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We believe that care of our earth is a moral and spiritual imperative.
Our mission is
to celebrate the sacredness of all creation and to inspire and mobilize our
congregation to play a leadership role in building a just and sustainable
world.
The Sacred Earth Group is a fellowship of individuals who love God’s creation and wish to actively interconnect
it with their
spiritual journey. Over the past several years we have participated in
outdoor restoration activities, Earth Sunday worship services and the UCUCC
Elementary education program. We are a Greening Congregation and
participate in Community Supported Agriculture.
We began a new
initiative in 2007 to engage and inform our congregation about global
climate change, and to help individuals understand ways to make a
difference.
Sacred Earth Matters aims to provide useful tools to deal with these
pressing issues.
Join us -
We welcome new members who might be interested in working with us. We meet the
second Sunday of each month after the morning service, and often share a
light lunch.
Contact: Call Mary Ellen Smith (206)525-0494 or
E-mail MaryEllen.
Resources for learning more
Books
The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, 2006
Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert, 2006
Animals, Vegetables and Miracles by Barbara Kingsolver & Steven L.
Hopp, 2007
The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson, 2002
A Sacred Earth Matters
Book Review by Michael Clarke
E. O. Wilson is the
Pellegrino University Research Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in
Entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.
His preface in The Future of Life is an
imaginary letter to Thoreau. He thanks Thoreau for putting the environmental
ethic in place. He envisions an environmental Armageddon due to human
overpopulation and wasteful consumption. He thinks the situation is
desperate but there is hope that the “planetary killer” will mend its ways.
Wilson discusses the
multiple problems of habitat destruction, water shortages, invasion by
foreign species, and extinction of animals and plants. He emphasizes that
the environment is very important but economists and governments tend to
ignore numbers that count, such as the global population and the ecological
footprint, Defined as the average amount of land that a person needs for
food production, housing, water, waste absorption, etc.
Wilson also talks about
bacteria, tigers, trees, birds and the general effect of declining
biodiversity. He poses the question “How much is the Biosphere Worth?” The
greatest ongoing damage is the destruction of tropical forests. He points
out how many useful drugs and other products have been found in the tropical
forests such as the Amazon, yet these are being destroyed by logging and
ranching.
According to
Wilson, progress towards
global conservation will depend upon cooperation between three secular
stanchions of civilized existence, i.e. government, the private sector, and
science and technology. Non-government organizations such as World Wildlife
Fund and Nature Conservancy also play an extremely important part in
conservation together with cooperation with local people.
The book includes copious notes for each of the seven
chapters and a useful glossary.
Links to other websites
Of current interest
World Wildlife Fund, Earth
Hour
Carbon
Footprint, things you can do:
Seattle's Climate Action Now Website
Seattle
Times Climate Challenge Website
Carbon Conscious Consumers Blog
Phinney-Greenwood Climate Change Action Now Website
Suggestions from
New American Dream Website for how to make a difference.
Local
groups/news
Climate Dialogues - a
campaign of community learning and discussion that begins with small group
dialogues
Seattle Climate Action Now
Phinney Eco
Village - a local action group working on global warming issues
Energy
Seattle City Light
- Residential conservation programs a and service
Puget
Sound Energy - Conservation strategies
Energy Star - Information on
ratings and strategies
Research,
information global warming
Exploratorium -
Overview of climate change research
Climate Dialogues - A Citizens' Climate Briefing
Princeton Environmental Institute
- Carbon Migration Initiative
Commuting
Metro Transit's On-line Trip
Planner
Rideshare On-line - resources
for identifying people to share rides with
International Sustainability Institute - computer toolkit
Theological/
Faith perspectives
National Council of Churches - God's Earth is Sacred
National Council of
Churches - Eco-justice program
Earth Ministry home page
Calendars/Lectures
Earth Ministry's
Calendar of Events
Resource Venture's
Calendar of Events
The Collaborative on
Health and Environment - Calendar of Events
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