Earth Day 2015: Sea and Sky, Prayer and Conversion

Posted by Gary Paterson on April 22, 2015

It was a perfect Vancouver day… the sun shining, the sky blue; a slip of cloud in the distance, moving up Howe Sound; a breeze from the west, pushing occasional white caps on the waves. And I am walking the seawall – perhaps my favourite place in the world.

One of the strange gifts of being Moderator has been the amount of time I have spent away from home – a gift in that I have discovered how deeply rooted I am in Vancouver…  not just family and friends and home; but also history, smell, space; this is where I belong. Here, by this ocean, these mountains, this forest, this city. Sometimes it takes distance to remind us of what our home-land means. As the poet T.S. Eliot said, “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time” (Little Gidding).

Paterson goes on to write:

But as I walked the seawall, I was confronted with big signs, plastered all over the beaches:WATER SAFETY NOTICE
Due to an oil spill from a cargo ship in English Bay it is recommended that
people and pets temporarily avoid going in the water.
Clean up will be conducted by the Federal Coast Guard officials and their contractors.
Please also refrain from attempting to clean up the spill as it can cause further impact.
Call 3-1-1 to report any concerns or observations
as we continue to manage this unfortunate incident.The language is carefully crafted… don’t be alarmed, this unfortunate incident is being managed.  Just don’t go in the water; don’t even try to clean up the stuff.

Well, I’m glad the signs are up – we’re organized, finally, about clean-up. But I am worried.  Only 30 or 40 waterfowl dead, they say. But later on? And what might happen to the great blue herons, as they prepare to mate, nest, and rear their chicks? Or to the fish, the otters, and seals, the gulls and crows? And what is this about “further impact?”

More at:http://www.garypaterson.ca/2015/04/22/earth-day-2015-sea-and-sky-prayer-and-conversion/

What do Earth Day (April 22) and the Moderator of the United Church of Canada have in common?

Gary Paterson wrote a blog with the above title after learning of what is euphemistically called, “an oil spill”.

“Sitting  here at my desk in Toronto, my heart is troubled by the news about an oil spill in English Bay… my home. I gather the clean-up is going well – it was, as these things go, a small spill. But, oh my, what a way to make frighteningly real and concrete all the worries about fossil fuels, environmental degradation, and climate change.”

The emotionally moving – especially when one reads to the end – blog can be accessed at:

http://www.garypaterson.ca/2015/04/14/the-earth-is-gods-body/