Refugia Newsletter #23 by Debra Rienstra: Pakistan flood aid, billionaire bunkers, and Season of Creation resources
Refugia News
A new academic year is now two weeks underway for us at Calvin University. I'm teaching an Environmental Literature course this semester, and this week we grappled with how Christian theology about human/creation relationships in the 15th through 18th centuries was used to justify everything from colonialist conquest to animal cruelty. Heavy going, but Calvin students are brave. They're willing to perceive how this legacy of biblical interpretation still influences the church's interaction with the more-than-human creation today. Next week: Ovid, Shakespeare, Romantics, and Transcendentalists--a refreshing contrast (whew!).
Meanwhile, I hope you'll join us for the release of Season 3 of the Refugia Podcast. Look for the release of episode 1 on Sunday, September 18. This is the episode featuring Rev. Dr. Leah Schade, who was featured in my last newsletter.
This Week in Climate News
So much happening in climate news in the last two weeks, some of it terrifyingly grim. I'll focus today on the floods in Pakistan and then reach back to note an important resolution passed earlier this summer by the United Nations.
No doubt you've read about the the "monsoon on steroids," the apocalyptic flooding in Pakistan that has put one-third of the country underwater, affecting 33 million people (15% of the population). Since earlier this summer, the monsoon season has dropped 3-5 times the average amount of rainfall (depending on region). It's hard to conceive of the devastation. Millions of people have lost everything: homes, farms, food, shelter--everything. And the heat and rain is not over.
This video from CNN gives a sense of what people are experiencing:
CNN also developed some satellite maps that help show the extent of the devastation.
As international governments and aid organizations respond, they face both immediate and long-term challenges. Pakistan's government and economy are not exactly climate prepared or resilient. There are logistical challenges getting aid to people who are moving--fleeing, really--and thus difficult to reach. And of course, floods like this create an immediate and ongoing public health crisis, as well as long-term food shortages due to lost agriculture and ruined land.
NPR reported on some of the challenges of providing aid. The US Department of Defense announced yesterday that it will be offering logistical support. Here's a piece from a German media outlet about the difficulty of getting aid to people who need it. And here's the UNHCR's statement from this week.
The even more sobering aspect of this event is that we can expect more such events in the future. The current pattern of disaster-aid-as-needed-in-emergencies is not going to hold up. We can't just send international aid in disasters and then "rebuild" as before. We need global-scale, ongoing mitigation and adaptation--more on that some other time.
The other story that intrigued me this week was something I missed earlier: On July 28, the United Nations General Assembly "adopted a resolution recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment" a basic, universal human right. A blog post from the UN's development agency outlined the implications:
"Now governments have an obligation to promote, protect and fulfil this right. A clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a matter of justice, with expanded opportunities for advocacy, legal claims, strategic litigation, and ultimately, greater accountability of states and other actors, including businesses, for their actions towards our environment."
This may seem like a shrug-worthy development; after all, the UN has no enforcement mechanisms. However, resolutions like this do carry moral weight. This piece, by Joel E. Correia, describes how past resolutions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have indeed laid moral groundwork for widespread change.
Deeper Dive
It's the Season of Creation!
The Season of Creation is a relatively recent ecumenical Christian initiative, observed each year from Sept. 1 to Oct. 4. To quote the official website, “The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration of prayer and action for our common home. Together, the ecumenical family around the world unites to pray, protect, and advocate for God’s creation.”
The idea for an intentional focus on creation care began in 1989, when the Orthodox Patriarch declared Sept. 1, the first day of the Orthodox liturgical year, as a day of prayer for the earth. Over the decades, as more and more international church alliances awoke to the urgency of the climate crisis, the day of prayer grew into a season, beginning on Sept. 1 and concluding on the Feast of St. Francis, Oct. 4.
While the Season of Creation is mostly a grass-roots effort, there is an advisory committee and a steering committee made up of an ecumenical, international group of distinguished leaders. Their job is simply to provide resources, coordination, and idea sharing. In recent years, they’ve chosen a theme. This year, the theme is “Listen to the Voice of Creation” with Exodus 3:1-12 (the burning bush story) as the focus text.
I've noticed this year that more and more churches in my personal orbit are catching on to the Season of Creation. I'm also noticing more robust and helpful resources. People are getting creative and sharing freely. They're organizing prayer services and volunteer days, getting kids involved, developing and sharing service liturgies and preaching resources. It's rather wonderful.
Some examples?
Here is an impressive Catholic liturgical guide.
Here is an ecumenical liturgical guide.
Here is a website with resources from the Green Churches of Canada.
Here is the resource website from the Creation Justice Ministries folk.
Here is the UCC's website for the season.
That's just a sampling! If you want to share some Season of Creation resources you know about with me, I'd love to hear from you.
Refugia Sighting
Something different this time. Let's enjoy a wild story from the "You've Got to be Kidding Me" department. I usually try to find an example of some good refugia model here, especially one that involves people of faith. But what would an "anti-refugium" look like?
Well, maybe like a billionaire's luxury bunker, built to protect him (yes, him) in case of any kind of disaster. And to keep everyone else out. With armed security.
Thanks to my friend Prof. Lisa DeBoer of Westmont College for sending me this horrifying piece on extremely wealthy disaster preppers, written by Douglass Rushkoff in The Guardian. At first, I thought, "Surely, this must be a fictional short story! It's quite a good one!"
But apparently not.
Behold your gasp-worthy read of the day. I can't even begin to know how to respond to this from a Christian perspective. Any ideas??
The Wayback Machine
My own church, Church of the Servant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is in our second year now of observing the Season of Creation. Here's a piece I wrote last year describing how worshipping with our newly developed Season of Creation liturgy felt deeply healing, honest, and motivating.
Thank you!
Thanks for reading! I keep these newsletters quickly scannable, with opportunities for deeper reading as you are able. I also tend to emphasize the connections between faith communities and climate action.
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