Earth Day 2010

April 22, 2010

Today is the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day. I was in Kansas City Missouri on April 22, 1970. Little did I know that my ordination to the priesthood that had been set 6 months earlier by Bishop Spears for April 27th 1970 would occur only 5 days after the date that has really defined my ministry for 40 years. Thus this is a big week for me – 40 years is one of those Biblical numbers that means a long time – Moses in the wilderness for 40 years; Jesus in the desert for 40 days – in both cases we really have no way of knowing the exact amount of time but the round number 40 essentially means an extended period of time has passed. It is hard to believe 40 years have come and gone in the blink of an eye and yet upon closer examination a whole lot has transpired in this ‘long amount of time.’ Throughout the course of this epistle which will run for a short time, three years, these 40 years of mine will be unpacked in a variety of ways. However, there is one little fact I forgot to mention about this week.

To make the week even more special, April 20th is my 25th Wedding Anniversary. Katy and I were married at St. Matthew’s Church in Pacific Palisades California two and half decades ago.

Anniversary dates are important to honor. Reflection upon each has prompted me to affirm the importance of family, career, and community (in the broadest sense of the word). A wedding is not just the joining of two individuals but the union of families, mutual friends, shared singly and then corporately, and broader interests that each bring to the marriage. If we do marriage right then we maintain our unique individual characters but learn to grow with the wisdom and strong qualities of one’s spouse and children, if they may be. Marriage is never just about two people but an always widening circle. In essence, marriage is always becoming something else when done correctly.

Reflecting on a 40 year career is fun – 1970 to 2010. It has been a good ride; yet increasing frustration with the institutional church has demanded a re-look at some of the common practices of my Christian religion. Today, by many of the so-called self described ‘moral majority’ (which is neither) or the disturbingly descriptive words ‘religious right’ (which is neither) my whole understanding of how we are to proclaim Christ’s message to the world has been changed. Today, I find myself having to defend my religion against those who claim they are Christians for many have so distorted it that it does nor resemble what I studied in seminary and have practiced for 40 years.

Now we here preached that Christianity, which has always been inclusive and embracing, is basically a club with membership selected by a few. Not only that, they address as their platform two issues that are hot button issues, abortion and homosexuality, neither of which are either in the 10 Commandments or the teachings of Jesus – no where to be found – period - and yet you would think Jesus was railing against these folks daily and that Moses and the law was patently anti-homosexual. Even the passages from Paul, who was a mere mortal like all of us, are ambiguous at best.

Romans 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthian 6:9 place homosexuality alongside so many other issues that no one, that is right, not one of us make the grade. Isolating homosexual behavior is an abomination on face value.

Where is the voice on Earth Day? A few gestures to recycle, drive a Prius, bye recycled, and eat lower on the food chain are not getting the job done and the voice of the church is still.

Too often the voice of the church is emasculated by the culture. Afraid to lose the financial base of generosity which pays the salaries and the upkeep, clergy modify the intensity of their religious message to accommodate the culture; rather than speaking against culture which is what is asked for by Christ. Stand against the prevailing mindset and you are somehow branded un-American, or worse a heretic; yet, the heresy is clearly in the distortion of the gospel and the message of Christ. He was always for fairness, justice, the rights of the poor, the protection of the natural world (his parables were always right out of the book of nature), and the marginalized. Time to get back to the basics!

And…how to preserve creation, the community within which all animal, vegetable and mineral have their being- that is the theological issue of any day. The chemical soup we pour into our environment damages all in creation. The ruach elohim, the breath of God no longer can be called clean; thus we contaminate our temple with every breath- etc. etc. etc. We know the truth but do not want to hear its implications.

I celebrated this day at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria Virginia by introducing the 3rd Annual Speaker at the Kreitler Environmental Lectures created in memory of my parents. Bill Baker, head of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation spoke of the importance of saving the bay. He was right. If we do not save the bay we lose a huge indicator region of the planet that is biologically diverse and essential to the over-all well being of millions. That’s good – non-profits seeking to preserve God’s creation. Time for the churches to join hands with the environmental community every day of every year.

None of My Business

Engaged, meaningful conversation is often hard to come by at social gatherings called ‘cocktail parties.’ An excuse to drink for many, reconnect with old friends for others, and for me a chance to engage someone for the sake of gaining new insights or information, justifies my attendance. However, wading through inane superficial conversation is an art form designed as a way to get to substance. Yes, we all entertain ourselves too much with trivia, superficial conversations and irrelevant chatter as the world around us implodes.

