Stewardship

Being good stewards of God's creation is an important way of expressing our faith. Environmental damage is a good legacy of neither our love of God, or our love of our children and grandchildren.

Consider the following from Reuters:
Global warming could wipe out most birds: WWF

Unchecked climate change could drive up to 72 per cent of the world's bird species into extinction but the world still has a chance to limit the losses, conservation group WWF said in a report on Tuesday.

From migratory insect-eaters to tropical honeycreepers and cold water penguins, birds are highly sensitive to changing weather conditions and many are already being affected badly by global warming, the new study said.

"Birds are the quintessential 'canaries in the coal mine' and are already responding to current levels of climate change," said the report, launched at a United Nations conference in Kenya on ways to slow warming.

"Birds now indicate that global warming has set in motion a powerful chain of effects in ecosystems worldwide," WWF said.

As we make the environment unfit for birds and other species, we make it unfit for our children and grandchildren.

This article from CNN shows that the impact is already being felt on human life:

Aboriginal communities in Ontario's far north are becoming increasingly isolated as rising temperatures melt their winter route to the outside world and impede their access to supplies.

During the coldest months between January and March, "winter roads" are cleared on the frozen network of rivers and lakes to let trucks deliver bulk supplies like fuel and building materials.

But average temperatures have risen during the past decade, weakening the ice and shrinking the bulk-shipping season by several weeks, aboriginals say.

In the past 60 years, regional temperatures have increased by an average of 0.8 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) in the winter, and by 1.3 degrees Celsius in spring, according to Environment Canada, a federal government body.

That change has been more pronounced in the far north, where average winter temperatures have jumped 4.4 degrees Celsius over the same time.

Indeed, warming has speeded up since 1998, after which temperatures in Canada have consistently been above normal, said Bob Whitewood, a climatologist at Environment Canada.

So many reports on global warming say that we can limit the losses. We must do what we can. If we fail to do so, as people of faith, we disgrace ourselves.

GP