Touch the Earth with Tenderness was published in The Friendly Word, the bimonthly magazine published by Quakers in Ireland:
Sixty million people from sub-Saharan Africa are predicted to migrate by 2020 due to desertification caused by Climate Breakdown. Imagine fifteen times the population of Ireland forced to leave their homes because of Climate Change. The irony is that they are not causing the problem. The divergent weights of Ecological Footprints worldwide demonstrate the need for climate justice. The Ecological Footprint is a way of describing the impact each person has on the planet. Everything is included in the calculation: what we eat, how we travel, what we buy, the type of house we live in. A footprint represents the area of productive land and waters required to satisfy the needs of a specific population or country. It includes the emissions of carbon dioxide and the need to absorb waste. Ecological Footprints are measured as Average Global Hectares per citizen (gha). In the 2012 list of countries by Ecological Footprint, United Kingdom at 7.97 gha had the 9th heaviest, Ireland at 5.57 gha came in 32nd while Senegal at 1.21 gha was 161st and Eritrea at 0.49 gha came in 188th.
Led by the African Union, which is a union of 55 countries on the continent of Africa, the Great Green Wall project was designed to stem the enormous drain of people due to environmental migration. The Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative is an project to combat the effects of climate change and desertification, through restoring degraded land. This mammoth program aims to transform the lives of millions of people by creating green and productive landscapes across North Africa, the Sahel and the Horn. The wall of trees, eight thousand kilometres long and fifteen kilometres wide will span eleven countries, among them Eritrea and Senegal.
Senegalese women, singing while engaged in planting the wall of trees, inspired Don Mullan to collaborate with the SMA (Society of African Missions) to develop the Laudato Tree Project. The Laudato Tree Project, which could be considered a living adaptation of Laudato Si, is part of the SMA commitment to Africa. The project aims to engage in a positive and creative way to help heal the earth and will encourage the planting of trees in Ireland as well as along Africa’s Great Green Wall. The other great inspiration for this momentous project was Pope Francis’s environmental encyclical Laudato Si.
An Interfaith Reflection and Prayer Service, based around Laudato Si, was held in Christchurch Cathedral on Friday 24th August 2018. Representatives of seven world religions came together to pray for the planet at this celebration of the Laudato Tree and the Great Green Wall Projects. Members of Eco-Congregation Ireland, to whom Eco-Quakers Ireland are associated, were involved in the organisation of the ceremony which began with the lighting of the climate justice candle.
Praise for Creation through reflective readings, music and song, including the singing of the Canticle of the Sun, elevated the spirit above the despair often experienced when catastrophic environmental facts seem insurmountable. However, the service did draw attention to the destruction our world is facing because of our excessive consumption patterns. Doctor Cara Augustenburg, Chairperson of Friends of the Earth Europe, focussed particularly on the detrimental effect of plastic. When we look at the world we are leaving to our children and grandchildren it can cause us great sorrow. We are encouraged to lament and to grieve for our world and to ask repentance for our mistakes. We are called to Community Eco-Conversion.
Elvis Paul Tangem from the African Union pointed out that eighty percent of young people in Sahel depend on agriculture and the degradation of their land results in mass migration. He compared the terrible challenges faced by Sahel, and in Africa in general, to the fate of Ireland during the Famine when most of the population was dependent on the land, and in the Irish scenario the potato crop. The fourth part of the Interfaith Service focussed on Changes and Actions. Eleven-year-old Flossie Donnelly, a beach cleaners’ blogger, showed what children can do to make a difference, while Bishop William Crean of Trócaire emphasised the importance of Fossil Fuel Divestment by churches and congregations.
The final part of the service took a contemplative view and the congregation present were asked to Touch the Earth with Tenderness. This sacred mandate spoke loud and clear to me. Having for nearly four decades being involved in environmental concerns, through practical action, study, awareness raising, protests and campaigns I now feel deeply that there is a need for the sacred element. The earth, our common home, is a sacred entity worthy of reverence and in need of protection. Scientists and campaigners play a very significant role in keeping the urgency for earth protection to the fore. However, we need mystics to instil in us a sense of awe and wonder and reverence, to remind us to touch the earth with tenderness and to counterbalance the despair that can seep into our consciousness.
Visit Soil Health 101: Everything You Need to Know – https://www.ecowatch.com/soil-health-guide.html