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LIFE TODAY: A WORLDVIEWSpirituality includes every aspect of our livesA few reflections belowJune 26. 2021

I have listed various articles which I have read over the past 2 months whichseem to emphasize the various crisis we continue to live in within our world,on a daily basis. Of course, we don’t all know or experience the samehappenings which are occurring globally but we are all affected by themwhether we are conscious of that reality or not.

Dr Carolyn Reinhart

2 The sources for these articles are listed below each summary comment so one can further their understanding of which ever article is of concern or interest. “It has always been a radical act to share stories during dark times. They are regenerative spaces of creation and renewal. As we experience a loss of sacred connection to the earth, we share stories that explore the timeless connections between ecology, culture, and spirituality.” https://emergencemagazine.org/ “To explore what it means to be an activist or a global citizen in a fragmented and polarised world; to consider how we are connected to each other and to our planet. In a time of urgency and increased polarisation, is our way of responding, part of the problem” https://www.ucdvo.org/t4media/UCDVO%20Annual%20Forum%202021%20Event%20Description.pdf “There’s nothing that can happen that will ever separate me from the living body of earth”. Joanna Macy: https://emergencemagazine.org/podcast/widening-circles/ “As Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and ecological systems to reimagine currencies of exchange?” https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/the-serviceberry/ “The spirituality revolution is rising from below, and not from above. As such, it is vulnerable to commercial manipulation and unscrupulous interest. There are many organisations and groups that seek to capitalise on the shifts taking place in society, and we have to be alert at every turn to possible abuse, violation, and distortion of the spiritual impulse. This is a people’s revolution. It is taking place because society’s loss of meaning is becoming painfully obvious, especially to the young, the disenfranchised and to all who suffer. It is a counter-cultural revolution, a romantic rebellion against the rise of materialism, inhumanity, and economic rationalism.” David Tacey September 2002 https://philosophiatopics.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/david-tacey-the-spirituality-revolution-the-emergence-of-contemporary-spirituality-2004.pdf

3 “As we face an ever-more-fragmented world, What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? demands a return to the force of lineage—to spiritual, social, and ecological connections across time. It sparks a myriad of ageless-yet-urgent questions: How will I be remembered? What traditions do I want to continue? What cycles do I want to break? What new systems do I want to initiate for those yet-to-be-born? How do we endure? …It is an offering to teachers who have come before and to those who will follow, a tool for healing our relationships with ourselves, with each other, and with our most powerful ancestors—the lands and waters that give and sustain all life.” Written by a “thoughtful community of Indigenous and other voices—including Linda Hogan, Wendell Berry, Winona LaDuke, Vandana Shiva, Robin Kimmerer, and Wes Jackson—to explore what we want to give to our descendants” https://www.humansandnature.org/ancestor-book to be published in 2021 “World needs to move more decisively to avoid 'a ghastly future' Earlier this year, 17 scientists from three countries warned that we are "underestimating the challenges of avoiding a ghastly future." They pointed to the combined consequences of declining biodiversity (a contributing factor in pandemics, among other things), climate change, a still-growing global population and increasing consumption that exceeds the ability of Earth's natural systems to regenerate.” … "Humanity is running an ecological Ponzi scheme in which society robs nature and future generations to pay for boosting incomes in the short term," scientists say. … Some of the consequences are already appearing — endemic hunger and malnutrition in parts of the world, along with conflicts and migration in countries that are under particular stress from climate change — and others are likely, the authors said.” https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/earthbeat-weekly-world-needs-move-more-decisively-avoid-ghastly-future “In a world where intentionality, agency, causality, learning and memory can no longer be safely ensconced away in the fleshy caverns of human be-ing – and at a time when modern civilization, our cherished binaries, our institutions, and our cultural lexicons are unfurling at their seams, grappling with resolute impasses and spinning black holes – I offer these dances with the preposterous. This website. This very material yearning for a world more at peace than the stories of infinite growth allow; a world more alive than can be accommodated in the anorexic confines of Newtonian imagination; a world more just than the exhausted binaries and tired clashes between ‘good’ and ‘evil’; a world where ‘I’ am home with Lali. With our daughter, Alethea. With the preposterous.” http://bayoakomolafe.net/

4 Climate change has reached a tipping point — and now is the perfect time to act Acclaimed journalist and activist George Monbiot on why we can come out of a global pandemic even stronger CBC Docs · Posted: Oct 28, 2020 10:28 AM ET | Last Updated: November 5, 2020 “The climate change crisis has reached a tipping point, and if we don't act quickly, we face an uncertain and tumultuous future. For decades, George Monbiot, a British investigative journalist, author and activist, has been decrying environmental exploitation, a message that often falls on deaf ears. "We've lost 30 years or more … during which we could affect a gradual transition out of the destructive, extractive economy into a far more benign one," said Monbiot. "But now, we find ourselves at the cliff edge." … Even as individuals we still have power As individuals fighting against climate change, we may often feel we have little power to make a real difference. "There are clear limits to individual action," said Monbiot. "We're facing structural pressures, and we need structural change in response to those pressures. We need system change”… “As society locked down, protest organizers had to alter their plans. "The pandemic arises from our appalling mistreatment of the living world," Monbiot said. "But what we also see is that the failures of government to prepare for and prevent pandemics of this nature are very similar to the failures of government to prepare for and prevent climate breakdown and ecological breakdown."… Instead, he said, "We see commercial interests dominating, we see corporate lobbying dominating, rather than the interests and needs of humanity and the living planet as a whole."m change."… "I think we're seeing a great awakening, a great reckoning, taking place at the moment," he said. "There's a massive issue of intergenerational justice in all three of these issues — the pandemic, the climate crisis and the institutional racism which has led to so many murders by the police." In London, England, a movement like no other took over the city and blocked bridges, causing congestion mayhem. They were Extinction Rebellion, a massive group of people who have decided enough is enough, and are demanding change now. 1:19 https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1811769411807/ https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/the-nature-of-things/climate-change-has-reached-a-tipping-point-and-now-is-the-perfect-time-to-act-1.5775004?cmp=newsletter_CBC%20Docs_3711_260898

