This year's theme is "Transformation -- Ourselves and Our World," and will include reflection on the UN's sustainable development goals.

The second is the Good Friday Taizé Prayer Around the Cross, 7 p.m. at Providence Renewal Centre (3005 119 Street). It's a contemplative prayer with music, scripture and silence, and a different way to be open to God's presence in our hustle-bustle world. I prefer it over Good Friday services, because it's a reflective space without so many words. In the community of Taizé, France, you can bet that the young people present will sing and pray well past midnight, but our prayer will run a little over an hour.

All are welcome to both events. Join your fellow Christians to pray and reflect on God's deep love for all God's children. And if you're not in the Edmonton area, have a beautiful Good Friday wherever you may be.

Simple Suggestion #248... Appreciate the gift of water

Today is World Water Day, and I'm glad, because the lowly substance is so under appreciated. We tend to take it for granted, and rarely imagine what life would be like without it.

Imagine...
not being able to bathe
wearing dirty clothing more often than not
trying to cook without it,
or always having to boil out impurities
walking miles to get some
drought blasted foliage and dying crops
outhouses
thirst and hunger
no swimming
dry creek and river beds

...and realize that around the world (including Canada) we are reaching towards a billion people lacking access to clean water, and there are many places in drought conditions because of climate change. I've mentioned it before, but there are many First Nations reserves in Canada that are constantly under boil water orders, which is shameful for a country as wealthy as ours.

Appreciating our own water is just a first step in the right direction, followed by awareness of water's value in our lives, the desire to conserve it, and the insistence that everyone should have access to clean water. Activism for the basic human right to drinkable water isn't far from any of that. It doesn't take much to join the Council of Canadians' #Pledge2Protect our water, and we are all capable of shunning the little plastic bottles filled with something that, as a human right, should be free for all but is making a killing for large corporations.

People in Cascade Locks have had to organize to protect their water from being exploited. Less is demanded of us, but we can stand in solidarity by drinking our own tap water (which is usually healthier than stuff that is bottled in plastic for long periods) and taking our own water from home with us in reusable water containers instead of supporting big bottling companies. Other people in other parts of the world are not so fortunate.

Today, let's appreciate our water and remember and help those less fortunate by doing what we can.

Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

We all want to be loved as we are

In honour of World Down Syndrome Day (today!), the people at L'Arche International have put out another beautiful video in the #AsIAm series. I think this one is my favourite yet. Raphaella's love for her dad and his love for her is a gorgeous thing to witness.

My friends and relatives who possess 3 copies of the 21st chromosome are some of my favourite people. They have a knack for making my day -- Sarah, who calls me her favourite oldest cousin in Edmonton, Bethany, who loves to dance, Miranda, who loves to sing, John, who gives more high fives than anyone I know, and Tim, whose quiet sense of humour and desire to give people a sung blessing at the drop of a hat -- all of them and many others like them make me smile regularly.

Our world would be a sadder place without these beautiful individuals, don't you think?

Happy World Down Syndrome Day to all my special friends...

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #32... For the sake of future generations

I think Indigenous people have it right -- that we must consider how the decisions we make today will impact our descendants seven generations (140 years) from now. How many things would have been done differently in the history of our planet if that adage had been taken to heart by all its inhabitants?

This week we are looking at paragraphs 159-163 of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis' letter to the people of the earth, which can be accessed by clicking here and scrolling down. The section is called Justice Between the Generations, and it's not just referring to those of us alive at this moment.

"The notion of the common good also extends to future generations," says the Pope, reminding us that

Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit. Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us (paragraph 159).

There are many big questions raised by Laudato Si, but for me, the one at the beginning of paragraph 160 is the biggest: "What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us...?" Pope Francis notes that this question is tied in to other questions about the meaning of life and why we are here, the goal of our efforts and our value to the earth itself -- questions whose answers speak volumes about our dignity as God's children.

Paragraph 161 deserves to be read in its entirety:

Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth. The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet's capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world. The effects of the present imbalance can only be reduced by our decisive action, here and now. We need to reflect on our accountability before  those who will have to endure the dire consequences.

Laudato Si doesn't mince words in paragraph 162. Our present consumer culture has bred a society of people who are speeding up the earth's decline through our "rampant individualism" and "today's self-centred culture of instant gratification." We need to curb our "impulsive and wasteful consumption" so that we can "broaden the scope of our present interests and... give consideration to those who remain excluded from development" in both "intergenerational" and "intragenerational solidarity" -- the poor of the future, and those we have with us now.

