People of all faiths can turn their attention to caring for the Earth
One concept uniting people of different faiths is “Creation Care” — that as humans, we should strive to be good stewards of the Earth. A recently published “Green Bible” even highlights, in green ink, passages about environmental responsibility. A well-attended fall discussion at D.C.’s Washington National Cathedral about “Creatures Great and Small” examined how decent treatment of animals in agriculture, the wild and throughout society shows respect for God’s creation.
In a national survey by Baylor University in Texas released this fall, most religious people of all denominations agreed that “dramatic” changes were needed to prevent further damage to the earth, air and creatures.
Indeed, conserving and sharing resources will be addressed in congregations nationwide this season. Mindful consuming and eating lower on the food chain offer benefits from better health to increasing supplies of nutritious food as world population grows.
There are many ways you can help stretch resources. It takes more than a pound of fish to produce a pound of farmed salmon — and that’s just one reason why wild-caught is an eco-friendlier choice for fish-eaters. Another act of conscientious consuming: making more meals meatless, relying on plant-based foods for protein and other nutrients. Why? Because raising mass numbers of farm animals requires tremendous inputs of feed, water, land and fuel (with the energy used to produce one hamburger, you could drive a small car 20 miles). It takes an estimated 15 pounds of plant-derived food to produce a pound of meat.
“The amount of food used to raise animals for meat could cover the global food deficit 14 times,” enviro-investigator George Monbiot reported in The Guardian.
“Peace on Earth” has moved from Christmas carol to shopping ethos as more consumers are considering companies’ treatment of workers and animals, looking for labels such as fair trade, humane-raised and cruelty-free. Some express their values and spiritual beliefs through zero-waste, one-size-fits-all donation gifts made in loved ones’ names to socially beneficial nonprofit causes.
As a society, we’re living beyond our planet’s means to sustain us. A powerful expression of faith would be to use our gifts of intelligence and conscience, every day, to preserve the ultimate creation.
’Tis the season for:
Gifts of charitable donations:
» justgive.org
» charitynavigator.org
Eco-minded gifts:
» newdream.org
Creation care:
» allcreatures.hsus.org/resources/default.aspx
» greenletterbible.com
Mindful consuming:
» greenecoservices.com (includes info about labels)
» greenyourdiet.org (includes seasonal and other recipes)
Comments? You can reach Robin Tierney at [email protected].
