Earth Day 2020

Tomorrow-April 22-is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Originally, it was designed to provide environmental education. 

   As a person of faith, I am mindful that: "God saw everything that he made, and indeed, it was very good." (Genesis 1:31) God also gave humankind a huge privilege and responsibility: "...have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." The word "dominion" however does not mean thoughtless abuse and exploitation of God's creation without thinking about the consequences of our actions. No! Rather, "dominion" is better understood as thoughtful, respectful stewardship of God's creation: realizing that we human beings are all connected with and dependent upon God's creation. In destroying God's creation, we are destroying ourselves. In living a more environmentally-friendly life, God's creation will be sustained and continue to be life-giving. 

   There are many practical things we can do to celebrate Earth Day. Here are a few:

1. Offer God a prayer and/or song of praise and thanksgiving for the tremendous beauty of God's creation.

2. Go for a walk or run or bike ride-and remember to practice social/physical distancing of 2 metres. While you're walking, running or riding bike, look for different species of birds, animals, and plants, and enjoy their beauty.

3. Weather permitting, have a picnic in your back yard or some other favourite place-again mindful of social/physical distancing. 

4. Clean up your yard or, while walking, running or bike riding, stop to pick up garbage, bottles, etc. 

5. Recycle as many of your household items as possible. 

6. Avoid driving your car, truck, motorcycle, etc. 

7. Keep educating yourself about some aspect of God's creation-biology, physics, chemistry, etc. 

8. If you're an artist or photographer, draw, paint or photograph God's creation. 

9. Enjoy the sunrise and/or sunset.

10. At the end of the day, offer God another prayer and/or song of praise and thanksgiving for the gift of life today.

Happy Earth Day!