Spirituality and Ecological Hope

Fostering Ecological Hope

Today from Margaret Swedish:

The new war in the Middle East claims lives, infrastructure, the social frabric of many communities.  It leaves lasting damage from all of that, and some of the more lasting damage is that being done to the environment.  Few things degrade the earth more quickly than war, making it even harder to recoup losses, to re-start economies, to heal the broken communities.

Some days ago, I posted about a devastating oil spill on one of Lebanon’s tourist beaches due to an Israeli air strike on a power station.  Today, there is the story of another ecological disaster across the border in Israel.  Thousands of acres of forests are on fire as a result of Hezbollah rockets.

As the country’s fire commissioner says, over time, the forests will heal, though the extent of the damage is not yet clear  - and the war is far from over.  But in the short term, such catastrophes only add to the costs, mounting disastrously each day, of this conflict.

Meanwhile, along Lebanon’s coast, the oil slick continues to spread.

This is why it is impossible to truly embrace an earth spirituality, to engage a profound relationship with this planet, to be an environmentalist, and not also be opposed to war, to be working to end war as a legitimate means to resolve conflict among peoples and nations.