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Note #8780 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05331
June 22, 2005

Earthly wisdom

Conference participants see eco-justice issues through a watery lens 

by Evan Silverstein

SILVER BAY, NY - When it came to a personal makeover, Diane Waddell turned to
the earth.

	The longtime Presbyterian from St. Joseph, MO, was seeking a new
focus when her term as moderator of the council of Heartland Presbytery ended
last year. "I wanted to continue in some kind of capacity that was important
for Presbyterians," she says. 

	Recognizing a need for more "earth-centered" work, Waddell formed a
presbytery chapter of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation (PRC) to educate
and energize people about the environment.

	The national PRC is a grassroots organization that works for
environmental wholeness and justice and serves as a prophetic voice for
changes in environmental policies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and
world governments. 

	"We need to come back to an earth center," Waddell said recently
while sitting in a stone cabin near the pristine shores of Lake George in
northern New York state. "We all are indeed one, and whatever happens to the
earth happens to us."

	Waddell's commitment to preserving the environment brought her from
northwest Missouri to the small cabin nestled in the splendor of the
Adirondack Mountains in Silver Bay, NY.

	Waddell and her husband, Bob, were among about 150 Presbyterians and
people of other faiths who gathered here for the fifth national Eco-Justice
Conference of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation (PRC).

	The four-day event, which ended on June 12, was also a
10th-anniversary celebration for PRC. (See related story, "Eco-justice group
celebrates 10th b(earth)day".)

	The biennial conference, whose theme was "Sharing the Waters of
Life," focused on the connection between "water issues" and faith, exploring
such subjects as pollution, privatization of water resources, water scarcity
and water consumption.

	Participants explored Biblical and theological foundations for
protecting and nurturing all of creation, through dance, music and worship.

	"I think if you study the life of Jesus and you want to follow the
teachings of Jesus, you need to be concerned for all of creation and for
justice," said Presbyterian Jane Stoffer, of Salem, OH. "That's what He was
about. That's what He continues to be about. It's always about justice for
all of creation, which includes human beings, animals, plants, the earth and
the universe."

	Conference participants heard about water resources as they relate to
economic and ecological justice and shared ideas and resources for education
and advocacy of just public policies.

	There were workshops, regional action groups, guest speakers, field
trips and "Sabbath time" for rest and reflection.

	"I think for me the focus of the event is to gather people to support
each other, to network and to learn about caring for God's creation," said
Rebecca Barnes-Davies, the PRC coordinator. "And how to make a difference in
churches, as we feel called as disciples to bring in the eco-justice element
of discipleship."

	PRC, which has about 700 members, was formed in 1995 to help support
and implement a policy report, "Restoring Creation for Ecology and Justice,"
approved by the PC(USA) General Assembly in 1990. It calls on Presbyterians
to make caring for creation a central part of the life and mission of the
church.

	The group has always worked closely with the PC(USA)'s Environmental
Justice Office, which also was created in response to the 1990 overture but
has never received denominational funding.

	During the conference noted activist and author Vandana Shiva said
the main causes of water scarcity in a water-abundant world are greed,
injustice and waste.

	Shiva, trained as a physicist, is director of the Research Foundation
for Science, Technology and Ecology in New Delhi, India. She said the world
is facing a new struggle for precious resources as private corporations
control the supply of natural and essential resources such as water. 

	"The idea of privatization is the dominant idea for water
management," Shiva said. "It's not really an old idea. It came up in the late
'80s, since the new thinking about economy. The new thinking basically is
saying that everything's a commodity. Everything should be freely tradeable."

	Shiva, a native of Dehradun, India, said one possible consequence of
privatization of water resources is cultural disintegration.

	"It used to be between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots,' she said,
"but when the have-not is water, the have-nots become a live-not." Water
deprivation robs large numbers of people of "their right to life."

	While water privatization is the preferred policy of governments,
corporate conglomerates and global financial institutions, Shiva said, many
people in India and around the world are mobilizing to conserve water and
regain community control over resources.

	She called for a movement to preserve water access for all, outlining
a program of global resistance based on successful local campaigns, like one
in which the citizens of Cochabamba, Bolivia, fought for and retained their
water rights.

	"I believe anyone with any sense of reverence for life or any sense
of justice on this planet cannot accept this," Shiva said of water
privatization. "That's why we must engage in another project. A project
called sustaining life on earth by sharing the water."

	William Greenway, an associate professor of philosophical theology at
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, TX spoke about how people
are one with creation. 

	"We have given up the understanding . . . that we and our country
create one another," Greenway said. "That our land passes through, in and out
of our body, just about as our bodies pass in and out of that land. But as we
and our land are part of one another, all of our living neighbors here, human
and plant and animal, are part of one another."   

	The conference and venue reflected PRC's creation-minded mission. 

	The host site was a leafy century-old YMCA conference and training
center on the western shore of Lake George, about 90 miles north of Albany,
NY. The use of herbicides and pesticides is strictly prohibited there. All
paper used and produced in the conference center is recycled.

	Organizers said the conference was "climate-neutral" thanks to
"renewable energy credits" purchased by PRC through Native Energy to offset
the carbon dioxide pollution caused by energy consumption related to the
conference, including participants' travel. 

	Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the PC(USA)'s 216th General Assembly,
said it is important for Presbyterians to be concerned about creation
because, "If we don't figure out how to respond to the environmental crisis
that's going on all around us, then there is no future." Ufford-Chase
attended the conference primarily as a participant, not as a guest speaker.
"Theologically, we have a huge responsibility. We have been entrusted with
the care of the land and the earth all around us. It's our responsibility to
take that seriously."  

	The fledgling PRC chapter in Heartland Presbytery -- started by
Waddell, who belongs to Trinity Presbyterian Church in St. Joseph -- is
starting to flourish, with a small but committed core membership. The group
plans to spearhead an effort to get next year's General Assembly to amend the
Book of Order with additional language about caring for the earth. 

	A chance to learn to be a better steward was what drew the Rev. Dick
Gibson, a retired minister from Lynnwood, WA, to the conference.

	"My big concern is the simplest thing that Jesus said -- 'Treat one
another the way you would like to be treated,'" Gibson said. "And that goes
for water. It goes for trees. It goes for war. It applies all across the
board."

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