5 Monbiot begins by saying that, “The climate change crisis has reached a tipping point, and if we don't act quickly, we face an uncertain and tumultuous future." I wonder what part of the above sentence people don't agree with? To me, it is just an obvious fact given the situation our whole global home is in at every level. Personally, I am so grateful that George survived his bout with Covid-19, so he can continue to write and help us all to wake up to our escalating crises. He has the ability to point out the obvious truths and state them clearly. I am also relieved that his book about our global situation is three quarters finished. We could do with reading it as soon as possible and hopefully begin to wake up and begin to implement the advice, insights, action, and change he suggests as necessary. He presents a comprehensive world view and emphasizes that we need to move to a new world paradigm if we are to survive at all. Perhaps, if enough of us move out of the old dominant paradigm and worldview of power, we have a chance to survive. But as he and so many others have continued to emphasize, protest and march for, over the past 30 years, and more people have a deeper understanding due to their own crises, enough of us will realize that time and action are of the essence. His voice is important and relevant. Thank you George for your commitments, care and ongoing determination to help us to become informed and awake to our shared reality. « less Dr Carolyn Reinhart Education International Manifesto on Quality Climate Change Education for All The climate crisis is the greatest threat facing humanity and our planet. With little time left to reverse the current course and keep global temperature rise below +1.5°C, climate action is more urgent than ever. Education must be transformed to catalyse the fight against climate change and to support a just transition to a more sustainable world. Students have a right to gain the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to sustain our world for present and future generations, and they have the right to receive an education which prepares them for the world of work in a green economy. It is time to come together to build something more resilient in our education institutions, our communities, and our economy, while considerably reducing our ecological footprint through a just transition. Education International, the global voice of educators, hereby calls on every government in the world to deliver on their commitments to climate change education and education for sustainable development in the Paris Agreement (article 12) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (targets 4.7, 12.8 and 13.3). This Manifesto outlines the profession’s vision for quality climate change education and the policy framework necessary to implement it. https://www.teach4theplanet.org/manifesto/?fbclid=IwAR2tlyaBXyxqjpedDbJlU7ZY7uH6VRn9pnxMTFF4kuQ4ttor8YcJsn0hedA

6 ‘We are witnessing a crime against humanity’: Arundhati Roy on India’s Covid catastrophe’ It’s hard to convey the full depth and range of the trauma, the chaos and the indignity that people are being subjected to. Meanwhile, Modi and his allies are telling us not to complain… Things will settle down eventually. Of course, they will. But we don’t know who among us will survive to see that day. The rich will breathe easier. The poor will not. For now, among the sick and dying, there is a vestige of democracy. The rich have been felled, too. Hospitals are begging for oxygen. Some have started bring-your-own-oxygen schemes. The oxygen crisis has led to intense, unseemly battles between states, with political parties trying to deflect blame from themselves… As this epic catastrophe plays out on our Modi-aligned Indian television channels, you’ll notice how they all speak in one tutored voice. The “system” has collapsed, they say, again and again. The virus has overwhelmed India’s health care “system”… The system has not collapsed. The “system” barely existed. The government – this one, as well as the Congress government that preceded it – deliberately dismantled what little medical infrastructure there was. This is what happens when a pandemic hits a country with an almost nonexistent public healthcare system. Healthcare is a fundamental right. The private sector will not cater to starving, sick, dying people who don’t have money. This massive privatisation of India’s healthcare is a crime… The system hasn’t collapsed. The government has failed. Perhaps “failed” is an inaccurate word, because what we are witnessing is not criminal negligence, but an outright crime against humanity. .. Fredrick Douglass said it right: “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” How we in India pride ourselves on our capacity to endure. How beautifully we have trained ourselves to meditate, to turn inward, to exorcise our fury as well as justify our inability to be egalitarian. How meekly we embrace our humiliation… So here we are now, in the hell of their collective making, with every independent institution essential to the functioning of a democracy compromised and hollowed out, and a virus that is out of control… ‘The system has collapsed’: India’s descent into Covid hell The crisis-generating machine that we call our government is incapable of leading us out of this disaster. Not least because one man makes all the decisions in this government, and that man is dangerous – and not very bright. This virus is an international problem. To deal with it, decision-making, at least on the control and administration of the pandemic, will need to pass into the hands of some sort of non-partisan body consisting of members of the ruling party, members of the opposition, and health and public policy experts. by Arundhati Roy

