Reflections on Earth Day
Pathways Church, A Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Southlake, Texas
The Rev. Kathryn A Schmitz
April 20, 2008
If the world is to be healed through human efforts,
I am convinced it will be by ordinary people,
people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear.
People who can open to the web of life that called us into being.
Joanna Macy (American Ecologist, Eco-Philosopher, 1929-)
Story before the Sermon: Giving Thanks by Chief Jake Swamp
Meditation: Rev. Katherine Jesch, based on Joanna Macy’s “Guidelines for Living.”
In life, like a garden. there are seeds to be sown, … and the harvest is ours to keep.
The harvest is ours to keep. (words from song before the sermon, If I Planted a Garden, by Sally Deford)
What is the harvest that you would reap? What seeds will you plant to grow it?
These are the questions before us.
What is the harvest that you would reap? What seeds will you plant to grow it?
The Map (adapted) from one hundred Wisdom Stories from around the world by Margaret Silf (page 92)
A story: One Saturday morning, a father was trying to keep his children entertained, but he wasn’t having too much success. It was a rainy day, and the children were getting bored.
But the man was inventive, and suddenly he had an idea. He took down a magazine from the shelf and opened it up, looking through it until he found a map of the world printed on one page. He tore this page out of the magazine, and proceeded to cut it up with scissors into small pieces. Then he jumbled up all the pieces and placed them in a pile on the floor, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
Then he set his two young sons the task of putting the map together again, thinking that this would keep them quiet for a good long time. He left them with it and went off to make himself a cup of coffee.
Imagine his amazement, therefore, when five minutes later he came back to find the map neatly and accurately put back together again.
‘How did you manage to put it back together again so quickly?” he asked them, taken aback by their skill.
‘Oh, it was easy,’ the younger boy replied. ‘You told us it was a map of the world, and when we looked at the pieces, at first we didn’t know where to begin to sort it all out. It seemed impossible. But then we realized that there was a picture of a man on the other side, so we just put the man back together again. When we turned it over, the world had come back together again as well!’
‘Yes, Dad,’ chimed in the other brother. ‘It’s ever so easy. If you put the man right, the world is OK.’
If you put the man right, the world is OK.
If only it were ever so easy.
But I do think it’s on track. I am reminded of the slogan currently in use by the Unitarian Universalist Association, or UUA, in fact I have a bumper sticker of it, “Nurture Your Spirit, Help Heal Our World.”
What are the seeds that you would sow that would nurture your spirit and help heal our world?
Today, because Earth Day is this week, I’d like to imagine together what it would be like to if we were to try to sow seeds that will be yield a peaceful, just, and sustainable future for this pretty planet…spinning through space.
Because as Unitarian Universalists we affirm the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all
Because as Unitarian Universalists we affirm respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.
In life, like a garden. there are seeds to be sown, … and the harvest is ours to keep.
What is the harvest that you would reap? What seeds will you plant to grow it?
If we want the world to be OK, we start by putting the people right. How do we do that?
What are the seeds that you would so that would nurture your spirit and help heal our world?
One seed I would plant is impact recognition, we could call it responsibility.
We need to understand our impact on the world if we are to put ourselves right.
We need to understand our impact if we are to take responsibility for ourselves.
We need to understand our impact and beware of the possibility of unintended consequences.
Because while in a real garden, planting a daisy will always get you a daisy, in real life the seeds we plant do not always grow into what we planned.
So we have to consider the complex consequences.
This was recognized by the Iroquois people from whom our reading this morning came.
Their Great Law requires that leaders consider the impact of choices, not just on all the people living, but also on those not yet born – it was where the idea of seven generations comes from. Consider the impact of your choices on the next seven generations.
I have often thought the one of the challenges of choosing a course of action in the complex world in which we live is that it hard to consider all the consequences. Our choices influence situations beyond our knowing.
Imagine you are in the bakery to buy some fresh bread. You notice that a young child is continually being overlooked by the counter help. Literally, overlooked because she is so small. Most of us, at least on our better days, would take steps to ensure that the child got her turn in line. We cannot look at a child without wanting to be sure she is treated fairly.
But what about the children we can’t see. The ones who are affected by our daily choices.
The ones who live in poverty, violence, slavery, or hunger.
What if you knew that a choice you were making would hurt a child?
Would destroy his environment, extend her work day, enslave his parents?
Do you have to be able to look them in the eyes to consider your impact?