Such solidarity demands a lot from those of us who live in the developed world. We don't want our standard of living to fall, but if we look at our ecological footprint -- the resources required for our lifestyle, we can discover that if everyone on the planet lived like we do, we would probably need another dozen earths to support the present world population. (Check out your ecological footprint by clicking here.) So what we need to do is to re-examine what we see as essential to our standard of living. Is it the stuff with which we surround ourselves? Or our relationships and values? How can we live more simply and meaningfully without consuming so many of our planet's resources?

We are told that Mother Earth has enough for all her children, but the problem is that some children use up more than their share, which impoverishes those who are living in poverty now, and future generations who may not have enough. It also messes up our planet for all living things. How many species will be extinct when my children are my age? Will future generations ever be able to drink from a mountain stream like I did when I was small?

I feel like a broken record, but Laudato Si is the best commercial I know for simple living. Once we build an awareness of where our greed has gotten the better of us, we can begin to live a deeper solidarity with the poor and those future generations who deserve enough, too. We can choose to use only what we need, and ignore the way consumer culture leads us to want too much. We don't have to live the lifestyles of the rich and famous, though consumer culture does its best to convince us that we do just because it wants us to buy, buy, buy.

How do we escape that kind of brainwashing? Perhaps we can ask ourselves the four questions on this poster on a regular basis. If you want a copy of it, I can email it to anyone who sends me a note through the email address that lurks behind my profile on the side bar -- or you can make your own version with your own awareness-raising questions.

We all need enough to live, but we don't need too much, especially when our greed pollutes our planet, impoverishes others, and harms the seven generations that come after us. I don't know about you, but I hate feeling greedy, especially when I know I'm hurting others, present and future, by my choices... and I want to make my ecological footprint smaller for their sake.

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next reflection: Digging ourselves out

Don't forget Earth Hour!

It's been a busy week here, thanks to a computer virus at work (grrr, why do people create these things?) so I forgot to mention Earth Hour, which runs this evening between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. wherever you are. The idea, of course, is to cut the electricity for that time and give some thought to how we can live more lightly on the planet and spread the message that it's time to make a change.

So, enjoy a little quiet candle light. Turn off the TV and/or computer, and live simply. Consider how that can translate into every day life, and where it's possible to be more of an environmentalist in your own environment. Have a happy Earth Hour -- let's do something good for all of us who depend on Mother Earth.

A question worth considering...

If we had to walk a few miles in the shoes of those in the less desirable position in all of these different categories, would we fight harder for justice?

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #31... It's all about the common good

I'm hoping to keep it short today. We've reached the heart of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, though I don't think it does enough to include all of creation as part of the principle Pope Francis and friends underline in this short section.

This week we are looking at paragraphs 156-158, a short section called The Principle of the Common Good, which you can access by clicking here and scrolling down.

Paragraph 156 begins by stating, "An integral ecology is inseparable from the notion of the common good, a central and unifying principle of social ethics. The common good is "the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment." This last little snippet of a quotation comes from Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution of the Church, written during the second Vatican Council.

Paragraph 157 underlines the necessity of respect for the human person and his or her rights, the importance of distributive justice--something that is sadly lacking in a world where 1% of the population owns fully half of the world's wealth--and society's obligation to defend and promote the common good, which I read as "the good of all."

The first line of paragraph 158 almost covers the entire point of the encyclical:

In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, locally and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters.

Except that common good defined this way forgets to call us to solidarity not only with human beings, but with all of creation. Yes, we need to recognize "the implication of the universal destination of the world's goods" and "appreciate the immense dignity of the poor in the light of our deepest convictions as believers", but we also need to recognize that the earth and its resources belong also to the rest of creation. And the decisions we make to care for humanity must also be extended to the rest of God's creatures as much as possible.

I often wonder what the world would look like if God suddenly appeared, waved a magic wand, and distributed earth's wealth evenly to all 7.4 billion of us, plus the animals on land, in air and ocean. I suspect we wouldn't have a 125 million dollar hockey arena going up in my city's downtown, but we might have more small outdoor neighbourhood rinks where everyone could play. We might not fly around the world for tropical vacations, but maybe we'd have better transportation systems that use fewer fossil fuels to take us to visit the people we love. Would shopping malls be more important than community halls? Would terrorism be undermined by communal sharing? Who would actually be poor? (The rich and famous would be forced to live an ordinary life -- how I love that thought!) And if the common good extended not only to human beings but to all God's creatures, would we need zoos or nature reserves to protect endangered species? Would there even be endangered species?

