Climate Change Vigil

If you passed through down town Jonesborough on Thursday April 18, 2013, you would have seen little lights shining on the steps of the Jonesborough courthouse.  Community members gathered for a candlelight vigil for climate change.  The event was sponsored by the TN Interfaith Power and Light and Green Interfaith Network Inc. or GINI.  The vigil was supported and led by the Cross of Grace Lutheran Church.  The event was a chance for people of different faiths from the community to come together and share their concern for climate change through understanding, practice and outreach.

            Speakers at the vigil included Rev. Ed Wolff of the Cross of Grace Lutheran Church, Rev. Bob Robertson of the Central Christian Church and Rev. Allen Huff of the Jonesborough Presbyterian Church. “I think the climate vigils offer some solidarity for people of faith in the TriCities area who acknowledge the seriousness of climate change.” says Carol Landis, GINI member. “This is especially important in upper East TN, where we live among hard-working families who may be struggling as we address the implications of climate change on our changing society.”

            The TN Interfaith Power and Light is the state affiliate of a network of faith communities working across the U.S., offering a spiritual response to climate change. Their mutual efforts protect the climate through upholding the sacredness of life, defending those most vulnerable to the many impacts of climate change and the advocating for effective climate protection policies. 

            “I hope people will realize that the changing climate is not a political 

issue--it is a moral and ethical issue that is directly related to our core values and beliefs.” says Landis. “All the major religions of the world include a message of caring...for the gifts we've been given and about the plight of others. We need to acknowledge that people of faith have an inherent obligation to humanity (to love one another, etc.), and also acknowledge that low-income communities will be disproportionately affected by climate change. We have an obligation to the present, and to future generations, to reduce our impact. This can be done through making personal choices toward improved energy efficiency, wise use of resources, and being responsible about purchasing durable items and assuring their proper disposal to eliminate unnecessary contamination of soil, water, and air.”

            For more information on future vigils or how to become involved, please visit www.greeninterfaith.org or email GreenInterfaith@gmail.com.

World's Largest Turtle Could Be Extinct in 20 Years

''We're not doing enough to save leatherback sea turtles or their ocean home. The problems they face -- climate change, plastic pollution, fisheries that catch far more than fish -- are problems that threaten us, too," said Kilduff" This is a quote from Catherine Kilduff of the Centre for Biological.


This quote is found in a recent article from CBS News. The article is about the leather back sea turtle and how it is going extinct. Of course the biggest problems are related to humans.

The article gives four different reasons that the sea turtles are dying out. One of them is plastic pollution. It astonishes me how still in this day and age people still think its ok to throw garbage into the environment. There should be better efforts to keep not just our beaches clean, but other environments too.

Another major problem is climate change. There is argument on both sides whether or not climate change is generated from humans. Personally, I think that it is a little of both. I would say that humans most certainly contribute to climate change. We put so many burnt fossil fuels into the air each day, I don't see how anyone could say that doesn't effect anything. At the same time though, if you look back in time, there are records of extreme climate changes and there have been scientific studies proving that the Earth's climate goes through cycles.

I found it interesting that due to the climate change, whatever it is caused by, the turtle eggs aren't able to fully grow because the climate heats up the sand too much and it damages the eggs. This is something I have never heard, but it makes sense.

It is sad that so many animals are on the brink of extinction. Attached to the article is a link of over 60 animals that are nearing extinction due to issues like the leather back sea turtle are facing.

View the original CBS article here
World's largest turtle could be extinct in 20 years, scientists say - CBS News:

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