As I write this column for the September Diocesan Times it is early August and the Olympics have just ended with Canada getting a record (non-boycott) twenty three medals. There are knocks at my door from hopeful political candidates and Nova Scotia is still dealing with the pandemic. Yesterday I visited New Brunswick and it was other worldly- few or no masks in sight! These are the issues which generate conversations these days. But there is another, potentially much worse bit of news not making it into local newscasts and conversations- food insecurity.
If there’s still any doubt that the summer of 2021 is a turning point for a global awakening over the looming climate crisis, you can add one more plague of biblical proportions to the list: famine.
Last year there was a major crop failure in China, how major can only be guessed at since the Chinese government is not very forthcoming about such things. What we do know is that China is trying to buy a lot of the three most important world grain crops; corn, soybeans and wheat. Prices for these staples are skyrocketing due to the old “demand and supply” rule, low supply equals high cost. Good for us you may say since Canada is a major global supplier of these commodities. But not so fast! Here is a headline from the Winnipeg City News of July 20,2021: “ Lack of rain forcing farmers to turn small crop yields into feed, some will see complete crop failure”. And this from Reuters ; “Drought spreads in Key U.S. crop states”. And it isn’t just Asia and North America experiencing crop failures. The Indian Sub-continent is being hard hit, and South America is actually being rocked by frost and very strange weather conditions. Extreme flooding is hammering this year’s crops in Europe, and Africa is experiencing the same thing. The only good news I could find about crops is that Russia, the world’s biggest producer of wheat is expecting a good crop this year.
So what is the problem here? An article at Time.com on July 20, 2021 spells it out. Reporter Aryn Baker writes “ Heatwaves, wildfires, floods. If there’s still any doubt that the summer of 2021 is a turning point for a global awakening over the looming climate crisis, you can add one more plague of biblical proportions to the list: famine.” She goes on to report that the southern part of the island nation of Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa, is experiencing its worst drought in forty years, with the World Food Program warning that 1.4 million people are food insecure and 400,000 people are heading for famine. I am ashamed that I felt rather upset recently when I was sent by my wife to get some vanilla, the good stuff of course coming from Madagascar. The prices, driven by supply and demand, were astronomical!
Global warming is here and its killing people and will continue to kill people for the foreseeable future. Tucked away on the bottom of page 15 of a 16 page newspaper last week was the headline “ More than 100,000 children from Tigray at risk of death from malnutrition”. ( I had to look too, Tigray is in Ethiopia).
The effect of climate change on the planet’s north and south pole ice caps is stunning. On July 30, 2021 the Guardian Newspaper reported that enough ice melted on a single day to cover Florida in two inches of water. Data showed that the Greenland ice sheet lost 8.5 billion tons of surface mass on Tuesday July 27th. An all time record high temperature was recorded in the region on Wednesday of 19.8C. On January 25,2021 the Washington Post reported “Earth is now losing 1.2 trillion tons of ice each year. And it’s going to get worse.”
The last several Sundays have featured readings from John’s Gospel which discuss food. We went from the feeding of five thousand people with just five barley loaves and two fish. And every week has alluded to bread. Dean Paul Smith at our Cathedral baked a simple loaf of bread and explained how putting several ingredients in a pot can yield amazing results. One such demonstration had him adding many ingredients from the book of Genesis to a pot, and at the end pulling out a globe. God made an incredible recipe and created the earth and all things in it.
But if it is possible for God to make a mistake, then he proceeded to do so. He gave dominion over the earth to humanity. And man did we proceed to screw up the recipe! I for one believe that God cannot make mistakes. I think humanity is able to fix this mess we have made but I also think we better get on with it. Let’s stop talking and start doing.
Do you know our diocese has funds available to “Green” our churches? Did you know there are uncountable resources available from the Diocesan Environmental Network? You too can do your part. Whether it is praying with the community, advocacy, or dealing with wastepaper, there is a way for you to participate. Catch up with all the news on the Diocesan web page under DEN e-news. Let’s all do our part to prove that God was right and we can fix our global home!