7 https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/28/crime-against-humanity-arundhati-roy-india-covid-catastrophe?fbclid=IwAR2wGiNRn2h9mSbQQeuZpTzAVCi_prjpkUlZDikm32owNkCLpSQpxXSSrPY What Does Untouchable Mean During India’s Covid Crisis? Saikat Majumdar Considers Echoes of Class and Caste in the Middle of a Pandemic By Saikat Majumdar May 21, 2021 In India, Covid started as a disease brought in by the rich—those who travel abroad, not those who work at home living payday-to-payday. The first reported Covid case last year in Mumbai’s Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia, of a domestic worker who worked in the home of a frequent international traveler, sent panic through the nation. What would Covid look like spreading through a densely populated urban settlement? But that’s not how the pandemic nightmare unfolded in India. The rich and the upper-middle class stepped in to spread the disease. Unmasked parties and weddings, recreational events at upscale clubs, created sharply mutated waves just as the nation and its delusional leaders were declaring India in the “endgame” of the pandemic. Even as the pandemic ravages entire structures and ecosystems of Indian society, it reveals the intensity and the fragile doubleness of an old bond—that of the working poor with the middle-class and beyond, in the very private spaces of daily domestic life. But what does it mean to be “untouchable” during a pandemic in which the upper classes are making the world more dangerous for the lower? The shadow of caste and the scourge of untouchability continues to haunt India, sparking violence and exclusion in every other corner of the nation. Will touchability return when everybody is touchable? Will those accepting service breathe easy in the presence of those accepting payment, step into their shadows? Has the pandemic normalized a new disembodiment of quotidian labor? A new disembodiment that smells of an ancient one? https://lithub.com/what-does-untouchable-mean-during-indias-covid-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR20RuaI1bHkTMZrXVOTrGONBIpOKrdGt1Cb7t6mGXLeWwCisI4_HH335gg

8 'Religion entered into me': A talk with Jane Goodall, 2021 Templeton Prize winner May 22, 2021 Sixty years after she stepped into the jungle to observe chimpanzees in their natural habitat, Jane Goodall, the world-renowned primatologist and conservationist, has won the 2021 Templeton Prize. Her conviction that humans are part of nature, not separate from it, led her to develop her own unique cosmology. She has said she believes in a higher power, what she has called a divine intelligence. After I’d begun to succeed with the chimps, that’s when I had time to pause and that’s when I developed a really strong feeling of spiritual connection with the natural world. What I love today is how science and religion are coming together and more minds are seeing purpose behind the universe and intelligence. Einstein did. And my good friend Francis Collins. Well, when I got to university I was told I’d done everything wrong. I shouldn’t have given the chimps names; it was scientific to number them. I couldn’t talk about them having personalities, minds and emotions. Those were unique to us. I was also told by these same professors that to be a good scientist you have to be objective. Therefore you cannot have empathy with what you’re studying. That is so wrong. It’s having empathy with what you’re studying that gives you those "aha" moments — "Yes, I think I know why he or she is doing that." Then you can put on the scientific hat, which I learned at Cambridge, which I love, and say, "Let me prove that my intuition is right or not." You’ve said you don’t want to explain life entirely through science, which is an odd thing to say as a scientist. What do you mean? I don’t think we can. We’ve got finite minds. And the universe is infinite. When science says, "We’ve got it all worked out — there’s the Big Bang that created the universe." Well, what created the Big Bang? Our minds can’t do it. What’s fascinating me now is the news being uncovered about these unidentified flying objects the Navy has been recording all these years. It’s really exciting. The Templeton Foundation is interested in ways of reconciling science and religion. Is that something you believe in?

9 I think it’s happening. When more scientists are saying there’s an intelligence behind the universe, that’s basically what the Templeton Foundation is about: We don’t live in only a materialistic world. Francis Collins drove home that in every single cell in your body there’s a code of several billion instructions. Could that be chance? No. There’s no actual reason why things should be the way they are, and chance mutations couldn’t possibly lead to the complexity of life on earth. This blurring between science and religion is happening more and more. Scientists are more willing to talk about it. https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/religion-entered-me-talk-jane-goodall-2021-templeton-prize-winner Also using the same web address as above you can view a short film by Greta Thunberg – for Bioversity Day 22 May, 2021 • Christian Climate Action Retweeted UN Biodiversity ✔ @UNBiodiversity "We are part of nature — when we protect #nature, we are nature protecting itself." For #BiodiversityDay, @GretaThunberg has released a new short film connecting the dots between our #biodiversity, health and #climate

10 crises. Watch "#ForNature" now: by using control click – then scroll down to see film https://twitter.com/UNBiodiversity I am a bird, waiting: How to find God's presence in nature May 22, 2021 by Sophfronia Scott Spirituality Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton (Broadleaf Books) by Sophfronia Scott. https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/i-am-bird-waiting-how-find-gods-presence-nature We Still Here: Pandemic, Policing, Protest, and Possibility By Marc Lamont Hill 128 pages; Haymarket Books May 22, 2021 by Hannah Bowman Justice Media Marc Lamont Hill's 'We Still Here' calls Christians to action 'We Still Here' teaches tht abolition is not just about prisons and police "The thing we have to do to keep us alive could also be the thing that kills us," writes Marc Lamont Hill near the beginning of his remarkable book We Still Here: Pandemic, Policing,

