Caring for Creation Ideas: Two Great Local Organizations

Caring-For-Creation Ideas:
Two Great Local Organizations

"There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions . . ." 

Pope Francis, Laudato Si'  [211] 

To get a host of ideas for daily actions you can take to be a better steward of God's gift of Creation, visit the websites of  these two local organizations:

tucsoncleanandbeautiful.org 

Just a few of the things you will find at Tucson Clean & Beautiful:

Find out where to recycle just about anything
 in the Recycling Directory

Learn about the Importance of Shade Trees
and the "Trees for Tucson" Program

www.sustainabletucson.org

Just a few of the things you will find at Sustainable Tucson:

Sustainable Actions Everyone Can Do

Personal LifeStyle: 10 Sustainability Steps

"We must not think that these efforts are not going to change the world."

They benefit society, often unbeknown to us, for they call forth a goodness which, albeit unseen, inevitably tends to spread. Furthermore, such actions can restore our sense of self-esteem; they can enable us to live more fully and to feel that life on earth is worthwhile.

- Pope Francis. Laudato Si'  [212] 

Monday Feb 19th: Theology Uncorked: Groundwater film & discussion

Can we move from fighting over water to protecting it 
for the Common Good?

Come and see!

presents:

"Whisky is for Drinking, Water is for Fighting!"

WATER WARS

 & THE COMMON GOOD

a screening of

"GROUNDWATER:To enact a law for the common good”

Monday February 19, 2018
at 6:30 pm
St. Frances Cabrini Parish Hall
3201 E Presidio Road, Tucson
(520) 326-7670

“Groundwater: To Enact a Law For the Common Good” is a newly released film which tells the intriguing story of the process that led to the passing of Arizona’s Groundwater Management Act of 1980, a landmark law in the history of the American West. This 26-minute documentary features present-day interviews with many of the principals involved in the to-and-fro, and heated negotiations in search of compromise nearly forty years ago. It still resonates today as Arizona and so much of the rest of world struggles to curtail the depletion of precious groundwater supplies.   

Watch the Trailer and read about the film's Producers.

After viewing the film our guide for discussion, questions and answers will be Gregg Garfin, PhD. Gregg is an associate professor in climate, natural resources and policy at the University of Arizona’s School of Natural  Resources and the Environment. For the last 17 years he has worked to bridge the science-society interface through dialogues between scientists and decision makers. His research is focused on climate variability and change, drought, and adaptation to a changing climate. 

Gregg’s experiences as deputy director for science translation and outreach in the University’s Institute of the Environment will provide for an excellent discussion of this fascinating documentary, and the vital issues it  examines, past, present and future. 

The film will be introduced by Katie Hirschboeck, PhD., Catholic Climate Ambassador with the Catholic Climate Covenant and emeritus associate professor climatology in the UA’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, with joint appointments in Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, the School of Geography and Development, and Arid Lands Resource Sciences.

Theological Reflection | Good conversation | Delicious Wines
| Great Popcorn |
If you’d like, bring a snack or a bottle of wine to share.

A St. Valentine's Day visit to a Landfill

A reflection form Pope Francis:

Human beings too are creatures of this world,
enjoying a right to life and happiness,
and endowed with unique dignity.
So we cannot fail to consider
the effects on people’s lives of
environmental deterioration,
 current models of development
and the throwaway culture.
(Pope Francis:  Laudato Si' #43)

An alternative way to demonstrate care for creation

 was offered on St. Valentine's Day in Tucson

Watch the video:

Oscar & Diana Harper, Creation Care advocates
at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Tucson are seen in the video.
They joined this tour to see where our area's waste ends up!

Learn more about the Los Reales Landfill  

For additional info and learning opportunities
about recycling and waste go to: 

Environmental Services Education 

where you can also find out how to arrange a tour
to the Los Reales land fill for your parish, school or group

ASH WEDNESDAY 2018

" . . .we are but ashes and shall return to dust . . ."

(phrase from the Blessing and Distribution of Ashes)

Each year we begin the Lenten season with this sobering reminder.  How might it relate to our call to "Care for Our Common Home?"

One way is by opening our eyes to people and places that are subject to wildfires around the globe today  (see: fires.globalforestwatch.org/map/) and to remember those who have lost their homes, livelihoods and lives to fire. 

It is easy to despair in the face of such destruction.  But ashes can also contain a glimmer of hope and renewal in dark times, as in the legend of the phoenix, a mythical bird used in Christian symbolism.

A poem to begin our Lenten journey:

Phoenix
Are you willing to be sponged out, erased, cancelled, made nothing?

Are you willing to be made nothing?

dipped into oblivion?

If not, you will never really change.

The phoenix renews her youth

only when she is burnt, burnt alive, burnt down

to hot and flocculent ash.

Then the small stirring of a new small bub in the nest

with strands of down like floating ash
shows that she is renewing her youth like the eagle, immortal bird.

(the author is none other than D.H. Lawrence)

2018 LENTEN CARE FOR CREATION CALENDAR

Travel through Lent 2018 with the
Holy Ground, Common Ground Blog's 

 
CARING FOR GOD'S CREATION CALENDAR

Lent 2018 Caring for God's Creation Calendar for the Tucson Region 
Click HERE for a PDF of the calendar with active links!

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Older pre-2018 posts . . . .

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