Some bright ideas for Earth Day
Sometimes I think I'm a bad daughter-I'm often too busy to think much about my mother and I'm certainly too busy to call home more than a couple of times a month. But I suppose my own mother is lucky for getting a call every couple of weeks.
Mother Earth may only hear from her kids once a year on Earth Day, celebrated throughout much of the world on April 22. On this day we broaden the interpretation of the 4th Commandment to "Honor your father and mother" and remember the earthy mater who cradles all creation in her arms.
As Catholics, we are especially called to care for creation, and we have our own St. Francis of Assisi as a Catholic environmental role model. Fortunately the ways we wayward children can get in touch with good ol' Earth Mom are extensive. Below you'll find plenty of resources for stopping to smell the roses-and maybe even delivering a few-this Earth Day.
Here are some websites to make you more aware of how the Mother that sustains your physical well-being is connected to the Father who gives you your daily bread:
Introduction to Catholic Environmental Justice
Whatever happened to Catholic environmentalists?
Catholic Education Resource Center: Environment
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Environmental Justice Program
Catholic Coalition on Climate Change
The National Religious Partnership for the Environment
Remind your friends and family to take some time to stop and smell the roses this Earth Day.
Get your pastor involved in the campaign for a greener world
Winter is melting away and Spring is in the air. If the nicer weather is beckoning you out-of-doors, take advantage of these Earth Day activities or find some others in your area.
The Green Apple Music Festival
Get Outside to Celebrate Earth Day
R-E-C-Y-C-L-E, find out what it means to me!
U.S. Environment Protection Agency: Recycle City
Lying under a tree in the park is probably the best way to appreciate these books.
Ten Commandments for the Environment
Saving Creation: Nature and Faith in the Life of Holmes Rolston III
A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet's Future
The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time
The future of the Earth depends on the kids of today, so engage young minds and encourage them to be eco-conscious with these resources.
Teaching kids to protect the Earth
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Kids PageComments (4)
Praying for Holly Maddux
By Jerry on Thursday, April 23, 2009Each Earth Day we should say a prayer for Holly Maddux who was murdered by a lead organizer of the first Earth Day, Ira Einhorn.
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2002/08/14/einhorn/index1.html
Please don't treat this site as a townhall franchise
By Kevin Clarke on Friday, April 24, 2009I presume you are somehow attempting to mock and/or at least tarnish environmentalism by associating it with this megalomaniac and this terrible crime. The Einhorn-Earth Day connection is a right-wing agit-prop hoax that has long been debunked though I see it is being deployed this week by "journalists" and bloggers all over the net. Repeat a lie often enough I guess . . .
Please see: http://www.edfdad.addr.com/eday.jpg
or
http://www.amgot.org/einhorn/eday.htm
or
From http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2002/10/18/einhorn/index.html
<<Einhorn's case was seriously undermined at the end of the trial when
the prosecution brought in one last rebuttal witness, a psychiatrist
named Donald Nathanson. Einhorn, during his testimony the day before,
had spoken at length about his '60s-era protest activities in an effort
to make the case that powerful interests may have had an interest in
setting him up on a murder rap. One of his claims was that he had been
the organizer of the 1970 Earth Day protest, and in fact had been the
event's MC in Philadelphia.
But
Nathanson, who said he had been on the organizing committee for Earth
Day, testified that the committee had barred Einhorn from their
discussions, considering him a nuisance. There was no MC, Nathanson
said, and Einhorn's only role at the event had been as a liaison with
poet and featured speaker Allen Ginsberg. But, Nathanson said, Einhorn
didn't merely introduce Ginsberg -- he "commandeered the stage,"
speaking "incoherently" for half an hour and refusing repeated requests
to leave and let the program continue. It was devastating testimony,
and the defense offered no evidence to counter it.>>
Measures of Character
By Jerry on Friday, April 24, 2009I linked Salon, not Townhall.
I understand why after the Maddux murder, Earth Day Organizers want to disassociate Einhorn from Earth Day. Whether or not Einhorn was a co-founder, he was deeply involved in the movement. That, of course, does not discredit our call for responsible stewardship. However, it is a reminder of the twisted morality in many elite circles that promote debauchery, but think the standard of goodness is whether you recycle and use a shampoo not tested on animals.
Education and intelligence, while of course desireable, are also frequently linked with goodness. (He is a good boy...the proof?...he get's straight A's.) The Nazi's were intelligent, educated folks who wrote strong laws protecting animals. While in itself there is no harm in having kids pick up trash, society is fooling itself that it can have a Godless culture that will survive on the merits of caring for the environment.
Scaring Children with extreme Environmentalism
By Jerry on Wednesday, April 22, 2009There can be wonderful opportunities for Earth Day such as teaching kids to pick up garbage. However, it is harmful that as a society we are banning the word "Easter" from school and replacing it with Godless holidays such as Earth Day. Today is a good day to recall the extreme predictions of the first earth day in 1970. Somehow, life has continued despite the dire warnings of impending doom by 1980 or 1990. http://www.ihatethemedia.com/earth-day-predictions-of-1970-the-reason-yo... The scaremongering continues. Due to left wing indoctrination in schools, one in three childen from 6-11 fear the earth won't exist when they grow up. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/kids-worry-about-environment.php I teach my kids to be grateful for lving in the world of today.
