OPINION |
As I observe Earth Day this year, I feel fearful at the peril God’s creation faces — but also hopeful that more people are answering his call to reverence his gift.
Genesis describes God as the source of creation. The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer says that “at God’s command, all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses and this fragile earth, our island home.”
Genesis says God gave humankind “dominion” or stewardship of his creation. And one day, he will ask us for an accounting of what we have done to protect and preserve it.
Clearly, we have work to do and little time to do it. Fortunately, people in Springfield are taking action.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, composed of respected scientists convened by the United Nations, reported this month that “climate change is affecting nature, people’s lives and infrastructure everywhere. Its dangerous and pervasive impacts are increasingly evident in every region of our world…, hindering efforts to meet basic human needs(,) and they threaten sustainable development across the globe.”
These impacts are evident in: extreme temperatures, powerful storms, melting ice and rising sea levels, animal and plant extinctions, disappearing coral and increasing numbers of people dying from heat, smog and disease.
And last year, in the United States alone, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, damage from floods, wildfires, drought and other weather and climate-related disasters totaled about $145 billion. These disasters are, NOAA said, becoming a “new normal.”
The UN Panel on Climate Change said that unless countries, in the next few years, slash emissions of coal, oil and natural gas and limit global warming to 1.1 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, the dangers of warming will increase, with worsening floods, droughts, wildfires and collapsing ecosystems.
Heeding this and earlier warnings, concerned people in Springfield and throughout Missouri are striving to save this fragile earth, our island home.
“I’m concerned about how we have taken control of nature,” says Louise Wienckowski, co-chair of the local White River Group of the Missouri Chapter of the Sierra Club. “Human beings think they have superior knowledge about what to do with nature. So many activities, so much development, have been damaging to the ecosystem….We’ve ‘paved paradise and put in a parking lot,’” she says, quoting the Joni Mitchell song.
Conservation is key
Renew Missouri, a nonprofit policy and educational group, is urging the Missouri legislature, municipalities and rural electric cooperatives to end dependency on fossil fuels; to shift to clean, renewable wind and solar energy; and to promote conservation.
Citing progress, Renew’s Executive Director James Owen says, “People don’t know how successful Missouri is in energy efficiency. Moving toward clean energy is something we excel at. Five years ago, 80 percent of Missouri power was generated by coal-fired plants; now it hovers above 50 percent.” He says 40 percent to 45 percent of City Utilities’ power comes from wind farms in Oklahoma and Kansas. “Wind is cheap and plentiful.”
Still, “there is no ideal way to make power.” He, therefore, encourages conservation and efforts to reduce the demand for power. How? Homeowners can use LED light bulbs and can put in new HVAC systems and energy-efficient doors and windows. My wife and I recently replaced the old, drafty doors and windows on our 1920s-era house with new energy-saving ones.
These measures lower utility bills, Owen says, increasing home values and helping the environment.
He says citizens can urge Springfield City Council to seek ways to promote efficiency and a reliance on electricity over fossil fuel, one way being to electrify city fleet vehicles and buses, as St. Louis and Kansas City have done, reaping savings on the costs of fuel, oil, maintenance and cycling out old vehicles.
Even so, according to Owen, “the best renewable energy is energy you don’t use.”
The local Sierra Club is working to protect Missouri’s “rivers, public lands and natural spaces,” according to Marisa Frazier, conservation program coordinator for the club’s Missouri Chapter.
‘Caring for creation and one another'
She says she is “divinely guided” in her work with the club. “The deeper I engage my spirituality, the more called I feel to protect the environment and people. It’s about caring for creation and one another, and a healthy environment means healthy people.”
Like Renew Missouri, the club is advocating for greater reliance on renewable energy, including solar. It is, for instance, lobbying for a bill in the legislature that would modify restrictive covenants to allow homeowners to install solar panels on their residences.
It is also urging City Council to revise antiquated residential and commercial building codes for greater energy efficiency, resulting in savings on utility bills. A proposed revision in the commercial code received its first reading at council on April 18. The club urges citizens to comment on the revision in writing or in person.
Promoting the enjoyment of nature, the club organizes members and others for hikes and, monthly, for collecting trash from South Creek and other streams. Kane Sheek, the chapter’s community organizer, refers interested people to the digital application, MeetUp, where they can learn about future activities of the group.
White River Group member Myra Scroggs, a retired high-school biology teacher, says she enjoys spring hikes in the Ozarks to see the wildflowers. “They’re old friends that you haven’t seen in a while.” She is involved in the club’s work “for my grandkids. I want them to enjoy the birds, wildflowers and waterfalls — the beauty of nature. It’s a religious experience of God’s creation.”
Every day should be Earth Day, one for reverencing God’s creation, a day when we, his stewards, strive to protect and preserve this fragile earth, our island home.