How direct would the connection between your action and the child’s condition have to be?
It is not always possible for us to “see” the “victims” of our actions.
An example of unintended consequences is laid out in a scenario titled The Tragedy of the Commons, a classic philosophical dilemma.
In this scenario, there is a finite resource and it is held in common, such as the pasture land in a small village. Let’s say that the pasture can sustainably support the regular grazing of 100 cows.
Now there are there 75 families in the village, and each has one cow so all is well.
But what happens when families decide to get a second cow. Well, a family that gets a second cow will have the direct benefit of more milk and butter. However, as more and more families get a second cow, the total number of cows will approach and then pass 100 and the common pasture area will begin to degrade. Each family will experience the full benefit of the milk and cheese from their cow, however, each family will only experience a partial and indirect negative impact from the overgrazing of their particular cow. Therefore, for each family, it is a rational choice to add a second cow. We get great gain and only minor negative impact, so of course we get a cow. However, the total impact on the common good is devastating.
Rational people making rational decisions that lead to a disastrous result. The Tragedy of the Commons.
A real life example of this is the overfishing that has happened on the Grand Banks in the North Atlantic. Each fishing crew benefits by getting larger and larger catches, until the time when the system collapses and there is no longer a large enough fish population for it to sustain itself.
Other examples, include things like air pollution and greenhouse gases. These are produced by human activities which benefit the individual directly and yet spread the cost out over what is shared in common – in this case the atmosphere.
It’s complicated.
It’s complicated, but this does not mean we do not have to try to understand the impact of our decisions and look for the unintended consequences.
One of the seeds I would plant is a willingness to consider the impact and explore the unintended consequences of our actions. In this way, we can take responsibility for ourselves. This is an important part of putting ourselves right and making our world OK.
For Earth Day, we wanted to provide something tangible for people to do.
So after the service, those who are interested may participate in a letter writing campaign.
For the campaign, we are using the resources of the UUA’s Washington Office for Advocacy. The office has reviewed the various bills now in congress which are intended to address the issue of global climate change. The office has chosen the one that they feel is best. The materials provided explain their reasoning and make it easy for you to write to senators and representatives supporting the bill.
You don’t have to take their word for it. But, I choose to, because I know I am not going to read and research all the bills myself. I understand the process by which the Washington Office screens legislations and I appreciate their work on our behalf.
Over the years that the UUA has been in existence, a number of positions have been taken on political and social issues. The positions have been arrived at through the use of democratic processes involving the delegates from the member congregations, and input from the congregation. Pathways is a member congregation of the UUA and can participate in these processes. I am happy to give interested people more information. These democratic processes result in statements of conscience. When new issues arise in our society or in our government, the UUA staff uses these statements as a guide. So, in reviewing the current legislation on climate change, the staff reviewed all of the input it had from these democratic process to guide them with respect to the legislation before them.
There is an information sheet explaining their choice. You will see that they choose the piece of legislation that most closely meets the standards set out by the scientific community and also one that considers the impact on people. They considered the consequences. All of the legislation offered at this time will cause the price on energy to increase. This will have the greatest impact on the poorest among us, who also are the ones least responsible for the problem, since they use the least energy and create they least amount of greenhouse gases. The legislation chosen includes the opportunity to provide aid to soften the impact of the communal responsibility on the most vulnerable among us.
The table in the back of the sanctuary has the supplies. Form letters to sign. Two versions. Blank paper for people who might like to write their own letters. Even one that contradicts the form letter.
There are stamps for which we will accept donations.
There are envelopes and the addresses of the Texas senators. The addresses of some of the representatives are provided as well as a way to look up others.
The goal on this Earth Day weekend is to make it easy for you to speak out on US policy in a manner consistent with Unitarian Universalist values.
It is one way to plant a seed of justice.
Not everyone will choose this path but it is one way that the UUA is helping to heal our world.
To get ourselves right will take practice and regular adjustments. In part, because our world is so complicated.
20 years ago when I was first learning to speak in public, I spoke one day on the challenges of getting dinner on the table. I came across a copy of the talk during our recent move. It was interesting how true it still rang. When preparing dinner for my family, I want it to be healthy, easy to prepare, and tasty – I want them to eat it. I also want it to be economical. I would like it to be ethical and have a low impact on the environment—ah, yes, so fairly traded, organic, and local would all be good.
Any two of these criteria can conflict with each other. Trying to achieve them all can wear a person out.
And so, each of these values gets weighted against what else is going on.
