Getting Ready for Earth Day

Picture courtesy of godspacelight.com

Godspace has created a list of resources that are helpful when preparing for Earth Day. There is a list of books related to creation and gardening, garden liturgy, and other web pages that contain Earth Day resources related to different faiths and spirituality. Click here to read the full list.

Godspace

Picture courtesy of godspacelight.com

Godspace is an invitation to create a pathway to a more vital whole-life faith. Created by Christine Sine, the website grew out of her passion for creative spirituality, gardening, and spirituality. She aims to inspire followers of Jesus to develop creative approaches to spirituality that intertwine the sacred through all of life. To read more on Godspace, click here.

EcoSikh Seed Plan

Picture courtesy of ecosikh.org

The EcoSikh Seed Plan is 5 year plan to cultivate practices, inspire on-the-ground action, address issues all communities face, and celebrate the ways in which being Sikh is being green. To read the entire Seed Plan, click here.

EcoSikh

Picture courtesy of ecosikh.org

EcoSikh is a response from the Sikh community to the threats of climate change. Their mission is to connect Sikh values, beliefs, and institutions to the most important environmental issues facing the world. They honor their Gurus’ wisdom by believing that all humans have an intrinsic sensitivity to the natural world, and that a sustainable, more just society is possible. To read more about Eco Sikh, click here.

A Meditation on Psalm 8

Picture courtesy of http://operationnoah.org/

A Meditation on Psalm 8 is a Bible study from Operation Noah. It describes the scripture as a song of praise to God the Creator. To read the entire Bible study, click here.

The Worship of Nature

Picture courtesy of poetryfoundation.org/

The Worship of Nature is a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier published in 1867. The poem describes nature and forests as a holy place and Whittier makes a comparison to it being an altar. He describes the winds as hymns of praise and the blue sky as the temples arch. To read the entire poem, click here.

A Buddhist Perspective on the Eco-Crisis from David Loy

Picture courtesy of scienceandnonduality.com

This short video consists of David Loy discussing the Buddhist perspective on the Eco-crisis. He begins to describe anata, the belief that all things are constantly changing and there can be no such thing as a permanent self, and dukkha, which is the idea that human experience is short-lived and suffering results from excessive desire.  These ideas come together to describe the Buddhist idea that there is no “self”. Loy says that, “our sense of self is usually haunted by a sense of lack.” This sense of lack and false sense of “self,” create issues for people that can be related to consumerism, the Eco-crisis, and more. To watch the entire video, click here.

RENEW International

Picture courtesy of renewintl.org

RENEW International is a Roman Catholic ministry organization that fosters spiritual renewal by empowering individuals and communities to encounter God in everyday life, deepen and share faith, and connect faith with action. To read more about RENEW International, click here.

Religion and Environment Songs: Hey World (Don’t Give up) by Micheal Franti & Spearhead

Image result for michael franti and spearhead

Picture courtesy of michaelfranti.com

Song Picks by Natalie

Hey World (Don’t Give Up) is a song by Micheal Franti & Spearhead. In this song he describes many of the problems that the world faces. He begins by saying:

“Tell me why the grass was greener,
Years ago, I swear, it used to grow here,
But no more here.”

“Tell me why on this hill,
All the birds they used to come to fly here,
Come to die here.”

I think that is him talking about the decline of our environment and how quickly it is going downhill. He then says:

“And tell me why it’s okay to kill in the name of the Gods we pray”

He also talks about war in this song which I think is part of what he means by this lyric, but I also think that they are talking about the earth. They are asking why people think that it is okay to kill what God has given us, which includes nature like the grass and birds described earlier in the song.

To read the lyrics of this song, click here.

To listen to this song, click here.