My Turn: A time for spirituality and a change for the good
Happy Easter, Happy Passover and a continued Ramadan Mubarak. How interesting is it that all three of these major religious holidays are based on the lunar calendar, and this year, they are all being celebrated around the same time.
Ramadan started on March 22 and will continue for the month (always celebrated in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar), Passover began on April 5 (always starting on the 15th day the month of Nisan, and Nisan is determined by the date of the Spring equinox. Easter is always celebrated on the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or after the Spring equinox.
With Christians, Jews and Muslims all focused on the sanctity of this time, let us take tis time to not only acknowledge the importance of these holidays to our “own people”, but acknowledge the shared spirituality to a universal call for environmental equality. Our Earth calls out to us each Spring “starting over… let’s get it better, it’s my rebirth!” Maybe its’s time to tie our faith and spirituality to sustainability causes too.
Environmental advocate, James Speth, says this: “I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science we could address these problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy. To deal with those we need a spiritual and cultural transformation – and we as scientists don’t know how to do that,”
Easter is a perfect time to reconnect with our Earth. As Christians who recognize the resurrection of Christ as an opportunity to be reborn, such is our springtime, that opportunity for our world to be reborn. If you keep up with any national or international news, you know that there was another earthquake in Pakistan-Afghanistan in March, earthquake in Turkey-Syria in February, and those are disasters that we cannot predict or are directly responsible for, but the severe weather throughout this year so far, we have played a part. Atmospheric rivers bringing alarming amounts of snow and rain to the West, and the unexplained psychotic weather patterns that we have experienced this “winter” are all patterns of climate change.
Climate change is real; the definition of climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates. According to NASA, human activity is the principal cause of climate change which really started with the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840) when we shifted to machine driven goods and activities. The rate of this change has accelerated just since 1950. In the past 800,000 years, through eight cycles of ice ages and warmer periods, the level of carbon dioxide had never risen above 300 parts per million. We currently boast of 419 parts per billion. At lowest levels, carbon dioxide bottomed out at 170 ppb, and oscillated from 170-300. It has been a steady increase since 1950. Sea level has risen 4 inches since January 1993; we lose 427 billion metric tons of ice sheets per year.
Can we address the issues of selfishness, greed and apathy? The easiest answer is to place blame on corporations of powers bigger than we are. But we as consumers fuel this machine. Be aware of you purchases; purchase with purpose and support sustainable companies. Plant trees that will aid in carbon dioxide absorption. Before more virgin land is bulldozed for growth, insist that properties that have lost their prior popularity (the unsightly, abandoned ones) be the first to be redeveloped and invest in renewal of these areas. We can do better. We must be the mindful stewards of the only community that we actually can influence, Gaston County.
May this holy season be one of renewed commitment to faith, spirit and commitment.
Nan Kirlin is recycling coordinator for Gaston County.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Spring can be a time of spiritual renewal and environmental change