11 Protest, and Possibility, neatly summing up the conundrum of being Black in America in the face of COVID-19, police violence and white supremacy. We Still Here aims to make clear the interconnected structures of oppression that have been clearly revealed in the past year: how policing, prisons, colonialism, including the settler colonialism of Israel and the pandemic response that prioritized economic activity over people, all point to a racialized "politics of disposability" that structures the institutions of our society to deprioritize and devalue certain lives, especially Black lives. https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/marc-lamont-hills-we-still-here-calls-christians-action Dalai Lama: We Need An Education of the Heart By Dylan Harper - May 30, 20210 By education I don’t necessarily mean the acquisition of a degree, however; education takes all shapes and forms. Simply being alive and experiencing life as we do every day is worthy of the name education. We receive an education when we interact with others, and we receive an education when we do independent research. Formal schooling is a different beast entirely, and it’s unfortunate that our society equates diplomas and degrees with intelligence, since obtaining a piece of paper has nothing to do with intelligence at all. Albert Einstein himself said, “I never let my education interfere with my learning.” … Modern education with its focus on material goals and a disregard for inner values is incomplete. There is a need to know about the workings of our minds and emotions. If we start today and make an effort to educate those who are young now in inner values, they will see a different, peaceful, more compassionate world in the future. (source) … One thing is for sure, if our school system does not start to teach these ‘inner values,’ our children will continue to focus on material wealth and look for happiness in external things. They will not learn to consider their emotions and those of other people, or how to manage the stresses of life. by Arjun Walia https://dreamcatcherreality.com/education-heart/

12 SEE THE HORRIFYING PLACE WHERE YOUR OLD CLOTHES GO TO DIE 06-01-21 A landfill in Ghana is the final resting place for many of our fast fashion purchases. When author Maxine Bedat visited, it was literally on fire. Maxine Bédat at Kantamanto. [Photo: courtesy Portfolio/Penguin Random House] If you’re wondering how a lot of foreign-label shoes, clothes, and accessories arrived in a landfill in Ghana, you’re not alone. Very few of us think about what happens to our clothes after we’ve gotten rid of them. We lug garbage bags full of items that no longer “spark joy” to the Salvation Army, or we toss them in the trash with our Starbucks cup. We donate with good intentions—we want our things to have a second life; we want someone else to get good use out of them, even if we’ve decided they’re useless. And while that sometimes happens, the truth is that there is not enough global demand for the massive quantities of secondhand, low-quality clothing we donate. As a result, our good intentions become costly, overwhelming waste and an environmental nightmare for people living halfway around the world. Kantamanto, located in Accra, is one of the largest second hand markets in all of West Africa. The whole reason it exists is because of the gross overproduction and undervaluing of garments. This is becoming a global problem, but the United States is leading the charge. Every year, the U.S. exports more than a billion pounds of used clothing. The future doesn’t look very bright for the retailers in Kantamanto. The more disposable fashion we give away, the more pressure there is for retailers to sell fewer garments for more. Not only are these not high enough quality to last into a second or third life, but they’re not the kinds of styles or fabrics that will appeal to Ghanaians. With a shrinking inventory of quality secondhand clothing and a growing inventory of disposable clothing, Ghanaians are forced into doing exactly what we’re led to believe won’t happen when we donate our undesirables. They travel thousands of miles only to get thrown in the trash, never even glimpsing their promised second life. It makes absolutely zero sense to put so many resources into producing a garment, sending it halfway around the world to be sold, wearing it only a few times, and then sending it halfway around the world again for it to just end up spewing all of those resources up in the atmosphere and into people’s lungs, soil, and waterways. But whether they’re burning or not, landfilled textiles are always a source of greenhouse gas emissions. Rewearing trumps both recycling and disposal of clothing: Wearing a garment twice as long would lower greenhouse gas emissions from clothing by 44%.

13 All of this to say, there is really no such thing as “sustainable fashion.” This perpetuates a notion that we can buy our way into sustainability, and that it’s just a matter of purchasing this thing over that. This is not the case. The most sustainable thing by far is to not buy the thing at all. From Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment, by Maxine Bedat, published on June 1 by Portfolio, an imprint of the Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2021 by Maxine Bedat. https://www.fastcompany.com/90640931/see-the-horrifying-place-where-your-old-clothes-go-to-die?partner=feedburner&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feedburner+fastcompany&utm_content=feedburner&cid=eem524:524:s00:06/01/2021_fc&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=Compass&utm_campaign=eem524:524:s00:06/01/2021_fc PERSPECTIVES By Rinaldo S. Brutoco Rinaldo S. Brutoco is the Founding President and CEO of the Santa Barbara-based World Business Academy and co-founder of JUST Capital. He’s a serial entrepreneur, executive, author, radio host, and futurist who’s published on the role of business in relation to pressing moral, environmental, and social concerns for over 35 years. 40,000,000 People Fled Choosing to heal the biosphere Last year 40,000,000 human beings were uprooted from their homes and became international refugees. You read that correctly. 40 million people. The vast majority of these people flooding other countries out of a desperate attempt to improve their lives to the point of achieving subsistence living were Climate Refugees. People driven from their ancestral lands by massive destructive forces unleashed mercilessly by “Mother Nature.” So much for the question of when climate change will begin to severely alter human behavior… Everyone knows climate change is “real” who has lived through recent massive flooding or bizarre snow/ice conditions (we’re thinking of you here Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, etc.); or the accelerated frequency and power of tornadoes all over the place; or the forest fires which have ravaged California. It’s becoming clearer that the very future of human civilization… First off, let’s recognize that there is no problem ever described, including Climate Change, that cannot be fixed with our existing resources and existing technology if we simply have the collective will to do so. We need to believe we can and will conquer Climate Change, and we recently had some very good news on that front. n, as we know it, is in question… Published in the 06/03/2021edition of the Montecito Journal https://worldbusiness.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Perspectives-06.03.2021-40000000-people-fled-1.pdf

