I'm doing a presentation on something I know almost nothing about

[Critters2]

tomorrow at the local community college. Environmentalism from a Christian perspective. Organized by a poli sci prof, a member of my church, as part of the college's Earth Day program. Should be quite amusing. I've been cramming like a student before a final.

So far, here's what I have, basically:

Pollution, bad.
Earth Stewardship, good.

Now I have to stretch it to an hour. I can throw in a few Bible quotes.

Pray for me.


edited because not all students are kids.

[SPKrazy]

1. Tell them

God wants you to be good stewards of your environment, now get off your asses and be good stewards and tell them how to be good stewards and just keep saying God wants you to do this!

:shrug:

good luck, I don't think you want my prayers, God is pissed at me I think?

[Critters2]

2. That's pretty much where I'm headed.

Thanks.

Why would God be pissed at you? I mean, any more than God would be pissed at me?

[SPKrazy]

3. I'm just guessin'

based on how things keep turning out that I must have done something to piss God off, or something.

I'm not really believing what I'm writing, but there is a part of me that does... that guilty "God's gonna get you" part of me there that says that kind of thing.

I don't know if God is pissed at you... maybe we're both up the creek without a paddle and it's raining pretty hard out now.

:hi:

[Critters2]

4. "Suffering in this life is a sign of election to the next"

Someone famous, male, and Protestant said in the 16th Century (might have been Calvin, might have been Bullinger--my brain is full of Christian environmentalism right now).

Or, my favorite...God never gives us more than we can handle, but I wish God didn't have quite so much confidence in me.

Really, Jesus said the rain falls on the just and the unjust. Which is a fancy, long-winded way of saying "shit happens". And that's been my experience.

I'm pretty sure God loves you. At the very least, I'm quite fond of you. FWIW.

[SPKrazy]

5. well thanks for your kind words

I appreciate it

shit happens is the truth, just sometimes wonder why it happens all at once

i guess we reap what we sow and I must not have been paying close enough attention to what and how I was sowing things

:pals:

[Critters2]

6. It really doesn't last forever. I've known times when I thought it would

but it didn't.

And then there's this...:hug:

Now I've got a presentation to organize. My goal is to basically not look like a complete ass.

Wish me luck!

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Too bad it's tomorrow - I recommend Larry Rasmussen's "Earth Community, Earth Ethics"

Brilliant book by a brilliant ethicist and one of my favorite ever professors.

But, since you can't do that, you have a few ways to go to talk about stuff.

Talk about basic stewardship - the earth, all creation, is God's, given to us to TEND, not destroy; to USE, but not to kill. So there's the whole basic "don't pollute, tread the earth lightly" stuff: recycling, reusing, etc. are part of this.

Also Christian justice - environmental justice - that we're not only hurting God's creation when we fuck it up, we're not loving our neighbors when we send acid rain on them, or displace the native people who don't need electricity to build the Itaipu dam for people who want more electricity; or that landfills, nuclear waste dumps, and other waste products are situated in poor and defenseless areas. As an example, in NYC, six of the seven bus depots (for the public buses) are in Harlem, because rich people don't want diesel exhaust in their neighborhoods. The big water treatment plant is in Harlem (139th street) because if they brought it down 20 blocks, the city would have been fighting millionaire professors, businessmen, psychologists, etc. who would have made sure it never got built opposite Columbia University.

Environmental racism is part of the environmental justice as well. For example, most of our nuclear waste sites or on or near Indian Reservations.

Environmental justice also includes the way we purchase stuff: are we purchasing over-packaged crap we don't need, which will end up in someone else's backyard when it breaks/gets tossed because we're bored with it? Who's air got polluted shipping the fucking thing around?

I've done seminars on environmental justice from a Christian perspective and like to use the life of a straw to illustrate the point of how much pure fucking waste is involved in creating, shipping, and using something that is utterly unnecessary. I start with "straws are made from plastic; plastic comes from oil - so let's go all the way back to the ore that has to be mined to make the machinery that makes the pumps that pump the oil from the ground... and the ships that ship it... and the refineries that refine it... and the machinery to make the saws that cut down the trees that are used to make the paper the straw is wrapped in ... the ink for the paper... the boxes for the straws.... the bigger boxes for the smaller boxes... the wood for the pallets, the plastic for the shrink wrap on the pallet... the oil used to ship the shit all over the place (e.g., for McDonald's, from the factory, to a major distribution center, to a smaller distribution center, to a smaller one, and then to the individual McDonald's where you pick it up, throw away the paper, use it once, then throw it away where it sits in a landfill for the rest of eternity, just because you're too lazy to sip out of a cup). It really opens up eyes -- a whole world of industry and waste is required just to make something that has no viable function in the world and is an ethically bankrupt product, used by rich people, and all the while the poor kids in the third world countries are wondering why all the smoke and pollution is in the air and a plastic tube ends up buried in their land because it's cheaper to ship it to their country and bury it then it is to bury it in our own backyard.

