In honor of Earth Day, we’re re-sharing our 10 Day Go Green series (we’ve changed the name to 10 Days to Reducing Waste and Promoting Eco-Friendly Living since it isn’t New Year’s anymore.) If you’ve already signed up, we encourage you to ask three friends to sign up.
We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.
One small way to do this is to reduce trash.
This initiative is one of many for the sisters. In the past, we’ve engaged in climate marches, bee-keeping, monarch butterflies, and various other initiatives to honor and preserve the Earth. We have also approved a Corporate Stance on Climate Change on behalf of all five congregations.
“We have heard, read, and seen the impact of climate change on the environment, human society, the community of life, and Earth’s systems,” the OPSCC Justice Committee, which is comprised of sister representatives from each congregation, wrote in a letter.
“It has been challenging to learn about the negative changes in our weather patterns, the acidification of the oceans, the rising sea levels as glaciers and ice sheets shrink, and increasingly violent storms.”
“We witnessed the suffering of many in the community of life as a result of displacement, disease, loss, oppression, and domination.”
The Committee notes that a corporate stance is “an important step in unifying our efforts and voices in the work of climate justice.”
They write, “This corporate stance binds us, individually and corporately, to make decisions that protect our environment, to take actions that make our daily lives less harmful to the environment, and to invite others to understand that protection of Earth systems are essential for insuring a healthy planet for future generations.”