St. James Presbyterian Climate Action Newsletter
Called by God to serve 8 billion people with a sustainable earth.
April 2023
For questions and suggestions, contact Maureen Kosa or Carla Shafer
“But ask the animal, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breadth of all humankind.”
Suggested Books and Articles:
Highlights from Susan Shain’s article
“How Central Ohio Got People to Eat their Leftovers”
in NYT January 1, 2023.
- Use leftover greens and veggies to make soup
- Compost
- Average US household wastes nearly a third of the food it buys
- When food rots in landfills, it generates methane
- Food waste is responsible for 2x as many greenhouse gas emissions as commercial aviation
- Tips: Shop with a list, freeze leftovers, and take smaller portions on your plate
Households “account for 39% of food waste in the United States, more than restaurants, grocery stores, or farms.
In Deep Waters: Spiritual Care for Young People in a Climate Crisis
by Rev. Talitha Amadea Aho
Talitha Amadea Aho serves as a pastor at Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland, California, where she is responsible for children’s and youth programming. “Climate change is creating a spiritual emergency that is hitting this generation of young people harder than any other.” This book will help us offer “ecologically informed spiritual care.”
Horizon by Barry Lopez
“We’re living in emergency times” is Barry Lopez’s dire warning. Read an excellent summary of an interview with Barry Lopez (prior to his death) in Edward Helmore’s article, “ ‘We’re living in emergency times’: nature writer Barry Lopez’s dire warning,” in The Guardian Tuesday 7 May 2019.
Video Recommendation:
Prepared by Maureen Kosa
Bill McKibben’s segment from PBS News Hour titled “A Brief But Spectacular Take on Working Together for Climate Action.” This can be found on U-Tube. McKibben discusses his new project called Third Act, describing how those of us over 60 can make a difference for climate action. There are 70 million people over the age of 60 in the US with 70% of America’s assets.
Action Items:
We recommend going to the website for RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, a nonprofit agency in Bellingham to find opportunities to support local, state, and federal legislation to protect the health of “northwestern Washington people and ecosystems through application of science, education, advocacy and action. Each week action items are listed, and it takes only a few minutes to click on a link to support these action items. (re-sources.org) For interested youth, a volunteer program called YEP! (Youth for the Environment and People) empowers high school students by giving them skills to help change the world.
Looking for submissions:
We would like to feature poetry and artwork around the theme of climate care! All ages are welcome to submit ideas. You may put submissions in the mailbox for Mission and Social Action or see one of our members for more information. We look forward to hearing from you.
Mission Social Action Committee Members: Maureen Kosa, Chair; Carol Dellecker, Ray Dellecker, Gretchen Pfueller, Amy Morriss. Claudia Allan, Patricia Harris, Gena Gustafson, Carla Shafer
Related reading for inspiration:
Psalm 100 Illuminated
Make the bark of the seal
deep from your abdomen
and feel vibrations of happiness—
Serve creation as if you are sunlight
radiating from the wingtip
of a soaring ring eyed gull—
Know your breath from its first intake
through release and all the ones that follow
and how even breath unremembered happens for you—
Know each fiber of your body
and the rhythm of your thoughts given only to you
freely and unconditionally—
Enter into the waters where salmon swim
in conversation with the Spirit, from which all is
made possible, with praise and song—
For you are blessed and this bounteous life you receive
unfolds renewable as the seasons in every seed, its bloom
and fruits, and every drop of rain revealed to you.
~Carla Shafer
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We are former members of St James now living in Prescott, AZ and attending Trinity Pres there. We are starting a garden at Trinity this year and in prep are reading and studying “Contemplative Gardening” by Pamela Dola. I strongly recommend it and “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer as well.