You can do it!

[Critters2]

8. Good ideas, all

My brother was on a task force on environmental racism for the Presbyterian Church several years ago, and is real involved in such issues. I've got tons of books he's sent me, and have been reading them voraciously for the last week or more--did some research on my week of vacation. So, I really feel like I can do this, but I'm going to have to admit I'm no expert.

The straw thing is a great idea! I was planning on talking about the waste of transporting items great distances, recycling, etc. That brings it together really well! I will steal it. Thanks!

I'll also talk about buying local produce, which really is a passion of mine. In fact, the more I work on this, the more I realize I know. I don't know the theory behind it all, but I know that I use cfls, recycle, drive as little as possible, even wear shoes made partly of recycled plastics (and they're not completely ugly. here--okabashi.com). I just need to explain why, and organize it all. And talk about God.

I can do this. I can do this.



:scared:

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. And if you do the straw thing as a question and answer, it takes longer!

And they learn more.

It's only an hour - it will go quickly.

And then do some personal testimony - "I do these things because as a Christian, I feel it is my duty and responsibility to be good to the earth, and to my neighbors, and to always think when purchasing or using something, 'how is this loving my neighbor'?".

That would be mine, anyway - yours might be different.

[Critters2]

10. Stretching! Most important!

Well, I've printed out stuff from the NCC Eco-Justice Program, the Evangelical Climate Initiative, the Conference of Bishops, even the Greek Orthodox Church. I'm gonna let the dog out, and sit on my back porch, poring over it all. Until the rains come. Then I'll do it on the sofa. The same way I write my sermons.

So, thanks! Have a good evening! I'll let you know how it goes!

[Chan790]

11. Not to pry...

but what religion? I may be able to help as I took 2 semesters of environmentally-oriented theology as part of a Environmental Health minor I abandoned.

I'd have to go digging for notebooks and citations...and being as it was a Catholic college it's going to be Catholic from point A to B. Along those lines St. Francis of Assisi references are your friend. That's the basis of Franciscanism as a catholic social movement. Environmentalism and stewardship, communing with nature. Actually it's been lost to time but initially being a Franciscan meant being a vegan. Period...no flexibility. They didn't call it that (they didn't call it anything actually to my recollection) but it was one of the rules of the order. No animal products, nothing which destroyed nature, nothing which interfered with "seeing God" in nature.

[Critters2]

12. I'm UCC, but I'm trying to do it as broadly as possible

And I have been looking at Catholic Resources. I started at the USCCB site, and followed links. Oh, and I knew that about Francis. I belong to the Christian Vegetarian Association, and many there are HUGE fans of Francis.

On edit...any help would be appreciated. I'm going to be offline for a while, but will check back either later or early tomorrow morning. Thanks for any thoughts!

[Chan790]

14. Some help...

I went through my notes and I didn't find much of interest, mostly on Aquinas (representative of the anti-nature camp of Catholic thinkers), Francis, Augustine (Somewhere in the middle), and Bonaventure (Nature as the pre-fall state of man to which he desires to return.)

Not much help there, as I have only my class-notes.

I remembered having to read a lot of H. Paul Santmire, an ecological theologist from Wellsley College in MA. I found one article which might be of use: http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2944

Sorry I couldn't come up with more.

[Midlodemocrat]

13. Are you doing a powerpoint?

If you are, google some images and paste them into the presentation. Takes up valuable time.

[Blue-Jay]

15. I'm shocked!

[Critters2]

16. It went really well.

I was originally worried about stretching it to an hour. By the time my research was done, the challenge was keeping it under an hour!! There is some good info out there. I especially like the concept of "Green Congregations", and will encourage mine in this direction. www.webofcreation.org

The most interesting thing was that there was so much good info at Evangelical environmental sites. This is clearly because, unlike the rest of us, they have to convince a lot of skeptics. So, they've done their research and can refute the naysayers.
www.christiansandclimate.org
www.healthyfamiliesnow.org
www.creationcare.org

These, along with info from the IPCC, the NCC's Eco-Justice Program and some books and documents I had, made for a thorough and well-received presentation.

Yep, it went well.

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. But what about MY help?

:cry:

I'm glad it went well!!!!!

I was excited that, while traveling to see family back in Wiscoland, I had opportunity to chill out for the day with Norman Gottwald. WOW! FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

[pokerfan]

18. Plenty of quotes in this essay

http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1180

[Elidor]

19. That's what you call an expert, hehe

Someone talking about something they know little to nothing about. Hell, there are people on CNN with less qualifications than you. Don't worry. And you're in good hands with Rabrrrrrr. When he's not terrorizing innocent loungers with his Cthulhu impersonation, he's expounding at length on...environmental justice from a Christian perspective? I gotta go back and make sure I read that right.

My former business partner once got a job teaching Photoshop at a college. And the first thing he did was call me up and say, "Man, you've got to teach me Photoshop, pronto! I have class in two weeks!"