Trip to Nicaragua to study climate change, poverty & hunger
Hello, Renewal folks ..
First time blogging in this space, and haven't even been back here to 'visit' for some time.
Life and ministry work have been FULL.
The photo I just uploaded tonight is from this past January, when I had the privilege of traveling with a small delegation of ELCA Lutherans for 10 days in Nicaragua, to study the interconnections between climate change, poverty and hunger. Specifically, to witness how climate change exacerbates those problems, especially among vulnerable populations.
I saw and experienced more than I can fully share right now, but I can say that my heart was deeply moved by the people we met in campesino communities on both coasts of the country. These people do not need scientists to tell them about climate change ... they experience its effects on a regular basis: in droughts and flooding rains, in erratic rainy seasons that make it nearly impossible to successfully grow their subsistence crops, and in the spread of insect-borne diseases into new areas. These are people who already live on the margins and barely get by.
The effects of climate change add so much more to their challenges.
And, of course, this doesn't happen only in Nicaragua - similar scenarios play out for thousands upon thousands of vulnerable people around the world.
The photo is of me with a too-cute little boy named Ricardo. He lives in a small, dusty (well, in the dry season) community called Mata de Cana (the walls of the houses are made of dried sugar cane stalks - "cana").
He was full of smiles, even though he lives in such a tough situation.
For children like that ... and for all of creation, we really need to do all that we can to make some real changes in how we live on this Earth, together.
I am hopeful that we - as a country - are moving towards a turning point to a cleaner energy future; that we roll back our CO2 emissions (www.350.org) ... that we each do what we can, in our own lives, but also raise our voices and speak out to our legislators.
A great poem by Adrienne Rich:
My heart is moved by all I cannot save, so much has been destroyed.
I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with
no extraordinary power
reconstitute the world.
kw
First time blogging in this space, and haven't even been back here to 'visit' for some time.
Life and ministry work have been FULL.
The photo I just uploaded tonight is from this past January, when I had the privilege of traveling with a small delegation of ELCA Lutherans for 10 days in Nicaragua, to study the interconnections between climate change, poverty and hunger. Specifically, to witness how climate change exacerbates those problems, especially among vulnerable populations.
I saw and experienced more than I can fully share right now, but I can say that my heart was deeply moved by the people we met in campesino communities on both coasts of the country. These people do not need scientists to tell them about climate change ... they experience its effects on a regular basis: in droughts and flooding rains, in erratic rainy seasons that make it nearly impossible to successfully grow their subsistence crops, and in the spread of insect-borne diseases into new areas. These are people who already live on the margins and barely get by.
The effects of climate change add so much more to their challenges.
And, of course, this doesn't happen only in Nicaragua - similar scenarios play out for thousands upon thousands of vulnerable people around the world.
The photo is of me with a too-cute little boy named Ricardo. He lives in a small, dusty (well, in the dry season) community called Mata de Cana (the walls of the houses are made of dried sugar cane stalks - "cana").
He was full of smiles, even though he lives in such a tough situation.
For children like that ... and for all of creation, we really need to do all that we can to make some real changes in how we live on this Earth, together.
I am hopeful that we - as a country - are moving towards a turning point to a cleaner energy future; that we roll back our CO2 emissions (www.350.org) ... that we each do what we can, in our own lives, but also raise our voices and speak out to our legislators.
A great poem by Adrienne Rich:
My heart is moved by all I cannot save, so much has been destroyed.
I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with
no extraordinary power
reconstitute the world.
kw
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