Dear Editor
The cartoon in last week’s paper, “Covey,” had me wanting to redraw or add a picture of “Mother Earth smiling for the breath of fresh air, the reprieve from all the pollution. In 2000, I gave my husband a book for Christmas called “Heat, the planet is burning up” by George Monbiot. That was 20 years ago. After he read it, he said, “Nobody should be flying”. Of course, I had enough wealth to fly between 2006 and 2015, but by 2012, it was getting crazy out there. The atmosphere was totally different, no longer a pleasure to fly, but a rat race. When I told people of my husband’s remarks, people would say you might as well enjoy it, “the planes would be flying anyway.”
Another positive for Mother Earth is there will be less industry and industrial farming, burning or bulldozing trees in the Amazon as well as here to make land for Monocrops or ranching, and other developments. All of us are affected by the destruction of the Amazon forest and boreal forests in changing both weather and the climate. They are the lungs of Mother Earth.
And the corporate chemical and fertilizer ads won’t need to advertise about how they are “saving the world” from starvation “to feed billions.” To begin with, their claim is a total lie, as they are actually causing the problem. Every time they step in, many people are displaced from the land that was feeding and providing food for the people to feed themselves. With the number of deaths increasing, there won’t be “billions to feed.”
And another positive is people are actually getting to know their family and loved ones. I hope people are re-examining their lifestyles. Maybe asking where God fit into this picture. Do I really need all this materialism? Are we, as a community, caring for one another or just think of ourselves as individuals?
During Lent, Christians are asked to give alms to the poor. ar our church I made a banner to encourage donations to Development and Peace. The black and white banner said, “Justice or Just Us?” Think about it. Without justice there can be no peace. We have a lot to be thankful for.
Marcella Pedersen
Cut Knife