Years ago a friend who sired 5 children was critical of large un-educated families across the globe as to the cause of so many problems. Right on the idea of there being too many of us, but let’s look a little deeper. I know many of us have entered that often combative arena of discussion on occasion – so let’s honestly assess the impact of children on the already over-burdened planet. Being the devils advocate with a collar on is a pastime of great pleasure, and I informed him that he might want to temper his anger in the light of the fact that a child raised in America will consume anywhere from 3 to 75 times the earth’s resources of a poor child in developing nation during the course of a lifetime. In other words, criticize the family of 375 children in Ethiopia; or 9 children in Japan – representing the two ends of the scale that I am referencing. His five children, my three, and your…..? are disproportionately using up the resources of the planet by many factors because of our consume – discard way of living.

Discussing population is contentious at best; especially with Catholics and their rigid stance on this issue. The old saying still seems to hold; ‘no one has the right to tell me to give birth or not, no one” – …and if I can afford kids I can have as many as we want.” Au contraire – we have over-shot the carrying capacity of the planet by two-fold, much less the caring capacity by billions, not millions, on this planet and it is time to take responsibility for our birthing practices.

Time for reason to prevail – we have limited space and the infinite capacity to procreate. We are diminishing the earth’s resources currently faster than they can be replenished and we see billions more coming to join us in the years ahead. Catholic hierarchy, Muslim mullahs, corporate capital executives not withstanding; archaic thinking about birth rites and birth control compromises the very promise we give to a newborn. As I lifted thousands of children in the air at baptism my personal prayer for each was a healthy, happy and fulfilling life. When I began doing this in 1970, ironically the date of the first Earth Day was 5 days prior to my ordination to the priesthood, my words had a ring of authenticity to them. Now I baptize with trepidation that the promise of a healthy life can not be attained because of the world into which a young child ventures today. Already we read of touching stories emerging daily from the reality of Lagos Nigeria, or the Sahel, or many degrading parts of the planet that millions of our fellow parents agonize over the suffering of their children; in part, because there are two many of us and what we have is no longer capable of sustaining a quality of life.

The collapse of Haiti brought home to all of us the dire circumstances of millions because of unchecked growth where infrastructure has collapsed.

The UNESCO Director General Sir Julian Huxley in his annual report wrote: “Somehow or other population must be balanced against resources or civilization will perish.” This was penned in 1993 - 17 years ago; about the same time global consciousness was reaching the pinnacle of environmental awareness.

Remember, the Earth Summit was just the year before in June of 1992 and the Union of Concerned Scientists gave their concise Warning to Humanity in November of the same year. “No more than one or two decades remain before the chance to avert the threats we now confront will be lost and the prospects for humanity immeasurably diminished.”

Let’s see two decades: 1992 – 2002 and then 2002 – 2012. Their warning coincided with the end of 2012. There is that interesting year once again.

Back to the subject few wish to address – population. The question is perhaps how to make all these numbers like 7500 new mouths every hour, 180,000 per day, or 75 million a year hit home? Dr. Malcolm Potts, Berkeley professor and expert on population, poured a bag of rice on our table on the set of EarthTalk Today and said this is how many people join us every 3 hours. Ouch!

Yet, many in this country say I’ve had my kids, not much I can do about it now. Au contraire: dialogue with the next generation must include a discussion of how many children they would consider bringing into the world. Hard discussion, indeed and still many bristle at the thought of population control or even the suggestion that it is anyone’s business but the couples. I recently had a stern look on my face when they announced their 30 year old daughter just gave birth to her fourth child. They were delighted, I was mystified how intelligent thoughtful families do not see the connection; or am I just an old grouch?

No longer will the earth tolerate an attitude that says I can afford 5 kids so it is my right to bring them into the world. Nor can we justify tax breaks for more children – frankly, we should penalize past two and heavily increase the penalty as the #’s increase. Putting an economic disincentive to work, in addition to sex education, parent education, family education beginning at age 5, and media attention to exploding populations might begin to make us aware of our wanton disregard for common sense. Birth control education, dissemination, and validation does no harm and lots of good and should be a part of every school curriculum across the globe beginning at age 5.

A few years ago Alexandra and I hosted Bob Gillespie, population expert and Michael Tobias, documentary film maker par excellence on Earth Talk Today. Their fascinating footage from around the globe offered hope. The highlights were where they showed the empowering of women and the giving them access to education and birth control had made a huge difference in the quality of life in developing nations. Ironically, US nemesis Iran has one of the most progressive family planning programs on the planet.

