9/23, on the way home

9/23—On the way home (there was no WiFi on the train, so couldn't post this until now)

We just passed through Toledo, Ohio on the way back to Chicago, where I will change trains and head south to Omaha before turning west again toward Denver. It is a beautiful day. The sun is up, the sky is blue, and we are passing through fields of corn and past lush, green farmsteads. On the rights side of the train is a gigantic materials reclamation facility; there are huge piles of metal and other materials.  On the one hand, it is good to see the effort being made to reclaim and recycle.  On the other, those piles are a sobering reminder of the sheer amount of resources that we consume. And ALL of those resources are finite. Will we succeed in figuring out a way to live sustainably on the earth, or will the future be inevitably characterized by the progressive depletion of resources and wars over what remains until there are few or no humans left? We often hear talk about “saving the planet”, but the planet will remain long after we are gone; it will eventually find a new equilibrium point, and life itself will go on.  It is not the planet per se that we need to preserve, but the ecosystems that currently support human life. 

Of course, we know that human life on this earth will end some day. That may be in a hundred years or a hundred thousand years. From the perspective of cosmic time and scale, the difference is hardly significant. What is significant, it seems to me, is that whether it is a hundred or a hundred thousand years, we human succeed in realizing our calling to be the conscious manifestation of love in the universe, i.e., whether we learn to revere and to cherish the mystery and the miracle of life in all its magnificence, in all of its mystery, in all of its beauty as well as the incredible privilege of being consciously aware of it all and to know that it is not in length of life nor the amount of resources we consume nor it attainment of material comfort that “abundant life” as Jesus called it is found, but in the privilege and joy of sharing, for a time in the beauty and the mystery, as our native brothers and sisters say, with “all our relatives”.

Ironically, and tragically, the consumption-oriented, fossil-fuel driven, industrial way of life we have developed and embrace over the last couple of centuries has steadily distanced us from the wonder and beauty of our earth at the same time that it is steadily destroying it. But the Spirit is alive, is moving, and is at work to open our eyes and our hearts and to awaken us to that reality. Our ears are being opened to the groaning of the Creation, and we are beginning to hear and to respond. I believe that the People’s Climate March this past weekend was a small manifestation of that movement of the Spirit which is happening all over the globe in ways both small and large. Do you not see? Do you not hear? I am doing a new thing, says the Spirit. Watch and listen.

9/22, Flood Wall St.

This morning people converged on Battery Park, the staging area for Flood Wall St. We set out from Battery Park at noon.  I estimated the crowd at 1,000. By the time we got up Broadway within a couple blocks of the Stock Exchange, it was more like 5,000. At that point, the street was completely occupied. The crowd was noisy but peaceful, and the police were quite also peaceful, though less noisy. Apparently, the leadership made a decision not to try and advance on the stock exchange, and everyone stopped. The spirit was contagious. "We are unstoppable, another world is possible" was the chant that went on and on.  Again, there were all kinds of people-- young, old, different colors, even people in suits. There is no doubt that a powerful statement was made. The impression was that this is indeed a pivotal moment in the movement to stop the voracious exploitation and destruction of the earth for the sake of profit.  One can only hope. But there is also no doubt that there will need to be many more such moments in order for this movement to succeed.

In a couple hours I'll be getting back on the train headed back to Colorado. Don't have any idea how many of the same folks will be on the same train back.

I'm really glad that I took the opportunity to come to NYC. From my perspective, well worthwhile. I hope that you all feel like these posts have helped you to feel more a part of it all. Even more, I hope that you are motivated to think about what you can do, or what more you can do, to help grow the movement.

Evening, Sunday, Sept. 21

What a day! Went to the Mass for Creation at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in mid-town at 8:45 am. Afterward made our way (a couple dozen of us from St. Pete's) to the staging area for the faith-groups contingent.  There the ranks of Lutherans (in spiffy green T-shirts and holding matching signs printed and donated by the ELCA advocacy office) swelled to perhaps 150, and joined with many thousands of other folks from every faith under the sun. It was inspiring and energizing, and felt like the "foretaste of the feast to come" that we sing about in our eucharistic liturgy.  No arguing about beliefs or doctrines, no fretting about whether anyone was compromising their religious purity by associating with all those "others", just ALL of us excited and glad that all the rest of us were there to act out our own faiths through a common commitment to the welfare of the planet and all its creatures.

There was an interfaith service which went on while we were all waiting our turn to join in the march.  The first marchers had stepped off at 11:30 AM.  We were all feeling a little weary already as it approached 2 PM and we had yet to march a single step.  But then came our turn to merge into the main current of the march, and all weariness left.  It felt really great that our Lutheran contingent was among the most visible-- and VOCAL-- of the faith groups. We sang, and clapped, and danced as we marched.

