Seeds for Thought: an Ecopsychology Blog

Faith and the Environment

The MultiFaith Action Society and Langara College Continuing Studies are co hosting a conference “Faith and the Environment” [FATE] at the Langara campus by invitation to the leaders of Vancouver's faith communities. This event will be an historic meeting of the leaders of Vancouver’s major religions to consider their role in addressing the environmental issues facing British Columbians.

The occasion has the following goals:
• Explore the implications of the climate crisis for religious communities in BC
• Identify areas of common interest and common action to address the issues.
• Share “best practices” for reducing “ecological footprints” in sacred spaces
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Program highlights include:

• Background on the environmental issues facing British Columbia in the next decades.
• Roundtable discussion with Premier and the Climate Action Secretariat on new policies.
• Workshops on efforts to reduce human impact on natural processes and restore damage.
• Forum discussion of public policies and the role of religious communities and their leaders

The success of this event will depend to a large extent on the level of participation from the Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and 1st Nations faith communities from the lower mainland. One challenge has been to identify what constitutes “leadership” in the context of an environmental crisis.

Je Me Souviens

It is rememberance day in Canada and one remembers how long the drums of war have been beating. The rows of headstones stretch back to the dawn of time. The good news is that fewer people die in wars this century than in the last (so far) – we are alarmed when 100 are killed in a battle. Two centuries ago 100,000 died in a single battle. In the last century 50,000 might die in a single bombing run. Our sensitivities may be soothed by the lack of “catastrophic” annihilations but we should remember that such things happen. We pause to remember the war dead but perhaps we should also remember the victims of plagues and famines. At times 3/4 of the human population in an area would succumb to illnesses. The 1918 flu pandemic killed more people than world war one. A similar pandemic is always possible as new flu viruses mutate and circulate. It is almost certainly true that the collapse of global ecosystems will have devastating effects on human populations. Each passing month seems to show that people cannot respond to the “possibilities” of these events, only to the “actualities.” Hope remains among the possibilities. It is perhaps in remembering how events transpired in the past that we can prepare ourselves for the future. It is harder to say, “it can’t happen here” when we remember that is HAS happened and history repeats when nothing has been learned from it. The war drums are beating again and the “official” rhetoric is in full flower. Remembrance holds a key to the future.. Qubecers in Canada have a motto “Je me souvien” – (I remember who I am.) It should be a motto for us all.

Migrations

Watching the geese
go south I find
that
even in silence
and even in stillness
and even in my home
alone
without a thought
or a movement
I am part
of a great migration
that will take me to another place.

It is the time of the great migrations;

Missa Gaia

For the Earth forever turning
For the skies, for every sea
For our lives, for all we cherish,
Sing we our joyful song of peace

For the world we raise our voices,
For the home that gives us birth;
In our song of joy returning
Home to the blue-green hills of earth

I don’t know where I first heard that this song was inspired by a science fiction story by Robert Heinlein but each time I hear it I am reminded in the haunting last line of the iconic image of the “earth rise” taken by one of the Apollo astronauts. Wikipedia provides a bit of background. Heinlein tells a story about a radiation-blinded spaceship engineer crisscrossing the solar system humming poetic lyrics about “home” as if the spaceship and crew were a contemporary tramp steamer.

Into the Woods

If you go out in the woods today you're in for a big surprise.
If you go out in the woods today you'd better go in disguise.

(from the Teddy Bear’s Picnic)

I attended a delightful presentation of the musical "Into the Woods" by the Sondheim Society to benefit the restoration of wind damage in Stanley Park. It was both whimsical and serious. Into the Woods featured a blend of modern themes with characters from classic fairy tales, including Jack and the Beanstock, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel. With a little artistic license characters from these fairy tales venture ” into the woods” and confront the “shadows” that the author Joseph Campbell suggested makes these stories so appealing to all ages.

The Tide Turns

greeningspirit.ca

Old logs bump and grind,

Tossed by turning tide,

Unstuck from silted sand,

Ebb seaward from the land.

Warm wind and salt scour
Pebbled beach where thin
Shelled things scurry when sea
Fingers search the intertidal hour.

Creeks spring lush through
Greening glades, spill onto
Tide flats oozing mud which then
This Turning brings to life - again.

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photos by Robyn Worcester,
Stanley Park Ecology Society

Greeningspirit.ca

We have started a new web page at: www.greeningspirit.ca to provide wisdom and resources to the Anglican initiative on Earth stewardship. It will become the public "face" of a network of 50+ "stewards" assigned to bring environmental issues from the margins to the mainstream of church life. One "motto" suggested for the site is "personal, political and prayerful"
- meaning that issues such reducing carbon emissions are something that must be approached from the personal level such as making a pledge to reduce CO2 emission in a household by a set amount, "political" with a committment to work with others in organized ways and "prayerful" in reflecting on WHY we care for the beauty and bounty of creation.

Sustainability

As climate scientists become more alarmed at the pace of climate change it might be good to take a closer look at what the goal of a “sustainable” culture might look like. Current estimates suggest that the planet can “sustain” somewhere between one and ten billion humans. As we are at about 7 billion now there is concern that we may have already passed the optimum number of people on the planet. It seems clear now that the current population exists due to energy intensive technologies and global market systems. It also requires a stable “temperate” climate and that either much warmer or much colder conditions would not sustain current population levels. Global economies depend heavily on “growth” and there are tremendous political and economic efforts to maintain high growth rates even as they inflict devastating consequences. History is littered with examples of societies that overshot their limits and collapsed (see Gerard Diamond and Thomas Homer-Dixon).

Panarchy

A recent book, "Up Side of Down", introduces an ecological term "panarchy" to describe situations where systems increase efficiency and complexity at the expense of "resilience." Consider the difference between a bicycle and a motorcycle. There are only 2 ways a bike can break down but there are many ways a motorcycle can break down including running out of gas. It is easier to fix a bicycle and the "operator" needs less training. Thomas Homer-Dixon (Tad) claims the same is true of social systems. Local farming may be less "efficient" but more resilient than industrialized agriculture. A few wild pigs shut down the organic lettuce distribution across North America a few weeks ago. A brief power surge shut down the east coast power grid which effect communications systems, traffic and refrigeration. When complex systems break down people resort to simpler ones (bicycles, candles).

Beowulf

In the recent movie “Beowulf and Grendel” the director includes a character that does not appear in the original epic. A beautiful “wild woman” lives on the margins of the old king’s domain collecting herbs, eggs and berries. She roams the landscape on her own terms and enchants Beowulf with her beauty and ability to read the future. The old English epic is rich in the classic archetypes of heroism – monsters, comrades, kings and queens. It also contains a clownish Irish priest to comment on the folly of the pagan warriors. Like Homer’s Illiad this epic transcribes an oral tradition into written words and captures the flavor of that earlier style of story telling.