The thing is, we can all participate in creating the common good by asking ourselves whether our actions, every day, are benefiting the earth or harming it. We won't always be able to answer that question in positive ways because many of the systems that support our present lifestyles were built to make money for consumer culture rather than to support the common good. But once we become aware of how our own lives impact the life of our planet, we can change the way we live, and encourage others to make changes too, so that the planet's wealth can be distributed more equitably to all. But first we have to tap into the power of the people.

Here's a wee example of what I'm talking about: A grocery chain decided that it would market pre-peeled oranges last week. Someone posted a picture of said oranges in their new plastic packaging on social media, and the outrage that followed convinced the store to leave the oranges "in their natural packaging -- the peel." You won't see these around any more, I hope! Plastic is one of those things that we've gotten used to having around, but the problem is that it never goes away. Orange peels don't last long in my compost pile, but every little plastic fruit sticker sticks around for ages!

There are many ways that we can foster the common good by living in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the developing world through living more simply ourselves, and preserving God's creation through boycotting and protesting those things that undermine life in all forms. That's our superpower, as my kids might say.

When is the last time you let someone with power know your feelings about an issue that is undermining the common good? This week, let's challenge ourselves to write a letter or sign a petition (or talk to our local grocer) about making positive change for all, and perhaps make one step toward changing our own lives. Here are just a few possibilities... choose one, or all...

Could I take a shorter shower to conserve water?
Could I walk instead of driving?
Could I wear the same Easter outfit this year as I did last year?
Could I make and eat one more vegetarian meal this week?
Could I use my own grocery bags instead of getting more plastic from the store?
Could I buy fair trade, organic, or non-sweatshop items?
Could I go to a library instead of buying another book?
Could I grow some of my own food? Even in a little windowsill pot?

If you want more ideas, click here for other Simple Suggestions... and have a good week of considering how to simplify for the sake of the common good in your life.

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next up: #32... For the sake of future generations

REDressing wrong

If you look up the word 'redress' in a dictionary, you'll find something like this:

re-dress  v. (1) to set right : REMEDY. (2) to make up for : COMPENSATE. to remove the cause of (a grievance or complaint). (3) to exact reparation for : AVENGE. (4) to requite (a person) for a wrong or loss. (5) to heal.

A recent art installation in our city made me examine the meaning of the word more closely. On Friday, my eldest daughter and I went to see Ni Wapataenen on Alberta Avenue here in Edmonton. Organized by Lori Calkins, a Metis woman and Anglican Priest, and others who offered input and assistance, it was a simple but powerful effort to redress the many wrongs done to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women of our country. A single, bare greenstick tipi stood in the middle of a park space, surrounded by 40 stripped trees on stands, and on each tree hung a single, empty red dress. Some of the trees bore poetry, others, bits of wisdom from Indigenous elders, mentioning the seven sacred directions, spirit animals, and colours. The display was called Ni Wapataenen, which means We See.

And see we did. It's hard to miss 40 red dresses. And understanding that every dress represented approximately 30 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and their families brought a sob to my throat. Only my daughter and I stood among the trees and dresses reading poems commemorating some of the beautiful women that the dresses stood for, but it was as though I was surrounded by a host of missing sisters. One of the dresses reminded me of a dress my own sister once wore, and the loss of Indigenous sisters became real in a way that it never had been before.

Nine months ago, I was fortunate enough to reconnect with my first best friend, a beautiful Indigenous woman who has made her way through life in spite of incredible challenges from a society that suffers from racism against its First Nations Peoples. There may be those who take issues with my belief that society suffers from racism -- but it's the simple truth. Wherever racism exists, its victims suffer deeply, and perpetrators also forfeit the possibility of real and loving relationship, which is a different kind of suffering. Pain abounds. But redressing racism's wrongs and rebuilding relationships is possible, and there is nothing to stop us except our ourselves.

If this is the first time you've heard about red dresses being used this way, check out Jamie Black's website, The REDress Project. And if you have a chance or if you are a photographer, please click here for a wonderful story about Mufty Matthewson, who developed the REDress Photography Project to honour our the 1,181 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, including my first best friend's cousin.

On this International Women's Day, when we celebrate women's social, economic, cultural and political achievement, we must also be aware of the progress we can still make, especially when it comes to redressing the wrongs still occurring. Thanks to people like Lori Calkins, Jamie Black and Mufty Matthewson, awareness continues to grow and spread. We dream of a better day.

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #30... Respect for home

I have to hand it to Pope Francis and his writing team. I can't think of much that they've missed in addressing concerns related to the health of Mother Earth in Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home. This week we even get into the importance of public transportation rather than personal vehicles...