It was impossible for us to even begin to guess how many people there were, because at any time we could only see a small portion of the total crowd, but we started to get the sense that it was big.  As we neared the halfway point of the march, I received a text from the organizers that initial estimates were over 300,000 people, which was considerably more even than the unofficial hoped-for participation of 200,000. It felt like were part of a really big moment.  In fact, shortly afterward we received the word that the march had so exceeded expectations that concern had grown about crowd management at the end of the route, so we were asked to begin dispersing from the route well before we reached the original end-point. And to add icing to the cake, though the crowd was loud and exhuberant, it was exceedingly peaceful.

This evening I attended the Religions of the World Interfaith Service for the Earth at St. John the Diving cathedral in uptown. There was a lot of beautiful music and prayers and such, but what impressed me most was the numerous renowned religious leaders who stood up to commit themselves personally to helping lead the climate change movement and to commit to mobilizing their own communities to do the same. I heard the religious community as a whole saying, "It's time we took our place in the leadership of this movement, because we have something important to contribute, and that is the spiritual power of our traditions."

I know I sound a little overly exhuberant myself, and no doubt there will be disappointments and frustrations ahead, but knowing that is the case, I feel this is the kind of shot in the arm we needed. And I believe both political and business leaders will take note of what happened today and will begin revising their calculus about the most wise and prudent course of action to take as a result.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a report on "Flood Wall Street".

Sunday morning

Yesterday I spoke at City Lights fellowship, a small congregation meeting in the old Friends church in Manhattan, and led by my friend Vince Anderson. Yes they meet on Saturday morning with breakfast at 11 am and service at 11:30.  It's an offshoot of a Seventh-Day Adventist group. Lovely group of people. They were in the midst of a series about Loving Our Neighbors, so my reflections on climate change and faith fit in quite well.

Afterward we went to Vince's place in Queens and caught up on each other. Vince had been part of an intentional Christian community in Denver of which I was also a part years ago. Now he leads or helps to lead four small congregations of people earnestly seeking to live in a Way that is compassionate and true. Vince is a terrific musician; one of his "congregations" meets in a bar called Union Pool late on Monday nights.

Today is the big day of the Climate March. What else to say on that?  I hope to share some reflections later today.  Right now, I'm off to St. Peter's Lutheran Church in mid-town, where they are having a Mass for Creation during their 8:45 AM worship.

9/20--Lower Manhattan

Beautiful day in NYC today. Went to meet up with a friend at the Catholic Worker soup kitchen in the East Village this morning, then went to lunch. Afterward, walked around awhile, found a park to sit and visit. Saw a sign in a window: "One bedroom apartment: $3500.00" That's per month! I guess gentrification has hit even here.

Signs for the Climate March posted all over the city. UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon has said he will join the march.  And literally hundreds of related activities going on both before and after the march. News reports say that organizers are hoping for 100,000 people but, honestly, I think that would be a disappointment.

Spent awhile hanging out in Washington Park in lower Manhattan. An amazing place. All of humanity-- the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful-- was there. Hundreds of people just enjoying the beautiful day, several street musicians playing in different corners of the park, lots of folks, including me, taking pictures. The scene made me think about what will happen to that place and all those people if we are not able to arrest global warming. It was just announced that the average concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has hit an all-time (in human history) high. But walking around Manhattan makes one realize what a huge undertaking it will be to change so much about the way we live, the way we do things. Again, it seems that only action at the top levels of government could possibly spur that kind of change in the time that it is needed, meaning the next couple of decades. That's why this march and all the thousands of other activities around the world are so important.

I've learned about another event on Monday called "Flood Wall Street" which is not officially connected with the climate march. It will involved thousands of people dressed in blue who plan by their sheer numbers to disrupt "business as usual" for those who profit from the despoiling of the environment. Rumor has it that some of these activists will engage in civil disobedience in order to try and get their message across. I plan to join those who will be making a visible statement by wearing blue and converging on the area, but not to take actions that could risk arrest, though I sympathize with those who do. I hope and pray that there is no violence associated with this action.

All day tomorrow are numerous events collectively being called the Climate Convergence: teach-ins, performances, forums, etc. You can find a schedule of those events at http://convergeforclimate.org/schedule.  You can also find a list of events around the country and the world at http://peoplesclimate.org/global/. Like the tag line for the climate march reads: To change everything, we need everyone.

Do we really have time for this? A dialogue

Just received this from my friend Jeff Neuman-Lee.  See my response below.

Do we really have time for this?
A letter to environmental leaders.
by Jeff Neuman-Lee
September 17, 2014

I was at the rally yesterday to greet the demonstrators taking the train to NYC. These things are all good fun and perhaps I should simply take the event that way. We were there to bolster the spirits of those who would spend their time and money to demonstrate the necessity for very rapid movement away from fossil fuels and other human activities which are changing the survivability for humans of earth’s climate toward new ways of powering our human communities and consumption of protein.

But on the part of the majority of speakers, as I heard them, the focus was not simply on the necessity of dealing with our human specie’s climate disrupting behavior, it was also on the necessity of dealing with our social order which has arguably gotten us in this fix. The comments on social order include such topics as social justice and the deficiencies of capitalism. While historically linked, I see these two things as distinct for one simple reason: time.

