Alliance of Religion and Conservation

I've been squatting on this for a while, meaning to post something. Recently, the Pope's been calling attention to the need for RELIGION and the globe's wisdom traditions to reinvest significance in a world that's devolved into little less than a furnace for number-crunching. Specifically regarding Christianity and the environment, there's too often an eschatological argument for inaction and a worrisome angelus of "what's the use?" This tone, of course, has less to do with the faith than the culture it's subsumed by, operating as an excuse for arrogant resignation, reactionary politics, and material greed:

First a link to the ALC's website:

Christians increasingly recognise the need to repent for what harm has been done to reation. In the words of the Orthodox Patriarchate, ‘This may well mean that just as a shepherd will in times of greatest hazard lay down his life for his flock, so human beings may need to forego part of their wants and needs in order that the survival of the natural world can be assured.

The challenge to all Christians is to discover anew the truth that God’s love and liberation is for all creation, not just humanity, and to seek new ways of living that restore balance and hope of life to the endangered planet.

An NPR interview with Martin Palmer, ALC founder:

For one thing, these religions are in for the long haul. So they can tackle long-lasting problems like climate change. They also know how to talk to people — and not with scientific data.

"There are tens of thousands of scientists who do that perfectly well," Palmer says. "What we want to bring is the passion, the commitment ... and the interpretation of meaning that religion brings to that data."

...

"My understanding of my God — and I work with many, many different religious traditions — is that my God is not there to solve the problems," Palmer says. "My God is there to say, 'You are co-creators with me, now... work out what that means.'"

"It is not about, if we pray hard enough to God, he will end climate change. Yes, we should pray to God. We should also get off our backsides, get out there, and do something about it," he says.

Ecology, Russian

This all comes back to the verities lost in the lust for science and chemical shortcuts. Joel Salatin says he's first and foremost a grass farmer, and in this passage from Anna Karenina, Tolstoy talks about rotational grazing, returning the nutrients to the soil, and the sensitive, meditating stewardship of the land. Listen, as well, to the mesmerizing cadences of Tolstoy's prose. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's translation is duly lauded.

The further he rode, the happier he felt, and plans for the estate, one better than another, arose in his mind: to plant willows along the meridional lines of all the fields, so that the snow would not stay too long under them; to divide them into six fertilized fields and three set aside for grass; to build a cattle-yard at the far end fo the field and dig a pond; to set up movable pens for the cattle so as to manure the fields. And then he would have eight hundred acres of wheat, two hundred and fifty of potatoes, and four hundred of clover, and not a single acre exhausted.

And now because it's late, I have something for you hearty young men. May you dream tonight of strong white calves, fresh in the spring:

Having admired the cows, familiar to him down to the smallest details, Levin ordered them driven to pasture and the calves let out into the pen. The cowherd ran merrily to get ready for the pasture. The dairymaids, hitching up their skirts, their bare, white, as yet untanned legs splashing in the mud, ran with switches after the calves and drove them, lowing and crazed with spring joy, into the yard.

Reveries on a Raven's Wing

By June 20, exhortations on vegetable gardening arrive too late for a Southerner to flex his or her green thumb. As any seedling will tell you, it's too damn hot--not the proper situation for tender roots. Still, Slate makes a wise exhortation, reaffirming my own favorite truth that stewardship of one's yard is a matter of both economy and miracle.

One rule I had this year when I began to map out my garden was that an eggplant could be just as lovely as a coneflower, if not more so. Last summer I watched the delicate soft-yellow flowers of okra open in the morning and shyly retire as the sun rose (picture source: BanyanTree). How could I ever choose a plant again that didn't offer caloric sustenance as well as the aesthetic kind? From Constance Casey's article:

But the less obvious and often overlooked pleasure in edible gardening is that the stuff is beautiful. You don't need to add flowers. A young peapod is translucent. Look closely, and you'll see that what seems to be a plain green plant can have an intriguing dark-red stem. Before its gorgeous, shiny-skinned, edible product appears, an eggplant has leaves with purple veins and a lavender flower with a tasteful yellow center.

Despite poor timing, I also like this piece because it does cut through the mysticism of growing plants to get to the reality of hard work and expertise:

But, to be realistic, the people who can feed themselves and their families from their own vegetable plot and save money doing it are rare. These people are extraordinarily diligent and patient, and, what's more, they're possessed of gigantic freezers and a willingness to explore the mysteries of canning.

What do you do with overabundance of squash? That's not the only problem. It's very likely that your vegetables will neither look as good nor, with the exception of tomatoes, taste as good as the ones in the grocery store. I know that's sacrilege for the Foodies, Locavores, and their ilk. But I'll bet you that the people growing squash for the grocery store know a hell of lot more about growing squash than you do. They've allo got some first-rate soil, first-rate fertilizer, and first-rate methods of keeping caterpillars from grinding their crop into a pulpy mess. What do you have, well-meaning organic greenhorn, Michael Pollan and a couple articles from the New York Times?

This is not an admonishment against gardening. Rather, it's a small personal exhortation for the very earthly glory of it, the fruit of labor, accident, and compromise. Kids are nothing if not difficult. Go have some.