Spirituality and Ecological Hope

Fostering Ecological Hope
Today from Margaret Swedish:

Okay, more ecological hope…

I was on the road yesterday, driving across the upper Midwest on my way back east for a visit. I drove behind the intense lake effect snow squalls in northern Indiana. In its wake was highway detritus, result of drivers lacking humility — vehicles crashed or spun off the road lying in the median strip or in the ditches — almost all of them involving semi-tractor trailer trucks.

Culturally, we submit to nothing, not even to extreme weather, not even to the forces of nature.

But those aren’t the sprouts — actually, those trucks that are involved in the unsustainable way in which we go about the production and delivery of goods do more to squelch the sprouts than nurture them.

Anyway, fresh snow across the upper Midwest, snow showers here and there on the horizon, or to the north nearer the lakes, or just overhead, the lowering sun sometimes shining between them, casting rays through the clouds even as the snow fell, a magnificent sunset giving way to a clear starlit night.

Why do we trash this planet that has given us such beauty, such a balance of life, moments like these when one’s whole being goes, “wow!”

More sprouts. I was invited into a circle of folks who call themselves the ‘cosmology group.’ They have been gathering together twice a month in the early morning hours for three years now, reading and discussing books on the new cosmology. Right now, they are reading Michael Dowd’s new book, ‘Thank God for Evolution. I was very impressed and deeply moved by the courage of these folks as they embrace knowledge that is truly shaking our worlds.

There are groups like this all across the country, and that should give us all hope.

But this group was not satisfied with discussion, and so they are now planning a conference. It will take place October 17-18 at Marquette University in Milwaukee, and is called, “And God said that it was good…” Michael Dowd will be the keynote speaker. His wife, scientist Connie Barlow, will also be there.

I will pass on more info when it comes to me, but hope some of you in the area can join us. The program looks terrific.

While we can feel overwhelmed at times by the enormity of the crisis before us, and therefore of our task in addressing it, there are these many expressions of ecological hope that reveal that in so many ways, and on so many different levels, the change has already begun.

[tags] cosmology group, thank god for evolution, michael dowd, connie barlow, great story, great work[/tags]

Photo credit: Hubble Space Telescope