It took well over one hundred years from the abolitionists to Lincoln to King. And from King to now, well a few of us older folks have experienced how little/much progress has been made. (Why was our rally so white?) We don’t have two hundred years. We have maybe 20 to set new trajectories in our energy and protein production.

We can deal with our climate using very practical means, new technologies, new behaviors (i.e. riding bikes, eating beans, etc.) which can be learned with some rapidity.  And these changes can be made within the current social order.

On the other hand, creating a new set of morals as well as economic exchange, is very problematic. As a religious leader I know “religious” language when I hear it. It doesn’t need robes and buildings, just simply be utopian enough. And that’s what we were speaking to ourselves, a religious code. Of the speakers at the rally, several I count as good friends, I personally agreed with what I could hear of it. But it is a distraction.

I dislike putting it this way because I know in my being that humans are far more than dollars and cents, but in this American culture, that is what speaks. And we have a powerful, economic message that can be heard by most Americans, just not including ourselves. I.e. the price of wind is cheaper in Colorado than any other source of electrical power, the price of PV plummets, storage such as pumped storage is very available, as the price of utility grade batteries is coming down. Other, very promising to be cheaper techs are in the pipeline. Monetary cost is the signal that has the most universal acceptance today.

When we talk in our utopian vision, we enter into religious war with those who don’t like it, for whatever reason.

Our messaging matters. If we are just speaking to ourselves, let’s be clear about it and forego the notion that enough others will rally to our side.and adopt from us what they see fit.




     --Thanks for sharing  this, Jeff.  I will share it further on my blog.  Not because I totally agree with everything you said, but because it deserves to  be heard and considered. My own response is that you are right, but also that only government action can create behavioral change on the level and to the degree that is needed to avert catastrophic climate change.  Maybe that is what you are saying, as well. So the Climate March is one effort to impress the necessity of government action upon the world's leaders.  Now, I'm pretty sure that those leaders, or at least those among their advisors, are aware of the facts and the realities which you cite. But I also believe that those facts and realities are not enough to spur them to the action we need from them; if that were the case, I think they would have done so by now.  Only a mass movement of people will motivate those leaders to act with the kind of dispatch that is needed, and only a powerful spiritual/moral message is going to mobilize that kind of mass movement. That's why I'm on the Climate Train, and that's why I spoke the words I did at the rally.  I trust that I am among those friends whom you reference in your letter.

Thanks for your witness, your leadership, your energy, your courage. Adelante!

Nelson


Jeff Neuman-Lee

Sept. 17, 9 am-- community on the train

9 am, Sept. 17

Got on the train in Denver last night after a “Whistle-Stop Rally” and sendoff by a hundred or so folks at Union Station. There are approx.. 170 “climate riders” on the train; lots of them are wearing blue “People’s Climate Train” T-shirts.

Quite a variety of us on this train. Last night it was the younger people who were most in evidence. At 8 PM I went to an education session presented by a couple fo the younger people from Colorado, they were teaching about the impacts of oil and gas development on Colorado’s environment, economy, and politics. In one car there was a very energetic group of young people dancing to music on someone’s phone.

I was awakened at 7 am this morning by the breakfast announcement over the intercom. Decided to head to the dining car for the first seating. I had breakfast with a middle-aged couple from Portland, OR, who are also on their way to NYC for the Climate March. She is a Unitarian minister. Seems like we somewhat older folks are up for the early breakfast shift this morning. Walking through the coach cars on the say to the dining car, I saw a lot of younger people who were still “out”.

There’s a great energy and sense of community on the train.  People talking energetically, meeting and greeting each other. Much different than traveling by plane, when people are squished together for a couple hours and communal conversation is pretty much non-existent. Just now two women sat down with me at my table in the lounge car.  One is from San Diego, the other from “the Bay area”.Louise has on a hand-embroiderd “350.org” shirt, and is just not taking a picture of Olivia, who is holding a small whiteboard on which she wrote a message to be shared on Louise’s Facebook page. And just now she took my picture, as well.  My message:  “The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth. Whatever we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves.”

There are various sessions scheduled throughout the day.  I saw a sign for free massages;  after a night trying to sleep in a coach seat, I just might have to take advantage of the offer.

In case you don’t know, not only is there a large march taking place in New York this weekend,  there are hundreds of other events taking place all over the world. You can see a map locating all the events at www.peoplesclimate.org.

In a couple hours we’ll be passing not far from Wartburg College, for which I work as co-director of the college’s urban-semester program in Denver, CO.I’m privileged to work for such a fine church-related liberal arts college, but I’m doubly privileged to be living and working in Denver. People on the train from the west coast have been commenting about the beauty of travelling through Colorado by train.

Big shout out to my man James, from San Fransisco, who just sat down with me and has a WiFi hotspot and let me sign on using it (no WiFi on the train itself). James has a start-up company called Bay Efficiency which is doing energy audits and efficiency plans for commercial buildings in the Bay area. Look him up!