14 Traditional peoples hold key to healthy ecosystems, Vatican official says Jun 4, 2021 by Barbara Fraser The Earth's warming temperatures are having a disproportionate negative impact on Indigenous peoples, those of African descent and migrants, but their ancestral wisdom is essential to efforts to reduce the impacts of climate change and preserve biodiversity, a top Vatican official said. Speaking at a virtual conference May 27 sponsored by the Vatican and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Cardinal Peter Turkson, who heads the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, said the world must "listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor" and learn from those most affected by climate change… Although they represent only 6.2% of the global population, Indigenous peoples make up 19% of the world's poorest people, Dongyu said. "At the same time, they are guardians of 80% of our global biodiversity, preserving various agri-food systems in harmony with nature," but the "valuable contributions" of their traditional knowledge "are seldom reflected in mitigation strategies and adaptation policies to address climate change and agri-food systems," he said. "We should not leave those who know so much about biodiversity, food diversity and cultural diversity behind," Dongyu added… It is especially important to include "the matriarchs, the elders, the women, who have always been the ones that have made decisions in our communities," she said, adding that it's not just a matter of including Indigenous people, "but really hearing. It's beyond listening. It's hearing what it is that Indigenous peoples have to say [and] understanding the rights that Indigenous peoples hold." The traditional wisdom of Indigenous people and those of African descent provides a key to dealing with many social and environmental issues, Turkson said, because of "their harmonious relationship with nature ... and how they maintain a biodiversity system."… "We must listen to their message of hope, of creativity, and act now to ensure a better future for them and for future generations," he said. "Now more than ever, it is time to act. We can all change for a just and sustainable future." Barbara Fraser Barbara Fraser is NCR climate editor. Her email address is bfraser@ncronline.org. Follow her on Twitter at @Barbara_Fraser.

15 updates from Today’s Climate – Inside Climate News 06/04/2021 The articles linked below all originate from different News Papers – they paint a shocking picture of reality this summer in part of the USA Record Heat Bakes Drought-Stricken West Worse Than Katrina? Researchers Warn of Deadly Combination of Heat Waves and Power Outages in Detroit Oregon’s Fall Firestorms Tell a Cautionary Tale in the Region’s Worsening Drought As Minnesota’s Line 3 Construction Resumes, Activists Warn of Increased Sexual Violence Against Native Women As Illinois Strains to Pass a Major Clean Energy Law, a Big Coal Plant Stands in the Way A Private Equity Firm Lost Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Its Bet on St. Croix’s Limetree Bay Refinery https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?fblike=true&e=c71e3bde03&socialproxy=https%3A%2F%2Fus2.campaign-archive.com%2Fsocial-proxy%2Ffacebook-like%3Fu%3D7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0%26id%3D2adde169a6%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fus2.campaign-archive.com%252F%253Fu%253D7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0%2526id%253D2adde169a6%26title%3DToday%2527s%2520Climate%2520-%2520Record%2520Heat%2520Bakes%2520Drought-Stricken%2520West&u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=2adde169a6 https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/traditional-peoples-hold-key-healthy-ecosystems-vatican-official-says

16 Once I discovered liberation theology, I couldn’t be Catholic without it David Inczauskis June 04, 2021 “Marginalized communities in the United States confront domination daily: workers who toil for poverty-level wages, indigenous nations whose lands remain occupied, people of color whom the repressive state apparatus systematically surveils, imprisons and murders. Aggressions abound, and people are fed up with the lack of change. They want more than cosmetic reforms. They want total liberation from our racist, classist, sexist system, the system hurting my friend at the parish. That is why liberation theology still has immense relevance, even in the United States, so many years after the publication of Gustavo Gutiérrez’s A Theology of Liberation in 1972. Since liberation theology is nothing other than theological reflection on oppression and on the people’s commitment to freedom from this oppression, liberation theology will continue to be a useful approach for Christians as long as oppression remains.” https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/06/04/liberation-theology-catholic-faith-240599 Corporations Are Trying to Co-opt Mindfulness to Avoid Meeting Workers’ Need By Robert R. Raymond, Truthout Published June 5, 2021 Toiling under surveillance, Amazon workers watch company videos about mindfulness in “ZenBooths” in the warehouses.John M Lund Photography Inc via Getty Imagess You do this for 12 hours with just a few breaks. When your shift is over, you drive home, exhausted and sore from the monotony and repetitive physical motions. The tendons in your wrists are aching, you feel anxious and stressed. “They should be paying me more for this,” you’re just about to sigh, when you get a notification from your phone. It’s a reminder to begin your nightly meditation, coming not from a Headspace app, but from an app named “AmaZen,” part of Amazon’s new WorkingWell program designed to address worker’s health issues. Amazon’s WorkingWell program is just part of a much broader trend taking place throughout the corporate landscape encouraging workers to utilize activities such as yoga, meditation and mindfulness to reduce work-related stress and improve performance. Author and professor of management Ron Purser refers to this phenomenon as “McMindfulness,” a co-opting of Buddhist spiritual traditions by corporations, schools, and even the military and police departments, in order to persuade and manipulate workers into conformity. This a stark departure

