So the World Environment Day blog was pretty heavy! How did you go answering the questions:
Can you imagine a world of ecological resurrection? What wouldn’t you do to help create that ‘social tipping point that flips our thinking before we reach a tipping point in the climate system?’
Were you able to imagine a world where governments and citizens actually prioritise doing for others as we would have them do for us? Can you picture a culture that is convinced life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions? A world of national scale Zaccheaus moments? Of nations sharing their hoarded resources to help others act and adapt, rather than keeping them in barns? Of the wealthy splurging prodigal nations repenting and returning to the rest of the family, to live within what means remain?
What does it look like?
What does your part in it look like - in 2020, or 2030 or even 2040? (a movie I’m very keen to see)
I’d love you to take a few minutes to share that with the rest of us. Email us your thoughts at [email protected] and we will collate your reflections onto this page. We will continue to update this page as you send through your responses. Be encouraged that you’re on this journey with a bunch who already believe that following Jesus means pursuing justice in the face of a changing climate.
I’ll go first. In 2030...
… I’m looking out the window of the train taking me back home from Sydney. It’s a much faster train than in the old days, with a lot more carriages. There’s the odd herd of cattle grazing amongst the solar panels flashing by, though what meat we still eat mostly comes from free range kangaroos and chicken. The COALition held onto power, though now they are just the Coalition, after the moderates got control and took seriously the financial cost of climate inaction (Capitalism is still a thing, for now...). It helped that the Greens won a few more seats, and that family farmers turned the Shooters, Fishers (and farmers) party into the Farmers and Fishers (and shooters) party, and started to push back against overseas agribusiness.
My kids have employment which isn’t destroying their lungs, or the planet. One manages a series of bamboo plantations, now that timber plantations have been diverted to carbon sinks instead of construction materials. The other endures a life in international climate politics. Endures? No, these days there’s been so much progress that they actually look forward to Mondays.
They both live at home, or at least on our property in their own homes, because council finally shook up its regulations to halt urban sprawl and make accommodation more affordable. With the kids at home lending a hand, we’ve removed all weeds and feral animals from our forest, and it’s now a secure ark for some of our non-human neighbours, and a halfway house in the more abundant wildlife corridors that stretch across the landscape.
My wife does less youth mental health work, now that people can see real climate action occurring, and there is more demand for her second passion - as the Boomers reach the palliative care stage of life.
Eventually, I return from window gazing to my book, now that George R. R. Martin has finally finished.
- Jason John
It’s Sunday morning so I drag myself out of bed and ride my bike over to my local church. As I enter the solar panels on the roof glint in the sun and I can see a rainwater tank peeking around the side. I am greeted by a smiling face and handed a news-sheet printed on recycled paper. I flick to the environmental tips and events section and scan the offerings. Then I move to a table to place some native flowers and a box of fruit from my garden on it for distribution. Next I grab a cup of Fairtrade coffee and sit in the sun to enjoy the building’s passive heating. In worship we sing thanks to God for the wonders of creation and, as it is September and we are doing the Sustainable September, we have an interesting sermon about the need to follow Biblical practices and values in our lives in order to reduce our environmental impact. When we share communion it is with tasty, fresh, home-made bread baked with organic flour and environmentally friendly grape juice. The gentle light of beeswax candles and sunlight illuminate the scene.
In our prayers for others our weekly endangered species prayer is for the endangered frogs we had a talk about at the youth meeting on Friday. We also thank God for the way he has blessed and added to our church through our environmental work. After the service I pack up my copy of the Green Bible and join the communal lunch. Fresh, local, vegetarian food and produce from our church community garden abounds and is shared with the homeless. After the meal I quickly make a couple of arrangements for the clothes, book and tool swap next week. Then I meet up with the church green group and we head out to an area of local bushland for a working bee. Our Christian Environmental Action group is going quite well, with our church teams and local conservation groups making quite a difference around the city by dedicating a few hours per week. It is a testament to the way the church has now taken leadership in the environmental arena.
Sue Kingston
My vision of the future is one with
lots of green and blue
for clean air, rivers, oceans, harbours, road sides, land
there is respect, care and connection with the environment
there is legislation that protects forests, aquifers, and traditional lands
there is yellow, red, orange and purple
fresh local food grown in backyards and community gardens
markets with produce not plastic
people living simply, sharing, enjoying all the colours
listening to first people's stories
As a contemporary fine artist I am trying to grapple with ideas around Redemptive practices and my recent works try to link these ideas to care to creation care.
The painting below and accompanying sketchbook are works made from drawing from life/death at the Qld Museum of taxidermy endangered birds...and using the red which can read as destructive scribble or the web that links all creatures or a red thread of redemption.
I have to believe that this beautiful broken world will be rescued and redeemed by Christ... in His time, and in the meanwhile, we do what we can to share this hope and make positive changes where we can.
Mary Samara
A world in harmony with nature with no exploitation of people or the natural world and its flora and fauna. All people would have shelter, food, uncontaminated water and live in fellowship with one
another. Energy would come from natural sources only.