When money is tight, economical wins out over organic.
My research tells me that if I have to choose between local and organic that local has the lesser environmental impact. So I would choose local, except perhaps if I was dealing with someone with a sensitive condition, such as an infant, and then I might choose organic. If I’m exhausted and time is short then easy to prepare trumps all.
I rarely meet my own standards. And, yet I think that it is still worth having them.
It tells me what I want to accomplish and helps me make my choices.
We are reminded that the North Star can help us find our way north even though we will never reach the star itself.
It is good to have something to guide us on our path.
My standards, my values, are the seeds I nurture in my attempt to get right with the world.
It’s good to have standards and values, to plant those seeds, but it is also important to plant seeds of compassion. So that I can be kind when I do not meet my own standards, and when others do not meet my standards. It is good to nurture compassion, because the work before us can be hard.
I mean, if I can’t even get dinner on the table without facing serious dilemmas, then how can I propose to be part of creating a peaceful, just, and sustainable world for all the inhabitants of the Earth.
It’s hard to get things right. Hard to get things right with ourselves let alone the world, but still it is good for us to know what right will look like.
And right won’t look the same for all of us, and it won’t necessarily stay the same for anyone of us.
20 years ago, when I first considered the challenge of how to get a meal on the table, I was not yet a vegetarian.
For the last 15 years, however, being a vegetarian has been an important part of how I get myself right.
It allows me to plant seeds in several gardens I care about three times a day. At every meal I eat.
There are many ways to get right with the world. The ways that work for me may not work for you and visa versa. I tell you about mine in the hopes that you will tell me about yours.
I am a vegetarian for 4 reasons
First, environment.
I am a vegetarian because a vegetarian diet is gentler on the environment.
Second, economics.
I am a vegetarian because it seems to me that we cannot equitably feed a planet of over 6 and half billion people any other way.
Third, ethics.
I am a vegetarian because I cannot ethically condone factory farming and the suffering that it creates
Lastly, health.
I am a vegetarian because our eating choices have huge impact on our health and I believe that a plant- based diet is the best way to care for my body.
3 E’s and an H – Environment, economics, ethics, and health – four gardens I can tend each time I eat.
At least, in theory. For once again, I do not live up to my own standards.
I am a vegetarian. By which I mean that I eat no meat, this includes beef, pork, fish, and chicken.
However, I am not a vegan. I do eat eggs and dairy. And those can come from factory farms.
And most desserts are vegetarian. And I do eat those to a degree that can call in to questions the health side of my dietary claims.
So once again I am thankful for the image of the North Star.
Something that can guide me even when I fall short of my own standards.
My vision of what can be serves as my North Star. It shows me the way I want to be going – whether I will ever get there or not. The closer I live to the path lit by that star, that vision, the more I feel right with the world. The vision, the star, calls me back to my path.
What is it that calls you to your path?
What vision, what star, do you follow? What seeds do you nurture along the way?
Or have you given up for fear of failure?
Are you willing to get up anew each morning risking that you might not completely succeed, risking that you might be a hypocrite in the eyes of others, or yourself?
I hope you are ok with imperfection… it is such a mandatory part of human existence… especially in a big and complicate world.
Without being willing to risk, it really would be impossible to get out of bed in morning.
How could you, if you had to be sure of everything?
We have to take a few risks in life. Some of them include making life style choices. Might I make some choices that are wrong? Yup, probably will. Might I spend time and energy worrying about plastic vs. paper bags, or cloth vs. disposable diapers, when it’s not the best use of my time? Yup.
But the hard fact is that you will live today – somehow. And it will have an impact of some kind.
So you can claim the status quo and say it’s too hard to know what is right and use that as an excuse to do nothing. But the truth is that in living you are doing something. For most of us, to do nothing, is to choose to live a standard American lifestyle that is, in a majority of cases, shaped by the commercial forces of overconsumption. One thing we do know is that that lifestyle is not sustainable.
A person is just as responsible for their inaction as I am for my action.
I advocate that we, in this free religious tradition, use the brains we have and the science and ethics at our disposal, imperfect though they may be, to make the best informed decision that we can make today.
And if tomorrow, we have more and better information, which we likely will, we may have to change our choices.
I can do that. Because it is worth it.
Because it is worth it…
for this pretty planet…
spinning through space.
our garden, our harbor,
this holy place. (words adapted from song earlier in service, This Pretty Planet, by Tom Chapin)