We're looking at paragraphs 152-155 of the Pope's encyclical, which can be accessed by clicking here and scrolling down. This week's reading is the continuation and conclusion of the section we began last week, Ecology of Daily Life.

Paragraph 152 attempts to address the lack of housing we know exists in many parts of the world. Immediately I found myself thinking of the favelas in Rio de Janeiro... But why did my mind go so far afield? Especially when I walk past homeless camps in our Edmonton river valley more often than I'd like to admit...

The Pope and friends are trying to address the difficulties many people have in affording or even finding a reasonable place to live, and encouraging humanity to find answers because "Having a home has much to do with a sense of personal dignity and the growth of families. This is a major issue for human ecology." The encyclical underlines the point that no matter our good intentions, we can't just demolish slums without making those who live in them part of the rebuilding process, offering them information about how they can participate in changing their living situations and decent housing choices.

While we don't exactly have slums in Edmonton, our inner city is a place with poor housing choices and many homeless people. Housing First is one organization that is working toward putting roofs over people's heads before tackling addictions and mental health issues. EndPovertyEdmonton is a local task force that names the problems faced by the poor in our city, and is working together to eliminate poverty in Edmonton within a generation. Does that sound like pie in the sky to you? With the economic downturn in Alberta's economy, it's definitely a challenge, but we have to move forward in hope. What do you know about poverty reduction strategies where you live? Do you offer support in this task?

I smiled when I read where the Pope gently shakes his finger at how we human beings get around:

The quality of life in cities has much to do with systems of transport, which are often a source of much suffering to those who use them. Many cars, used by one or more people, circulate in cities, causing traffic congestion, raising the level of pollution, and consuming enormous quantities of non-renewable energy. This makes it necessary to build more roads and parking areas which spoil the urban landscape.... (paragraph 153).

He's right... and his further comments regarding "the need to give priority to public transportation" make me wonder how long it will take for human beings to understand that if we want to mitigate the effects of climate change, we need to decrease our dependence on SOVs (single occupant vehicles) and opt for public transportation which creates fewer fossil fuel emissions.

Here in Edmonton, people love to complain about the inefficiencies of our transit system, but if we all suddenly started taking transit daily, increasing the need for it and insisting our municipal leaders improve the way it works, I suspect it might become more efficient in a hurry. Of course, we are too infatuated with convenience and our own vehicles for that to happen. Or are we? How do you get around? Do you ride-share? Carpool? Find ways to avoid driving an SOV?

It's not just urban populations that struggle to maintain an ecology of daily life -- paragraph 154 notes that our concern with highly populated cities "should not make us overlook the abandonment and neglect also experienced by some rural populations which lack access to essential services and where some workers are reduced to conditions of servitude, without rights or the hope of a more dignified life." I think of many First Nations communities in Canada that lack potable water, well-made homes, and health services, especially to deal with the sense of abandonment, isolation and addiction that springs from the fact that their communities lack these basic things. How can we help them? Can we write our elected officials on their behalf?

The last paragraph of this section discusses "another profound reality: the relationship between human life and the moral law..." and continues to explain that "our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings." According to Pope Francis, "The acceptance of our bodies as God's gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world... Learning to accept our body, to care for it, and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element in any genuine human ecology" (paragraph 155).

I suggest you read paragraph 155 for yourself. It's one that leaves me wondering if the Church's understanding of human life and human sexuality isn't too narrow sometimes. I know that The Bible tells us that "God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27) ... but I can't help feeling that the Church pounds too hard on sexual morality, the differences between the sexes and total insistence on heterosexual love and family life. I know too many beautiful people with beautiful relationships that don't fit that model, and who is the Church to say that those people are wrong to love a partner of the same sex? Or when they don't feel at home in their body because they have never felt like they belonged to the gender with which they are born? It seems to me that God created our spirits with a wider spectrum than male and female.

The thing is, God made us, and we grow in our love for ourselves and each other, and in the understanding that God loves us. Love that gives life, literally and figuratively, is never wrong. So if the fullest meaning of our bodies doesn't fit exactly with the Church's prescribed rules about human sexuality, but we can love ourselves and see God's love present in the relationships that bless us, isn't that enough?

The ecology of daily life is about belonging, caring, sharing, respecting one another, and loving God and creation. At least that's how I'm reading it. How can we create a sense of belonging and care for city dwellers and those living in isolated communities all over the world? How can we offer acceptance and love to the poor? To those in the LGBTQ community?

Feel free to share ideas by clicking on  the link for "comments" below.

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Up next: #31... It's all about the common good