White leaves

Well since the title of my original post that I started like 2 weeks ago was Green leaves, I thought it would be more appropriate for the title to be white leaves since we've had a bit of snow since I took this picture.
I know it's been awhile since there has been a post from myself or anyone in TERRA, so forgive me. Now that the semester is winding down, I can get back to writing.


This is a big time of year for at lot of us in school and in churches. The semester is ending and we are preparing our time and hearts for the birth of Jesus. We think of ways that we can give to others who are in need of food, shelter, clothes, so that they can live without going hungry or being cold. Most of the country become crazed with buying Christmas presents and businesses hinge themselves on their profits from this time of year. We can easily get caught up in the feel of the season and get wrapped up in the Christmas spirit. And forget about most of our efforts to help out the Earth.

So what are we giving to our environments this Christmas? Another year where millions of Christmas trees are chopped down and consequently put out to the curb come New Years? Another million tons of trash produced by families across the country from wrapping paper and several Christmas parties?

I know I've not really thought about consuming less at Christmas, and maybe it's time we start to raise awareness around us as well.

Anyways, what inspired me to post this weekend is something that is coming up today. Friday was Dec. 7th, an important day in American history when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and with that, the United States entered World War II. The United States was trying its best to once again as with World War I try and stay out of it, but it was becoming increasingly impossible to stay out. However, it was this horrific movement by the Japanese that served as the catalyst to throw us into the war. I wonder what horrific event would have to happen in order to throw this country once again into a unilateral action to start seeing that the world is in real environmental danger.

Well December 8th has been declared International Day of Climate Action. There will be a meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol (which is the United Nations Climate Negotiations) in Bali, Indonesia. People from around the world, including youth will be there to show the leaders that stronger action needs to be taken. Check out stories and more info on www.climatecrisiscoalition.org. I think it is a wonderful opportunity for us here who will be no where near where these talks are going to be to reflect on direct action we can take this time of year to try to make a difference in the lives of those around us and change some mind sets. Sometimes I feel completely useless and doubtful that I make any difference when I run up against someone who doesn't believe anything needs to be done to change our lifestyles, especially when it is members of our families or friends. This is the time when we need to be lights of the world and stand out as different to make a change around us.

I know it's hard, especially after events like the Drew theo school community dinner on Thursday. Those at our table were talking and Dr. Kearns and I eyed the servers who were clearing our plates hoping that all of our cans would get recycled. Of course, if you read Dr. Kearns' email, you already know that none of it was recycled because too much trash was mixed in with the recycled stuff. I don't know about the rest of you, but I am so MAD that people cannot be bothered to find a trash receptical (which can be hard at times I know) that they put their trash in the recycling bins. ARG!!! I think the next time I see someone stick trash in the bottles and can bin, I might just go postal on them.

Just don't forget that as we in this season think of the hope of our faith, let us also think about the hope for our world, not to give up but persevere.

Here's some websites you can check out if you are surfing:

www.creationcare.org
www.earthministry.org
www.nccecojustice.org
www.nrpe.org
www.webofcreation.org (The Green Seminaries website)


And look out for TERRA meetings first thing in the Spring Semester. If anyone is around in January and wants to meet, contact me, Natalie and we can get together. I'll be taking the Sustainability course the 2nd week of January.

And look for more posts during the break. Please feel free to email me if you want to be a fellow author to the blog.