April 22 Earth Day

Peter's Journal April 22, 2008

Every day is earth day is more than just a slogan.  Yes, every day must be a day when we focus on the challenges we face keeping mother earth from rejecting us.  However, like our day of birth, we set aside April 22, like we have since 1970, to really focus our attention on our primary task at hand – conserve, preserve, and restore, or give CPR to a planet having a heart attack.  Breathing life back into a dying person is something any of us would do if that person were lying at our feet.  We would even attempt CPR if we were never trained in CPR. Now our collective breath must be utilized daily to get this planet pumping again so that life continues in a healthy manner.

 This earth day has come and gone now, I am writing this on April 23, 2008 flying (with carbon credits designated) to Florida to see my son.

My earth day was rather full. I left Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria VA for an early meeting at the World Bank in Washington DC with a gathering of clergy who were consulting to the lead scientist at the WB on climate change. (Do not try that commute very often – the traffic was worse than I experience in Los Angeles; coincidentally the next day the news cited DC as having the worst traffic and the longest commute in the country)   Ian Noble of the WB’s presentation was met with appreciation and critique. Hopefully the wisdom of the clergy present (average age probably 65) will be incorporated into the action plan.  I had lunch with friends Jim and Ellen Sell whose daughter Katie works for AID fostering agriculture improvements in impoverished villages in Latin America.  A former Peace Corps worker she is passionate about helping those marginalized by environmental changes. I returned to the Seminary where I sat in on a presentation of the “Greening of the Campus” hosted by the new dean The Rev. Ian Markham.  VTS is starting to really address what they can do to help mitigate the rapid change underway.  Every aspect of the practical side of maintaining a campus of 70 acres has been scrutinized. 

I then spent an hour going over what I was going to say when I introduced Dr. Ellen Davis.  My brother Jay arrived on campus at 4:30 for a reception prior to dinner and the first Kreitler Environmental Lecture that Jay and I set up in memory of our parents.  Along with the Director of Development we joined the hundreds gathered in the auditorium for one of the most thoughtfully profound lectures I have heard.  Dr. Davis was succinct in her remarks as she wove a tapestry of biblical thinking into a comprehensive ethic of taking care of the creation entrusted to us.  The resounding applause capped a day that I will long remember. 

Earth Day has come and gone, but Dr. Davis’s lecture will live on in the form of a DVD which will be available.

When I hit the pillow at 11 or so I had an inner smile as the VTS seminary, founded in the 1820’s, was consciously embarking on being a part of preserving this marvelous gift of creation we have inherited.  Amen.