17 from meditation as part of a spiritual practice which aims at knowledge of the mind and reality as an end in itself… “The WorkingWell program at Amazon is a glaring example of the hidden ideology behind these mindfulness programs — that it’s the individual who needs to adapt to toxic, unfair and dangerous working conditions,” Ron Purser told Truthout. “These programs treat stress as a maladaptation of the individual, not as a symptom of structural and systemic issues, whether it’s gross inequities or whether it’s workplace stressors. It’s a neoliberal, privatized view of stress. And that’s why we see corporate mindfulness programs being so lucrative and so market friendly — because basically they take what is a structural problem and reframe it as an individual problem.”... They even utilize complex surveillance systems to track warehouse workers’ “time off task” — the amount of time they are not directly working, which is sometimes calculated down to the seconds. “These programs treat stress as a maladaptation of the individual, not as a symptom of structural and systemic issues.” … Mindfulness is even being used by the U.S. military to help soldiers “gain focus and reduce distraction” as they engage in imperialist state violence… “None of those are psychological, individualistic problems — those are problems with corporate culture policy,” Purser said. “Mindfulness programs just cannot address these structural problems — they require more of a systems approach, a holistic approach to diagnosing these stresses and actually doing something about it.” https://truthout.org/articles/corporations-are-trying-to-co-opt-mindfulness-to-avoid-meeting-workers-needs/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=430e03e8-d4c2-4143-891b-240c7b835b6f There's a revolution needed. Join it. June 10, 2021 by Joan Chittister Well, the point of today's story is now that 12th-century consciousness is a bigger story than ever. These kinds of long-inching issues are the underlying current of our lives. These are the stories about COVID-19 and vaccines, about voting rights and elections, about the weather and climate change. These are the stories we get tired of hearing about. These are the stories that threaten all of us whether we like it or not, know it or not, or do anything whatsoever to influence their outcome ourselves…. These are the really big stories, the ones, we are sure, are way over our heads and so ignore most of them.

18 And therein lies the problem. What we are not fixing is only getting worse. And if it doesn't undermine our own lives, it will affect the lives of the next generation. It will certainly affect the lives of our grandchildren. Which is where climate change comes in…. For instance, the obvious is upon us: The greenness of life is withering under the chemicals we have created to control and enhance it. The oceans are full of plastic particles that are infecting the fish, and the birds are dying by the millions for lack of habitat and migration routes. Grazing lands are drying up; desertification is a creeping global disease that triggers immigration everywhere. Species after species — including are own — are in danger, but we are sure it will be fixed in a lab somewhere in California. All of life can live without us. None of us can live without them. Clearly, it is time we each find ourselves a path into this issue. Each of us. This is not a story we can either ignore or dismiss as political hype. On the contrary, we are late in coming to consciousness while we wait for the government or science to do our saving for us as we ignore the damage we are doing to ourselves… The point is that as you and I get deeper and deeper into saving our little part of the globe, alternative energies will be imperative…. And suddenly we will find ourselves cleaning up the Earth for our grandchildren — and nothing will make you happier than that. But unless we begin to respond in force, the oceans will go on dying. The forests will burn down. The land will dry up as irrigation from the snowless highlands thins out. The animal species that pollinate and control growth, that spawn and refresh the food chain, will become more and more scarce…. The tragedy of it all is that it happened in our time. To us. Because of us. By us, for us, and with little or no attention to the creeping self-destruction of it all. Pick one thing. Do it. https://www.ncronline.org/news/column/where-i-stand/theres-revolution-needed-join-it

19 Worldviews 25th Anniversary June 10, 2021 Tara C. Trapani This year, the journal Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology is celebrating its 25th anniversary in print. To mark the occasion, the journal has made 25 articles, selected by editor James Miller, available for free to read online and download through the end of 2021. There is one article for each year of the journal’s existence, from 1997-2021, across a wide range of topics. See the list below for the specific articles now available and links to each. From the journal site: Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology is an international academic journal that studies the relationships between religion, culture, and ecology worldwide. The journal addresses how cultural and ecological developments influence the world’s major religions, giving rise to new forms of religious expression, and how in turn religious belief and cultural background can influence peoples’ attitudes toward nature, environment and ecology. Over the past 25 years the journal has helped to define this new interdisciplinary field, expanded its range

20 across the world, and provided a platform for emerging and established scholars to make their contributions in the area of religion and ecology. Editor James Miller has compiled a list of 25 articles – one from each year of the journal’s life – that showcases the important and timely topics that Worldviews covers. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Worldviews, this exciting Editor’s Pick is available for free downloading until the end of 2021. There is no need to register. https://fore.yale.edu/blogs/entry/1623326575?fbclid=IwAR0VHbE5AnbnoT94y1HGr6IglHSDpjY7ciSp_Vn-tK0XMiYJ88rlwTbJRSQ The Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology is an international multireligious project contributing to a new academic field and an engaged moral force of religious environmentalism. With its conferences, publications, monthly newsletter, and website, it explores religious worldviews, texts, and ethics in order to contribute to environmental solutions along with science, policy, law, economics, and appropriate technology. The Forum was founded in 1998 by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim and has been based at Yale University since 2006. Please explore the About Us section for more information on the Mission, History, and Projects of the Forum. Others have been critical to leading this work early on, especially the National Religious Partnership on the Environment, Green Faith, Interfaith Power and Light, Earth Ministry, Faith in Place, and Blessed Tomorrow in the United States. In Britain, the Alliance of Religion and Conservation (ARC) has done tireless work led by Martin Palmer with the support of Prince Philip. The European Forum for the Study of Religion and the Environment has made important contributions to advance scholarly research through conferences and publications. https://fore.yale.edu/ https://www.youtube.com/user/Religionandecology https://www.facebook.com/YaleFORE/ LESSONS FROM THE PANDEMIC 06/11/2021

