“GOOD TIDINGS”
The Earth, Spirit, Action Team Newsletter
St Matthew’s United Church
February 9, 2025 No. 28
The Earth Spirit Action Team is pleased to present our Epiphany 2025 issue. Good Tidings is a newsletter that discusses local and global environmental and climate change issues; offers suggestions for personal and political actions to build a healthy planet; shares information from other environment and climate change organizations; and presents faith reflections as stewards of creation.
We welcome your feedback at earthspiritaction016@gmail.com.
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Editorial Margaret Machum
Epiphany offers the opportunity for pondering our realities to gain insight. At this time of extreme turmoil in our world, there is a lot to think about. It is our hope that feelings of distress and anxiety can be channeled into pathways of hope and meaningful actions, to reframe our emotions as a divine invitation to right relations with creation, and thereby rediscover meaning and purpose as a vocation made by love.
Despite the chaos of the last month, there is a growing feeling of excitement for the future as voices call for us to commit to buying local, to support Canadian companies and products, and to build a stronger green Canada. This is just what is needed to mitigate climate change and to adapt our lifestyles for a sustainable future.
We hope that this newsletter will energize you and provide you with some Epiphany moments as we work together for a better future.
Did You Know: Fossil Fuel Demise Elaine Murray
Contrary to fossil fuel interest claims, David Jones from EmberGlobal Insights wrote that fossil gas is not replacing coal power, rather “There’s going to be a bit of a rude awakening on gas. The gas industry were really looking forward to coal collapsing because that was going to create a new market for gas, but actually wind and solar are replacing both coal and gas.”
Another sign of the fossil fuel era’s demise is the number of countries producing power from renewable sources. According to the International Energy Agency and International Renewable Energy Agency, 7 countries - Albania, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Iceland, Nepal, Paraguay, and the Democratic Republic of Congo - now generate 99.7% of their electricity from geothermal, hydro, solar and/or wind power. “Another 40 countries got at least half of their electricity from renewables in 2021 and 2022 including 11 in Europe,” EuroNews reports. “Others, like Germany and Portugal, are capable of running on 100% wind, water, and solar for short amounts of time.”
HalifACT is supporting Halifax Transit’s efforts to electrify its fleet. Sixty long-range electric buses will be undergoing testing to make sure they are ready for the road, with the goal of replacing the entire fleet with zero-emission vehicles. The first 4 are currently being used for training, road testing, and public engagement activities and are being tested in the cold weather to ensure that they are reliable in all weather, including in winter conditions. Construction of the Ragged Lake Transit Centre expansion began in June 2023 and is substantially completed. It will include space for electric bus storage and charging equipment, adding more than 1,700 solar panels that will generate 1,000 MWh of electricity.
Conversation with Betsy, January 31,2025 Margaret Sagar
Following Betsy’s sermon on January 12, the ESA group met and reflected how Betsy had reminded us that in past times of tumult, people gathered to worship and to remember that we are not alone.
One of us remarked “but human beings have never been faced with the existential threats of climate change and nuclear annihilation. Is God with us?” I was commissioned to talk with Betsy about this.
Betsy disputed that such existential crises were unknown in the past. The Cuban Missile Crisis brought home to North Americans the enormity of nuclear threat, which has risen again with Putin’s nuclear threats towards Ukraine. The Bombing of Coventry Cathedral in November, 1940, and, despite the devastation, words spoken at Christmas by Provost Dick Howard that “when the war was over, we should work with those who had been enemies to build a kinder, more Christ Child-like world”.And, in the midst of the Genocide in Palestine, the sermon preached in Bethlehem at Christmas 2024 Christ in the Rubble.
Betsy raised the threat of a global pandemic and about past plagues which would have seemed like the end of the world. One could only turn to God. We noted that the mystic Julian of Norwich wrote her Revelations of Divine Love in this era. She is the author of “all shall be well, all manner of things shall be well” with confidence in God’s love. The post-enlightenment culture of human control of everything had not yet come about.
Today there are other methods of murderous attacks such as chemical or biological warfare, and attacks on computer systems.
As for climate change, although we are all well aware of the extreme weather events, know its cause, and the projected results of ever-increasing fossil fuel emissions, it can be overwhelming to think about it and 35the solutions may demand more sacrifice than we are willing to make.
We understand now that human beings cannot control everything and we make costly mistakes in our attempts to do so. If we destroy the Earth for human habitation, what might follow? Is there resurrection? As stated in the UCC Creed, “In life, in death, in life beyond death, we are not alone”. Love is always present and always will be.
Betsy often quotes Martin Luther King, Jr, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. History has shown this to be true but in the words of Bono of U2: “the arc of the moral universe does not bend toward justice, it has to be bent, and this requires sheer force of will … History does not move in a straight line. It has to be dragged, kicking and screaming, all the way down the line”.
Betsy agrees. Change does not happen without us. Trusting God, God’s presence, and God’s goodness does not let us just sit back and do nothing! We too must live the life Jesus showed us despite the evil around us. We don’t just leave it all to God! We use our God-given brains, learn the science, discover the solutions. We take up the challenges and keep on with life. We work for justice and peace while we live with kindness, compassion, humility, and integrity.
Betsy recently quoted from the Talmud: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it”.
We spoke of the importance of community, connection with other faithful people in partnership. Together we do have the power to change policy to make society better. This is not a time to hide under the covers, to run away, escape - hope is in action!
Draw strength aware that ‘we are not alone’. We agreed that God weeps at the horror in the world and the apparent triumph of evil. But the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. Love and goodness will prevail.
Local Action
Write to our Premier after his call for more fossil fuel resource development and his insults to ‘special interest groups’. ESA has written a letter and we encourage you to do the same or phone your MLA regarding their sacred responsibility to look after our water, soil, our fisheries and food for a sustainable future.
This Month’s Recipe Margaret Machum
Quinoa with Butternut Squash Salad
Serves 6-8. Preparation time: 30 minutes; cooking time 16 minutes.
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut Ito 1/2-inch cubes
2 Tbs vegetable oil
2 onions, caramelized*
1 cup quinoa, cooked in 4 cups water and simmered for 12 minutes
1 cup local Feta cheese, crumbled
2/3 cup almonds, toasted in oven
1 green pepper, diced
pinch sea salt
Dressing:
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic
1 tsp paprika
2/3 cup cider vinegar
Directions
Thought for the Day
In the words of Mary Angelou, ‘Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you cannot practice any other virtue consistently’.