Seattle EcoSteward Caroline Hament recently won first place for her essay “The Trees Will Probably Clap Their Hands At This,” a reflection on environmentalism, urban forestry, and faith. Her full essay was published in the September issue of Reconsiderations. Below is an excerpt.
It became pretty obvious that we were supposed to protect and restore the natural world when God once called it good and handed it over to the humans in the Genesis story. Plus, of course, our entire livelihood depends on the clean water, oxygen, and many other resources it provides. Still, people are suffering. People dying is worse than trees dying. So for a while, I felt really guilty about caring so much about trees when I knew people were more important. This reality of human suffering was smudging the perfect Bob Ross painting of my future.
Still, Jesus’s work on earth reflected redemption at every turn. A blind man sees, tables are turned, and bread is broken. It’s all finished off with the story of death and resurrection. There’s death and life; brokenness and healing. It’s similar to language used for ecosystems—degradation and restoration; succession and transition. As N.T. Wright puts it, “The created order, which God has begun to redeem in the resurrection of Jesus, is a world in which heaven and earth are designed not to be separated but to come together. In that coming together, the ‘very good’ that God spoke over creation at the beginning will be enhanced, not abolished.”
And did you hear Eco-Stewards is going to Richmond, Virginia June 5-10, 2017? Join us for Water is Life: Journeying toward Justice on the James River or spread the word to a young adult leader in your midst! More info here.
Good morning! We’re excited to unveil our June 2017 program in Richmond, VA for young adults (age 20-30) who want to connect faith and the environment during a week of place-based learning. Our theme is Water is Life: Journeying Toward Justice on the James River. Please help us spread the word to young adult leaders in your midst! You can download our awesome promotional poster here. and share it with young adults on social media and on bulletin boards! And now here’s more about what’s planned for Richmond…
To apply, please download the 2017 application here. (Rolling admissions; Apply early so you can plan your summer.)
Questions? Contact us at ecostewardsprogram@gmail.com
A view of the Salish Sea during a visit to the Lummi Nation in Washington.
On the windy, rocky, sunny shore of the Salish Sea, we listen as Lummi Nation artist and activist Jewell James shares a very honest history of the Lummi land, waters and people, and their many conflicts with the US government. Then he tells us of a vision or dream. As he speaks, I look across the water to the resort homes recently built on ancient islands that contain Lummi ancestral artifacts used before the glaciers melted. In the dream, he explains, the ancestors’ spirits came across the waters from this traditional tribal territory with the spirits of the children yet to be born. The spirits encouraged the Lummi to continue the stand against the destructive powers of energy markets, profits, and business. The spirits told the Lummi a message, which I am paraphrasing, “Keep fighting for the land; tell them the land is sacred; they will listen; and if they do not, we will change their hearts.”
The Lummi are connected to this land and to the ancestors who once lived there and who were buried there– buried on land that has since been torn up for business development. Jewell and others I met in Seattle re-framed my understanding of what is best described from this line of our Seattle theme song, Rabbi Shoshana’s The Tide Is Rising: “the land is holy and so are we.”
Six months ago, I was wonderfully privileged to join the Eco Stewards Seattle Program. Gifted with just a week among fellow young, ambitious, passionate Eco-Stewards I gained more than enough zeal and love of God, God’s people, and God’s natural world to empower my faith for years to come. It was worth the long trip for simply the fellowship and study of Pope Francis’ encyclical Ladauto Si. In addition to spending time with Josh, Ashley, Kathleen, Vickie, Kelsey, Melissa, Caroline, Liz, Becky, Rowen, Rob and Dawn, we spent time with several Seattle-based environmental activist groups, including the Sightline Institute and the Backbone Campaign, who are fighting fossil fuel extraction, transport and export activities in the Pacific Northwest. (It’s a lot to summarize, but here’s a teaser: some “kayaktivists” may have successfully taken on an oil rig in their kayaks…). During our trip to the Lummi Nation, we learned about the tribe’s successful defeat of a proposed coal export terminal that would have violated the tribe’s treaty fishing rights.
The Eco-Stewards ’16 Seattle group meets with Kurt Russo and Jewell James (center) at the Lummi Nation in Washington. Author Alex Haney kneels in front.