21 “In a recent letter, Pope Francis made this comment about the Pandemic, “We never come out of any crisis the same: either we come out better or worse, but never the same; and that will depend, to a large extent, on our capacity to cultivate—especially in the younger generations—an imagination that would help them believe that another way of writing history is possible.”… “But many of the deepest lessons came from Pope Francis, who above all discerned the deep interconnection between global, social, personal and spiritual dimensions of this crisis. In his encyclical Fratelli Tutti, he wrote, “A worldwide tragedy like the Covid-19 pandemic momentarily revived the sense that we are a global community, all in the same boat, where one person’s problems are the problems of all. Once more we realized that no one is saved alone; we can only be saved together.”… “While hoping that this experience might force us “to recover our concern … for everyone, rather than for the benefit of a few,” he warned that this was useless if it did not cause us to “rethink our styles of life, our relationships, the organization of our societies and, above all, the meaning of our existence.” In other words, we were being challenged to embrace an ethic of global solidarity and accountability to our fellow human beings, thus overcoming “the cool, comfortable, and globalized indifference” that blinds us to systems of inequality and exploitation: the “pandemic” of systemic injustice that is the counterpart to the public health emergency.”… https://sacredheartuniversity.typepad.com/go_rebuild_my_house/ FURTHER WEB RESOURCES – SPIRITUALITY, RELIGION, ECOLOGY https://fore.yale.edu/ Rocky Mountain forests burning more now than any time in the past 2,000 years June 14, 2021 3.05pm EDT The exceptional drought in the U.S. West has people across the region on edge after the record-setting fires of 2020. Last year, Colorado alone saw its three largest fires in recorded state history, one burning late in October and crossing the barren Continental Divide well above the tree line. Those fires didn’t just feel extreme. Evidence now shows the 2020 fire season pushed these ecosystems to levels of burning unprecedented for at least 2,000 years. That evidence, which we describe in a study published June 14, 2021, serves as a sobering example of how climate change is altering the ecosystems on which lives and economies depend. …

22 Even more surprising, fires in the 21st century are now burning 22% more often than the highest rate of burning reached in the previous 2,000 years…. Adapting to a future unlike the past will be a significant challenge for land managers, policy makers and communities. Reducing the threats of increasing wildfires requires both combating climate change and learning to live in ways that help make our communities more resilient to our fire-prone future. https://theconversation.com/rocky-mountain-forests-burning-more-now-than-any-time-in-the-past-2-000-years-162383?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Science%20Weekly%2061621&utm_content=Science%20Weekly%2061621+Version+B+CID_a75f8778d0e0501d06645682dd5d15ce&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Rocky%20Mountain%20forests%20burning%20more%20now%20than%20any%20time%20in%20the%20past%202000%20years Climate change tipping points are upon us, draft U.N. report warns: 'The worst is yet to come' David Knowles ·Senior Editor Wed, June 23, 2021, 2:58 PM·3 min read A draft report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that unless drastic and immediate action is taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperatures from rising further, life on earth is poised for a catastrophic reckoning. The 4,000-page draft, a copy of which was obtained by Agence France-Presse, states that mankind may have already missed its opportunity to keep the climate from passing a series of thresholds that will further spur the warming of the planet. “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems,” the report says. “Humans cannot.” Climate change tipping points are upon us, draft U.N. report warns: 'The worst is yet to come' https://news.yahoo.com/climate-change-tipping-points-are-upon-us-draft-un-report-warns-the-worst-is-yet-to-come-185803244.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr via @YahooNews There are thousands more toxic chemicals in plastic than we thought 06-24-21 You know that phthalates and flame retardants are toxic. But a new study finds that a quarter of all chemicals in plastics could be equally harmful to you.

23 You may already be trying to cut down on your plastic usage because the material doesn’t biodegrade and it can pollute the planet for hundreds of years. But there’s another reason you might want to stay away. A new study finds that plastics release many more toxic chemicals throughout their life cycle than previously thought, posing significant risks to both people and the planet. Until now, only a small number of these chemicals have been properly studied. But the new paper published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology provides the most comprehensive database of chemicals in plastic, and offers a terrifying look into just how harmful the material may be. https://www.fastcompany.com/90649480/there-are-thousands-more-toxic-chemicals-in-plastic-than-we-thought?partner=feedburner&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feedburner+fastcompany&utm_content=feedburner&cid=eem524:524:s00:06/24/2021_fc&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=Compass&utm_campaign=eem524:524:s00:06/24/2021_fc EARTH LINK Dialogue demonstrates connections across faith and science Jun 23, 2021 https://www.ncronline.org/earthbeat

