9/21/2017
Oskar Pierre Castro
The Quaker publication, “Faith & Practice”, tells us this about an aspect of the Quaker Testimony on Stewardship intended to have us Walking Gently on the Earth:
“We recognize that the well-being of the earth is a fundamental spiritual concern. From the beginning, it was through the wonders of nature that people saw God. How we treat the earth and its creatures is a basic part of our relationship with God. Our planet as a whole, not just the small parts of it in our immediate custody, requires our responsible attention.”
Despite our own individual footprints, collectively it seems that the effect of generations of disregard for our environment has put our planet on the brink.The recent devastating hurricanes, including the one that just pummeled Puerto Rico, are hitting with more devastation and seem more frequent. Rainy seasons are shorter, but the same amount of rain pours torrentially over a shorter period of time causing mass erosion and deadly landslides. The argument is that climate change is precipitating these natural disasters but if climate change is influenced by humanity are these disasters truly just the design of God or Mother Nature?
QVS’s social justice lens recognizes that the most impacted by these weather related disasters are the frontline communities caught between economic and racial marginalization. We hold in the Light all whose lives have been altered and particularly the most vulnerable in these communities whose lives are least considered when the cameras and the microphones go away.
If you are looking to help Puerto Rico our climate justice partners are advising to follow #MariaFund which is raising money to support low-income communities of color. You can send donations using www.mariafund.org via the Center for Popular Democracy.
“These derrumbes, these unfastenings of the earth from its moorings, these winds that uproot us, these floods that drown our cities and fields, have authors, people with names and addresses, who sit in board rooms and government offices and decide to keep plundering the earth for riches and burning fossils to fuel their plundering.” – Aurora Levins Morales
For more information about hurricane Maria->