"Honor the Earth "

The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. According to the American Heritage Magazine (October 1993), it was “one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy." Next week we will celebrate the 39th annual Earth Day. It is still a remarkable event. We set aside a day to be grateful that we are part of the earth. We are thankful to be surrounded by the lush beauty of the earth. The earth is our planet, our home, and our source of physical and spiritual sustenance. We love the earth and we honor it.

We honor the earth in many ways. We honor the earth by purporting and living green values. Conservation is a green value. According to Tom Friedman (Hot, Flat, and Crowded, why we need a green revolution and how it can renew America) an “ethic of conservation is essential today.” This ethic of conservation is “a deeply ingrained habit of always looking to minimize our impact on the natural world.” (191)

We act in many different ways to minimize our impact on the natural world. We conserve our water use. We know to use a re-usable water bottle instead of small plastic bottles of water. We know to recycle plastic bottles. We have made the slogan “Reduce, reuse, recycle” a reality in our daily lives.

We minimize our impact on the world by eating vegetarian foods. I try to eat more vegetarian meals, but I admit I am not always successful. Even though I know it takes more resources of grain and water to raise cattle, even though I have learned that cattle belching releases methane gas into the atmosphere which impacts global warming, I am still a carnivore. (Who ever thought cattle belching would be worthy sermon fodder? Cattle actually eat and digest by belching out methane gas.) I cannot urge us all to become vegetarian because I am not a vegetarian. I can urge us to try to eat at least one meal a week that is vegetarian. And then maybe another. I accept that being vegetarian is a healthy and ethical lifestyle. Every small thing we do will minimize our impact on the natural world.

We minimize our impact on the world through the choices we make about transportation. We drive electric and hybrid cars. Taking a bus that runs on natural gas is better. And riding a bike or walking would be even better. We need more mass transit. Friedman reminds us that all of this is called “code green…Everything America (or any country) can do to go green today will make it stronger, healthier, more secure, more innovative, more competitive, and more respected. ” (173)

These are difficult changes in lifestyle. They are difficult because we get overwhelmed by how much there is to do to minimize our impact on the natural world. When we’re overwhelmed we can become paralyzed by guilt. Guilt doesn’t do anyone any good when it comes to living green values. We do what we reasonably can do to preserve and protect our natural world. And we each need to make those decisions individually, in our families, and in the greater communities in which we live. We need to take responsibility for our decisions. From a Buddhist perspective, John Daido Loori,
The Heart of Being: Moral and Ethical Teachings of Zen Buddhism tells us:

To take responsibility empowers you to do something about whatever it is that’s hindering you. As long as we blame, as long as we avoid or deny, we are removed from the realm of possibility and power to do something about our lives. We become totally dependent upon the ups and downs that we create around us. There is no reason that we should be subjected to anything when we have the power to see that we create and we destroy all things. To acknowledge that simple fact is to give life to the Buddha, to this great earth, and to the universe itself. (Parabola, Holy Earth, 35)

We honor the earth when we practice environmental justice. In The Green Collar Economy, how one solution can fix our two biggest problems, Van Jones describes the three waves of environmentalism. The first wave in the early 1900s was the “conservation” movement which worked to preserve the wild lands that became our national parks. The second wave was the “regulation” wave of the late 1960s and 70s which sought to manage such problems as DDT poisoning and the love canal chemical dump. Now a new third wave is emerging alongside the two waves which are still active and helpful. Jones calls this third wave the “investment” wave because it will focus on inventing solutions for the future. This is our hope – that the investment wave will solve both our economic difficulties while propelling green values forward.

The investment wave will take time to become a reality, but it is possible to turn the world around. Just within the past two decades I have seen Midwest cropland turned into ethanol production because of government subsidies to farmers. These incentives have paid off for them. Last summer I was driving through southwestern Minnesota and I could not believe how many large silver containers for ethanol production I saw among the cornfields and farms. Biodiesel fuel is a recent phenomenon. It shows what government can do. It also shows the complexity of greening America. Ethanol takes away land needed for food production. It is an inefficient fuel that takes natural resources to produce it. We may have good intentions that have negative consequences. Sometimes, there has to be a trade-off. For example we might want to use recycled paper plates but we may have to drive our car a great distance to get them, thus adding to air pollution. Individually, we do the best we can. But we must also act collectively.