After the typical faith gathering, you leave realizing that if we just put first things first, such as God, prayer, love, our common home, the home of our future generations, etc., we will indeed be more holy and happy than if we seek those idols like money and a lifestyle of consumption. Since returning from Seattle to my work as a solar panel installer in Virginia, however, I feel a challenging conflict of being bound to fossil fuels and money even while working in the renewable energy industry. I’ve noticed that when money is involved, it can easily change from “the land is holy” to “the land is materially valuable.”
I drive solar panels and heavy racks in a giant, gas-guzzling Ford F-250. I commute in my older, gas-burning car rather than waking earlier to ride the bus or bike. My computer design programs run on electricity (which is still derived from 66% coal and natural gas in the US). Even working in the solar business, I am supporting the market for coal trains and pipelines. I also can’t avoid that demon dollar. In my company, all of us need money for one reason or another: to pay off debt, to pay for kids’ food and shoes, the car, the house, health insurance. Some of us have a passion for renewable energy ,but if you look at everybody, it’s the money that brings us to work each day. While making bids for solar jobs, I need to consider the time, equipment, fuel, labor and materials, which all cost money. Even the customers care about the payback period and return on investment. For better or worse in some cases, money is driving better environmental stewardship practices. That same love of money that keeps my solar company afloat is the love of money that drives the coal export terminal construction, the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Deep Water Horizon, the mountain top removal…. We are but victims of ourselves.
Yet, the Lummi and the Eco-Stewards Program challenge me to break the mold. To not let money lead the way. To seek out faith, and something out there beyond ourselves, beyond our money, likely beyond our convenience and comfort. There is a far better way. “But strive for the greater gifts, And I will show you a still more excellent way.” (1 Corinthians 12:1)
We invite you to read this inspiring letter written by Jewell James and Kurt Russo as a thank you to the Seattle Eco-Stewards for visiting the Lummi Nation at a “historical moment” this summer: Lummi Nation Thank You Letter
Meet the author, Alex Haney (Eco-Stewards ’16 Seattle Alum):
Blog author Alex Haney, Eco-Stewards Seattle ’16 Alum
I am a novice guitar player and work as a solar panel installer with a construction company in western Virginia. I get excited about wild edible and medicinal plants. “O Brother Where art Thou” and “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium” are two of my favorite movies. I am a JMU graduate who has taught all kinds of nature-y things at camps in Virginia, Massachusetts, Arkansas, and Tennessee. I love being able to call the Appalachian region my home for its rich culture and history. I’ve always loved the natural world, and God, and only recently in the last several years have I begun to see that those both actually do fit together well. I am excited to be part of the Eco-Stewards Program. I am helping to plan our 2017 Eco-Stewards trip to Richmond, Virginia. Stay tuned for more details about this exciting program!
Dearest Eco-Stewards and Fellow “Water Protectors,”
Today we celebrate. And it is such a refreshing and joyous change to celebrate something in these past weeks that for many have felt so heavy. We celebrate with full hearts of solidarity all those who have so courageously risen up to speak truth to power at Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota. The Army Corps of Engineers has seen the light not to approve permits for the DAPL pipeline to cross at its proposed location. We give thanks to God for this prophetic movement that has emerged once again from this Land’s first-nation-indigenous voices. We give thanks that this victory came as a result of non-violent prayer and peaceful witness. We, Eco-Stewards, are reminded of the prophetic and powerful witness of the Lummi Nation in Washington who also peacefully fended off the largest proposed coal export terminal on their sacred lands this past year – and who we were blessed to meet with during our Seattle program in June. May the Great Spirit continue to help give us all courage to stand boldly for peace, water, truth, and wise stewardship in every hill, molehill, village and hamlet until freedom and liberation ring – for all.
It was a profound privilege and honor for me to join 524 fellow clergy at Standing Rock, just one month ago. Here’s my reflection and some photos of the “fierce love” I witnessed there: The Fierce Love at Standing Rock
Seattle EcoSteward Caroline Hament recently won first place for her essay “The Trees Will Probably Clap Their Hands At This,” a reflection on environmentalism, urban forestry, and faith. Her full essay was published in the September issue of Reconsiderations. Below is an excerpt.
The Eco-Stewards Program 