24 If scientists are really going to be effective at serving society with science, we need to recognize that religious faith is an important part of most people's worldview and their identity," Jennifer Wiseman, an astrophysicist with NASA and director of the Dialogue on Science, Ethics & Religion program of American Association for the Advancement of Science, said at an online symposium on science and religion June 15. (NCR screenshot) Ever since she was young, Nalini Nadkarni has loved trees. As a kid, she spent days climbing them, and she swore an oath to herself that as a grownup she would do what she could to protect them. Today, Nadkarni is a biology professor at the University of Utah who for 35 years has studied rainforest canopies and, true to her childhood promise, has done what she can to raise awareness about the values of trees and why their preservation matters to everyone. https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/dialogue-demonstrates-connections-across-faith-and-science The June 15 virtual gathering was held to mark the 25th anniversary of the association's Dialogue on Science, Ethics, & Religion, a milestone reached in 2020. The program, often called DoSER, has sought to foster engagement among scientists and people of faith to not only show how science relates to people's lives but also to further science, and trust in it, in ways that benefit all people. Who We Are

25 AAAS established the DoSER program in 1995 to facilitate communication between scientific and religious communities. DoSER builds on AAAS's commitment to relate scientific knowledge and technological development to the concerns of society at large! Our Approach In support of AAAS’ mission to advance science for the benefit of all people, the DoSER program fosters religiously and culturally inclusive engagement about science and technology. Does faith intersect with neuroscience and psychology? Understanding the human mind through neuroscience and psychology is one of the most fascinating endeavors of science! Studying the scientific underpinnings of the mind raises questions about the origins of consciousness, free will, morality, and being human. How can I get involved in the science/religion dialogue? Science and religion are often portrayed as opposites, so it can feel daunting to begin engaging in this tricky space. But if you’re here, you also recognize the importance of engaging at this intersection! Don’t worry, it’s not actually as scary as it seems! https://sciencereligiondialogue.org/ https://www.aaas.org/ Choosing Earth Project The Project The goal of the Choosing Earth Project is to foster understanding of the magnitude, speed and depth of challenges confronting humanity and the creative opportunities for transformation. This fiery transition is calling forth our collective maturity and inviting humanity to grow in conscious regard for the well-being of all life. To promote a deeper understanding and robust conversation about our future, the project brings a view that is wide, deep, and long: 1. Look Wide: Look beyond single factors such as global warming and include a wide range of trends including climate justice, overconsumption, species extinction, and more. 2. Look Deep: Look beneath the outer trends such as climate change and species extinction to include the inner realities of evolving psychology, values, culture, consciousness, and paradigms. This includes the invisible dimensions such as spirituality and inner growth.

26 3. Look Long: Look far into the future—much farther than the short run of the next five or ten years— in order to awaken a deep concern for the well-being of future generations. With this expanded perspective, this project explores three major pathways ahead, one of which describe a rite of passage for moving beyond breakdown and collapse and into a planetary community seeking healing and regeneration. To explore how you can participate in this work, please go to our events page. For supportive information on this great transition, see our resource list To support this project, please go to our donation page. Support for launching this work has been provided by the Roger and Brenda Gibson Family Foundation. https://choosingearth.org/about/ https://choosingearth.org/tools-for-groups-and-organizations/ Facing Adversity: Choosing Earth, Choosing Life Watch the documentary video by clicking below: https://choosingearth.org/choosing-earth-documentary/ Article Ecological Civilization The Wisdom of Our Ancestors By David Korten Published in Summer 2021 From the surviving early cultures of Africa, the human birthplace, comes a foundational insight into life and our distinctive human nature and responsibility. It goes by different names in

27 different places. It is perhaps best known by non-Africans as ubuntu, which translates: “I am because you are.” In its fullest meaning, ubuntu acknowledges the individual’s dependence on the whole of life: “I am because we are.” The Ubuntu Principle takes it the next step to its simple, yet profound, implication: “I do best when we all do well.” It leads us from asking, “How can I make a difference?” to “How can we make a difference?” We all lose when it’s about my money. We all win when it’s about our wellbeing… The Earth Charter, which has been endorsed by over 7,000 organizations and 50,000 individuals, affirms: “The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living. We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more.” Most religions call us to love and care for our neighbors and all that the eternal spirit has created. In 2015, the Parliament of the World’s Religions issued a Declaration on Climate Change that closed with these words: “The future we embrace will be a new ecological civilization and a world of peace, justice, and sustainability, with the flourishing of the diversity of life. We will build this future as one human family within the greater Earth community.” 1. PURPOSE The purpose of a functional economy is to provide all people with material sufficiency and spiritual abundance while supporting the wellbeing, beauty, and creative unfolding of Earth’s community of life. 2. POWER The economy best fulfills its purpose when we organize as communities of place in which people are empowered to

28 fulfill their responsibility to and for themselves, one another, and Earth. 3. PROCREATION To fulfill our responsibilities to one another and Earth, it is essential that we manage our human numbers and distribution while continually learning and evolving as individuals, families, and communities. This excerpt is the current version of a continuing work in progress from which others are free to draw with or without attribution. It may be freely shared, reproduced, and reposted in whole or in part for so long as there is no restriction on further free distribution https://www.kosmosjournal.org/kj_article/the-wisdom-of-our-ancestors/