Population growth is the key environmental issue because it is the cause of most of the problems we face on the planet, including climate change, resource depletion, and refugees looking for a place to call home. To whom the child is born, and into what type of culture and physical setting determines what Mathis Wackernagel and others define as the ecological footprint. Yours and mine is the size of the basketball giant Shaq O’Neal; whereas an African adults footprint is the size of our infants at birth. This is a clear visual image of our consumptive lifestyles impact.

Limiting population matters, especially in rich countries like ours. You may take some heat for even broaching the subject, but I can provide facts if you give me a call.

Too Many People Not Enough Dirt

April 9, 2010

My maternal grandfather was born 100 years after our Independence from England. Born in 1876, Pop married Nana around the turn of the 20th century. As the year 2000 rolled around, 100 years later our eldest daughter Jennifer married Mark. In those 100 years between marriages 5 billion people joined the human family.

100 years does not seem such a long time when I knew both grandparents who married around 1900. What will our fragile island home resemble after the addition of another 5000 million or more folks? Some statisticians estimate a 12-14 billion aggregate population total in 100 years; each seeking a quality of life that only ¼ of the world population have today – and that does not even account for the challenges we face with climate change of even the smallest estimation of impact.

Ironically economic systems based on limitless growth want more people to feed their machine. Sadly, leaders of large religious families promote population growth to enhance their numbers; Catholic bishops deny birth control to even the neediest among us and seemingly glorify large families. Fundamentalists across the religious spectrum build arguments for increasing their numbers. (Reminds me of the tribes of Israel competing against the large civilizations of the Middle East 2000 years ago while advocating against certain sexual practices because the seed of life was being spilled and they desperately needed to increase their numbers.)

Yet we remain silent or mutter under our breaths at cocktail parties. Are we destined to keep our heads in the sand on this issue? Not to decide is to decide and we clam up in the face of religious leaders who claim direct communication with the ‘higher realm of authority.’ This is nuts. Humans have become the cancer of the planet.

Thus, at the root of most of the earth’s ills is the age old human response; denial, coupled with antiquated religious concepts and arcane economic polities and we are like the toast forgotten in the toaster – burnt. Putting the issue of population on the back burner is suicide; and according to many and scripture, that is not a good idea.

By all accounts, and by human rights standards, we are unable to sustain our population of 6.9 billion today at a level any of us would find acceptable. And yes, it is ok to foster reasonable family planning opportunities for all. If we choose not to we will bury ourselves under our own weight.

Was the Malthusian hypothesis correct; just a little pre-mature? Was Erlich a little too early in his predictions? Call the Pope for starters, and get him to deal with the issue of human sexuality with an enlightened approach; just to get the ball rolling; and give him my best! Please!

Bye Bye Beef

April 2, 2010

I am writing today’s offering, epistle, blog, thoughts from someone beginning to see the beginning of the tunnel towards wisdom, at least if Dr. John Seeley’s testimony to wisdom accruing around the age of 75 is correct, in the form of a letter beginning appropriately Dear Friends.

Dear Friends,

Personal choices are what enables us to rise in the morning with a sense of hope and optimism. This country, under our flag authorized June 14, 1777, affirms that free choice is part of our DNA. Maintaining our right to choose is essential in maintaining our right to be free.

Through a personal process of discernment, and behavior modeled by others I respect, the consumption of beef, which is always based on choice, was eliminated from something I had to choose on a regular basis. For 20 years or so I have just said no. This has been one of the more interesting choices of my life. Branded un-American, vilified in my own extended family, and scorned by many I have watched in utter dismay as the proliferation of feed lots for cattle has expanded exponentially around the globe.

My dear friends are well aware of my not eating beef, yet when asked why and I lay out the facts of what raising cattle does to our planet and the future of our children, they continue to ignore what I have to say and continue to consume cattle in its varying forms.

At the same time, many engage me on environmental issues, and invariably ask what is the one thing an individual can do to make a difference? When I say ‘give up eating beef’ the response is usually, ‘wrong answer Peter, give me another.’ There is no other answer; period – save not having anymore children; which is really number one, but most of my friends at this point are past the children raising age.

Dear friends, we must say bye bye beef especially produced through the integrated system we call industrial agriculture. If you are reading this and live in California you can see this first hand on a drive between San Francisco and Los Angeles on Highway 5.

Take my word for it – no other single choice is as effective on beginning to heal our fragile island home than giving up the consumption of meat; beginning and most importantly with cattle. In addition, you might try almond milk instead of cow milk. Tasty, lactose free, and from almonds; this alternative is great on granola, almond milk or in protein shakes. It is often the little imperceptible changes in life that end up making the biggest difference.

Sincerely, and thanks,

Peter