Government programs will be necessary. We already have them. We just need to think creatively about solving our planetary problems. One person who is thinking creatively is Van Jones. We should pay some attention to author and activist Van Jones. He is the new special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation in the Obama administration. He will help shape and advance energy and climate initiatives with a special interest in improvements and opportunities for vulnerable communities.

Imagine, what it would be like if we might get lawmakers at all levels of government to think of ways to cut across race and class while creating jobs that will help green America. One of Jones ideas is to have a program where old cars which spew out more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere are bought up and loans given to the owners who would buy electric and hybrid cars. We have to continue to think creatively to solve our problems.

As Unitarian Universalists we are called to engage in environmental justice. Environmental justice recognizes the connection between all oppressions, human and earth degradation. Environmental justice envisions a bridge between nature and society such that the protection of natural systems and the ecological health of human communities, especially communities of the poor, minorities, and indigenous peoples, are pursued simultaneously. At times, we set the environmental movement and the racial and economic justice movements at odds with each other. Environmental justice is the recognition that the same paradigm of dominion that has led to global warming also reinforces economic and racial inequities. Only by seeking solutions that address both can we solve either.

We honor the earth when we honor indigenous people and the wisdom of earth-centered spiritual traditions. First nations teach us how to live on the earth in relationship to an earth that is deemed sacred. Native peoples practice reciprocity. They honor the gifts of the Earth and its creatures and give back in return for them.

When I first began teaching seventh and eighth graders in 1970, I made a banner that said “Ecology” down the left side. The banner used the letters to spell out this saying reading from left to right: Every living thing Counts On the tender Loving care Of God and You. It seemed like a worthy ideal, a value we should center our lives on. Loving the earth is still a value for me. When we talk about values, we are always speaking about what we love, what we want to protect, what we want to nurture and sustain for ourselves and for the seventh generation. Starhawk (The Earth Path, 30) reminds us that:

As soon as we start making choices, we have entered the realm of values. The criteria we use for choosing one frame over another come from what we ultimately value most, what we consider sacred. To consider something sacred is to say that it is profoundly important, that it has value in and of itself that goes beyond our immediate comfort or convenience, that we don’t want to see it diminished or denigrated in any way.

We consider the earth sacred. We love and respect what is sacred to us. We love and respect the earth. Loving the earth matters. What we love we want the best for. We are willing to open our hearts to increase our love. We express our love of the earth when we honor it..

I’d like to honor the earth with the litany of Six Directions, which I adapted from the Earth Ministry web site. It was inspired by a traditional Native American blessing. The author is unknown.

We turn to the West for a blessing to the Spirit of Shalom, Peace: make us whole, make us holy, help us to love one another with our whole heart, our whole mind, our whole being.
We turn to the North for a blessing to the Spirit of Integrity: give us strength and the courage to endure all the problems we may face.
We turn to the East for a blessing, to the Spirit of Illumination: open our eyes to the sacredness of every living thing.
We turn to the South for a blessing, to the Spirit of Transformation: help us to grow in wisdom and grace and the goodness of the ages.
We look to the Heavens, to the Spirit of Openness: fill us with a breadth of vision to see that love embraces all.
We touch the Earth for a blessing, and thereby touch the Spirit which lives among us and within us: help us to be more human.

Let us go from here blessed and renewed in the Spirit of Peace, in the Spirit of Integrity, in the Spirit of Illumination, in the Spirit of Transformation, with hopes lifted high to the heavens and with hearts loving the earth in the name of our loving, creating, nurturing Holy One, Spirit of Life and Love.

May it be so. Amen. Blessed Be.

Sources:
Earth Ministry web site
Thomas L. Friedman, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Why we need a green revolution and how it can renew America
Van Jones, The Green Collar Economy, How One Solution can fix our two Biggest Problems
Parabola, Holy Earth
Starhawk, The Earth Path