Guardians of the Places Where We LIve

Dateline: A home in the woods of southern Connecticut

“Bioregional.” That is the word that is “in” in environmenatalism. It is a good word. It means that if we want to live a healthy life, and to insure a healthy life for the countless generations to follow, we must become guardians of the places where we live. This vision recognizes and celebrates our local connections with land, plants, animals, rivers, lakes and air, as well as our human community.

This vision affirms the statement made in 1854 by Chief Seattle, that “Every part of the earth is sacred. Every single pine needle, every shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of our race. You are part of the earth, and earth is part of you.”

“You do not weave the web of life, you are merely a strand in it. Whatever you do to the web you do to yourself. You may think you own the land. You do not. It is God’s. The earth is precious to God and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on the Creator.”

This vision shares the insights of Liberty Hyde Bailey, written in 1915: “So bountiful hath ben the earth and so securely have we drawn from its substance, that we have taken it all for granted as if it were only a gift, and with little care or conscious thought of the consequences of our use of it; nor have we very much considered the essential relation that we bear to it as living parts of the vast creation.”

The sacredness of the earth is intrinsic and inherent. It lies in our necessary relationship and in the duty imposed upon us to have dominion, and to exercise ourselves even aginst our own interests. We may not waste that which is not ours. To live in sincere relations with the company of created things and with conscious regard for the support of all persons now and yet to come, must be the essence of righteousness.”

Thomas Berry reminds us today that we are earth people. Political boundaries, devised by humans to allocate land ownership and legal responsibilities, have kept us from being connected to the earth. We tend to see our responsibilities ending at our property lines. The bioregional vision brings us back to the reality that our lives are joined in a living wholeness with all species of life.

The vision, says Berry, “… teaches us to see our continuity with the indigenous humand cultures who have loved these home places for thousands of years. Bioregionalism teaches us to craft life to the attributes of our special place. This leap changes our imagination, loyalties and action.”

A couple dozen of us gathered at a Connecticut woods home to plan and further the work of the North American Conference on Christianity and ecology. The mission statement of the NACCE state that its purpose is “to elucidate Christianity’s inherent ecological dimension.”

The home of our host and hostess for the weekend illustrates some of the complexities of the problem. This lovely home has no flowers, shrubs or garden because an overpopulation of deer will immediately consume such plants. As natural predators have been removed from the woods the deer population has moved rapidly upward. Our hostess reported that deer confront her on her lawn and stomp their feet at her, challenging her right to live on their turf.

The environmental challenge is a spiritual one, and the Church should lead the way.