Our Island Home

I’m writing this reflection on April 22, Earth Day, 2024. The sun is shining, the grass is greening and the birds are doing their thing. New life is bursting forth in the valley, and it feels glorious. It may be raining or even snowing in the coming days. That's part of life in Jackson Hole in late April and often in May, but today I’m basking in the warmth. This is the day that the Lord has made, rain, snow, or shine. This is the world that the Lord has made. Let’s be glad and rejoice in it.

Earth Day is not just one of those “National Days” that seem to have proliferated throughout the world of social media (see National Bucket List Day, National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day, National etc. etc. ad nauseum Day.) On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day, 20 million people raised their voices to tell the U.S. government that the time had come to prioritize the health and wellbeing of the planet. That same year the Environmental Protection Agency was established. The Clean Air Act was strengthened and given teeth. Two years later, the Clean Water Act was passed. In 1990 Earth Day went global. By 1992, the Earth Summit brought together representatives from 179 nations to work together to decrease greenhouse gasses and to protect biodiversity.

And the health and wellbeing of the Earth is still endangered, perhaps more at risk than ever.

We at St. John’s are committed to doing our small part to help protect the planet, our island home. We recycle plastics, paper, and aluminum. We turn down the thermostats in buildings when they are unoccupied. We will start composting our food and organic wastes very soon. Browse 'n Buy recycles all clothing that cannot be repurposed. We kept 136 tons of textiles out of the landfill last year.

Is there more that we can do? Of course, there always is. Pam would love to stop using plastic and paper products at coffee hour. That is going to require some extra kitchen help to load and unload the dishwasher. Just in case you are looking for a small part you can do to help preserve and protect God’s great gift to us, this Earth, our island home.

Never despair, always rejoice. And roll up your sleeves. Caring for the Earth, our Mother, is holy work.

Peace,

Brian