“For thousands of years the people who lived across North America understood that if you destroy the earth, you destroy yourself,” (Philip, xv). As the golden light filters through the fall maple leaves and wonderous fungi break the surface for a few days – we see nature is not stagnant but living and breathing in cycles all its own. The earth is awash in fall with the beauty and majesty – and yet it also is crying. Watersheds continue to be polluted as protections are rolled back, the air is full of smog and other pollutants as we slow our transition to cheap and effective energy, and plastics liter the landscape seeping their refuse into the ground for generations to come. We are destroying the earth and it is destroying us.
And yet… we also see hope as well. Many of us recognize the harm we are causing and are working to change our own habits while changing the practices and policy of our communities. Scripture reminds us that we are called to be stewards of the rest of God’s Creation because we are not separate from Creation – but a part of it. When we destroy Creation, we do destroy ourselves. Bu when we heal Creation, we heal ourselves as well.
Philip, Leila. Beaver Land: How One Weird Rodent Made America.
