Renewing the earth:
McCarthy, Abigail
OF SEVERAL WINDS Abigail McCarthy RENEWING THE EARTH GETTING CONVINCED, GETTING PRACTICAL n Pentecost Sunday this year I visited a church where the homilist's theme was concern for the...
...His liturgical text was the Alleluia verse, "Send forth thy Spirit and they shall be created, thou shalt renew the face of the earth...
...The problems are so complex that individual effort seems puny at best...
...The average hearer of that Pentecost homily admonishing parishioners to help save the environment was, I think, at a loss...
...The supermarket could also be encouraged to provide fruit and vegetables free of insecticides and to sell staples in simple bags rather than layered in plastic wraps...
...In September, on a greater plane, representatives of industry, government, and the media met to explore "what could be done to help planet earth...
...In sessions sponsored by an Ohio corporation, NASA (The National Aeronautic and Space Administration), and NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), participants agreed to drop arguments about what pollutes, and how much, and to concentrate on reducing the pollution they know exists...
...Is that too much to believe...
...and some thirty other countries, in an effort to save the ozone layer, have agreed that starting in 1990 they will freeze the production of CFCs (chlorine-containing chlorofluoro-carbons used in plastics, propellant containers, and solvents) at 1986 levels, and by 1998 reduce them by half...
...How to transport it...
...These are all small but significant steps...
...In Great Britain, this year's European Community elections showed that the number of voters choosing Green party delegates had risen from a few thousand to around 50,000-not enough to elect representatives but enough to ensure that environmental concerns be considered...
...With real dedication parishioners could reduce smog-producing pollutants right now by carpooling to take shopping trips and do other errands...
...He had been moved to make the connection, he said, after hearing Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., report on a trip to Antarctica to study the effects of the hole in the ozone layer-only one of the results of our pollution of earth, water, and air...
...Even before the current thaw, visitors returning from Russia were impressed by the openness of Soviet citizens in demanding reforms to reduce pollution...
...Our hope is that the Lord can and will renew the face of the earth when we have made it ready...
...Or, better yet, since even paper has a long-lasting residue, parishioners might use string bags (like those used abroad...
...How badly is the soil depleted by chemicals and how dangerous is the runoff to rivers and lakes...
...How dangerous are insecticides and fertilizers to those who plant, reap, and eat the harvests...
...This parish priest's awakening to the environmental crises is one example of the way the realization of our peril is spreading...
...Where to deposit nuclear and other hazardous waste...
...If such efforts spread from parish to parish the drop in ozone in the atmosphere of a city could be significant in a very short time...
...These are to be cut by 60 percent by 1996, and the remainder cut by 50 percent by 2006, if that proves possible...
...This summer in a town on Cape Cod, in one of the lesser examples, the local fishermen's association joined forces with an association of conservation-minded retirees and summer property owners-their traditional adversaries-to try to save the waterways...
...Now there is serious discussion of phasing them out entirely by the year 2000...
...Such a task force could propose, for instance, that the parish sponsor recycling collections-an effort which could be as lucrative for the parish charities as it would be virtuous...
...Even more significant, perhaps, was the clean-air agreement reached on October 2 in the House of Representatives...
...They were the result of awareness and concern translated into patient, persistent, concerted action...
...A compromise had been reached between congressmen with a heavy auto industry presence in their districts and those whose cities are choked with smog-reached, it must be noted, after years of stalemate...
...uch to believe...
...They could be encouraged to use nonpolluting public transportation whenever possible...
...This may be the Spirit at work...
...these could be sold by some parish society...
...A 1 percent decrease in ozone means that more cancer-causing, ultra-violet rays reach the earth and can cause skin cancer rates to rise from 3 to 5 percent...
...The efforts taken to protect the environment, that I noted above, did not just happen...
...The supermarket within the parish boundaries might be encouraged to offer paper bags equipped with handles like those in gourmet stores instead of the easy-to-carry plastic bags...
...But other environmental conflicts drag on...
...They could suggest eschewing the parishioners' use of fluorocarbons as far as it was possible...
...Perhaps the homilist could have gone beyond his expression of concern to inspire action: the recruiting of a parish task force to think of ways to prepare the earth for renewal might have produced many suggestions...
...Clearly we have to stop despoiling the earth before the Lord will renew its face, but how...
...OF SEVERAL WINDS Abigail McCarthy RENEWING THE EARTH GETTING CONVINCED, GETTING PRACTICAL n Pentecost Sunday this year I visited a church where the homilist's theme was concern for the environment...
...Alarmed by knowledge like this, people are dropping their differences to bring about action on the environment...
...Since Pentecost Sunday, scientists report that this year's ozone hole covers 10 million square miles and that ozone is decreasing at the rate of 1.5 percent a day...
...The subcommittee on health and environment of the House energy and commerce committee unanimously approved new limits on tailpipe emissions causing smog...
...The U.S...
Vol. 116 • November 1989 • No. 19
