a global warning - revisited

Spiritual resource to share: love for our shared planet

I've given lots more thought to how we do our part to take care of our planet, especially since having children! I re-read a post I wrote last year about taking the issues about global warming as a warning and a prompting to greater alertness and greater action.

My family recycles, keeps informed about environmental issues and supports some green groups, but underlying these actions is prayer. Here are some of the ideas that have been supporting our actions:

Thought determines experience, and when thought is aligned with infinite Mind/infinite intelligence, we are open to literally infinite possibilities.

God, the Creator of the earth, saw everything that He made and announced it completely good. (See Genesis 1:31.) To take a look at the material scene, though, it would appear that deterioration, neglect, greed and ignorance have altered this view and put us on a dangerous course of further deterioration.

So, then, does God get shoved out of the picture? Hardly. And are we helpless to stop this downward spiral? Not at all.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Omnipotent Spirit ( another name for God) shares not its strength with matter or with human will."

God, and all of God's attributes, (such as unconditional love, intelligent care, balanced systems) have divine authority. God is at the helm of thought. And God is supreme good.

God is not overwhelmed. The mental environment we accept is the physical environment we live in. So it is important that we identify with what has divine authority and work out from that basis, and accept only a mental environment that is sustainable, harmonious and pure. This then will become our physical environment.

Out of an orderly thought comes orderly actions.
Out of a loving thought comes loving provisions for the future.
Out of a commitment to serve God comes a commitment to serve mankind.
And out of that commitment comes an expectation to find innovative solutions, a patience that fuels collaborative ventures and a persistence to continue working until we see the harmonious results we are praying for.

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

a few cool resources for global warming:

Conserve School - a high school with a focus on environment, ethics and innovation

Christian Science Monitor - this special Monitor website tracks efforts to engage in global warming prevention, to find solutions, and to take action.

Ecoogler - oh what a click can do!

photo by Gabe Korinek - copyright 2007

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

growing up wild on Earth Day

Spiritual resource to share: whatever good we can do

I've talked about my son who goes to this cool school whose whole curriculum centers around earth stewardship. I love it. On Earth Day, the school is sponsoring a radio broadcast. If you'd like to listen in you can go to 90.3 FM if you are in WI and go to their website. Here is their announcement:

WI Public Radio's Jean Feraca Will Be On Campus For Earth Day Celebration

Conserve School is pleased to welcome Jean Feraca of Wisconsin Public Radio to their celebration of Earth Day on April 23, 2008. The public is invited to join staff and students as Ms. Feraca broadcasts her daily radio show “Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders” at the school from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.(CST)

During the broadcast, she will interview Conserve School teacher Jeff Rennicke along with two current students and two alumni. Rennicke will discuss his program Growing Up Wild: Connecting Kids With The Great Outdoors, in which he speaks about the joys, frustrations and challenges of raising a new generation of young people who understand, enjoy and feel connected to the natural world around them.

students from Conserve

The current Conserve School students will discuss the relationship between themselves, Conserve School and the environment and the alumni will discuss how their education at the school has helped them become environmentally sensitive citizens.

I am happy that my son can be part of an action that can impact the world in a big way. And this 'big way' is made possible by taking many, many baby steps; by taking each individual seriously and seeing that each student holds a grand capacity for doing good - one step at a time, one day at a time, one person at a time.

So on Earth Day, go wild! We might not all be able to go back to school (sigh), but we all still have a grand capacity to do good. Remember to turn off your lights, recycle the garbage, don't buy into excess, and ride your bike.

Whatever good we can do adds up.





To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

the dignity of taking responsibility

Spiritual resource to share: responsibility

Just got back from my son's convocation - the welcoming of new students and the formal start of the new school year. I am just so excited, encouraged and hopeful about this new school for many reasons and wanted to share this with you all. The name of the school is Conserve. It is a unique school whose leading edge environmentally based curriculum is growing around the country.

First, its curriculum and approach to academics is timely. But I am most impressed on how they deliver it. I recognized it the first time my son and I went to visit. Each child is treated with a dignity and an expectation that they have something life-saving to give to the world. There is an underlying expectation that they will grow up and take responsibility for caring for the earth. This is all done in an environment that demonstrates green in the physical plant, the staff and the programs.

All issues of adolescence also play out during this time. But the focus isn't necessarily on getting an education for their own individual purposes, but getting an education to help the larger community and the world. All of this sounds idealistic, until you see how this works. All classes include references to the environment, or the environment is the direct subject matter. Experiential, expeditionary, lab and classroom work follow.

I would like to explore this idea of dignity and taking responsibility. I love that in Christian Science, profession or status give place to what a person is willing to take on and demonstrate. There is no vicarious ride here, but only honesty and earnestness to follow the Master Christian - that is what it is all about. Mary Baker Eddy writes about Jesus mission and his style of teaching:

Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated man's oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him endless homage. His mission was both individual and collective. He did life's work aright not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals, — to show them how to do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single responsibility.

Taking responsibility to take care of the earth, as well as to take care of oneself and one another have deeply spiritual roots of love, unity and wholeness. It is "both individual and collective." Expecting that of ourselves and our children gives us all a dignity worthy of respect and emulation.

Interesting resources:

• Here is a site from The Christian Science Monitor to help us all learn "green."
• More on Conserve's unique"Green Machine"
• Schools going green
• National Geographic's Top Ten Green Schools in the US (Conserve is #5.)

Photos from Conserve School's Parent website

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

global warning

Spiritual resource to share: love for our shared planet





Have I told you recently that it is cold here? We are into another day off of school for my son because the temperature is ridiculously below O degrees Fahrenheit. It has been so cold that is has lit up casual conversations with one another about what global warming might mean for us all and what we can do to reverse this.

My family recycles, keeps informed about environmental issues and supports some green groups, but underlying these actions is prayer.

Thought determines experience, and when thought is aligned with infinite Mind/infinite intelligence, we are open to literally infinite possibilities. This is where prayer comes in.

God, the Creator of the earth, saw everything that He made and announced it completely good. (See Genesis 1:31.) To take a look at the material scene, though, it would appear that deterioration, neglect, greed and ignorance have altered this view and put us on a dangerous course of further deterioration.

So, then, does God get shoved out of the picture? Hardly. And are we helpless to stop this downward spiral? Not at all. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, "Omnipotent Spirit ( another name for God) shares not its strength with matter or with human will." God, and all of God's attributes such as unconditional love, intelligent care, balanced systems have divine authority. God is at the helm of thought. And God is supreme good. God will not be overwhelmed.

The mental environment we accept is the physical environment we live in. So it is important that we identify with what has divine authority and work out from that basis, and accept only a mental environment that is sustainable, harmonious and pure. This then will become our physical environment.

• Out of an orderly thought comes orderly actions.
• Out of a loving thought comes loving provisions for the future.
• Out of a commitment to serve God comes a commitment to serve mankind
• And out of that commitment comes an expectation to find innovative solutions, a patience that fuels collaborative ventures and a persistence to continue working until we see the harmonious results we are praying for.
  

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.






To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.