THE FAITHFUL CONSUMER November 05

…connecting faith and the environment

The Newsweek article on the Avian flu a week ago really sent me into a tailspin. Essentially, the article said it’s a question of “when, not if …” the next flu pandemic will arise. We’re all just one Vietnamese-chicken-farmer-who-sleeps-with-his-flock-every -night away from a worldwide pandemic that will make the 1918 flu epidemic look like child’s play. Naturally, this made me worried and after reading that article, I had several nights of tossing and turning in fitful sleep.

But then normal life took over as it does in its healing way and I realized that I am not in control of the future—I never have been—and the Avian flu is just one more fear—like North Korea’s nuclear arsenal or the rising temperatures of global warming—that I have to let go: “Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything.”

But the whole scare had gotten me started thinking about the relationship between humans and our environment. Life on this earth is a balance and we Americans have gotten way, way out of whack during this last generation. We’ve felt that we could do anything we wanted to our world, without consequences. Now we are seeing some of the consequences.

Then in this week’s Newsweek there was an interview with Mary Pearl, wildlife biologist and president of the Wildlife Trust. In the interview, Pearl explained the basis of “conservation medicine,” which is a scientific exploration of the links between the health of humans, wildlife and ecosystems. Hmm …exactly what I had been thinking about. We have been acting as if the earth is not connected to us, but is a possession of ours to be used and degraded at will. The reality is that when we degrade it, we only degrade ourselves.

All the new diseases—AIDS, SARS, Ebola, Lyme disease, and now the Avian flu—are believed to have started in wildlife and then moved to human populations. Pearl’s contribution is to point out that damaged ecosystems, i.e., increase in toxins, degradation of habitat, removal of species and climate change, have created ways for pathogens to move in ways they normally wouldn’t.

She says: “In our own backyard, Lyme disease is a good example. The [bacterium in tick saliva] that causes Lyme disease has been around a very long time. But only recently has it emerged as a cause of disease in humans. That’s because we have chopped up forests into suburbs. White-footed mice are happy living in little clusters of rhododendrons in the suburbs, so they proliferate. But they also carry Lyme disease, which passes from mice to the ticks that suck their blood. In a healthy forest, there would be many more species for the ticks to feed on, including chipmunks, weasels and foxes, which are generally poor reservoirs for Lyme disease. These species also outcompete or prey on mice, reducing their numbers.”

It’s so clear that we’ve upset the balance of our world and that we have to change the way we live if we want to stop doing so. If those of us of faith—of all traditions—adhere to God’s command to take care of the balance, we will stop doing these hurtful things to our earth.

The Bible says, “Justice, justice, you shall pursue, in order that you and your children may live.” The Qur’an states, “Transgress not in the balance, and weigh with justice.” We are all familiar with the symbol of balance—the statuesque robed woman holding her scales aloft. We know what balance is. It is not the way we’re living now.

November’s tip: Don’t worry about the many problems in our world, instead concentrate on living in balance with the earth. An example from my own life: In our family, we try to balance the waste we produce with the food we eat. I try to buy food with less packaging. All organic waste (except for meat or meat byproducts) goes into our food garbage, an attractive white ceramic bin with lid. (Order from Plow & Hearth.) When this is full, I dump it onto our compost pile in the yard and cover with leaves. Presto: In the spring we’ll have a nice, rich load of black dirt for the garden. From table to bin to yard to garden—all in balance.

Sarah Streed is a board member of the Wisconsin Interfaith Climate & Energy Campaign (WICEC) and runs Write Stuff Works (www.writestuffworks.com ) a writing business. She lives in Stoughton, Wisconsin with her husband and children. Email smstreed@sbcglobal.net

All rights reserved by Sarah Streed.

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