We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Connecting to the Season of Creation

The Season of Creation is an optional season for the church year. For the most part, the seasons of the church year follow the life of Jesus: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter. The remainder of the church year encompasses Pentecost season (or Ordinary Time), which celebrates life in the Holy Spirit.

For centuries, our theology our theology has focused on relationship with God and our human relationships with one another. The Season of Creation focuses God’s relationship with all creation and with our relationship with creation (and with God through creation). It highlights our role in understanding and addressing address the ecological problems we face today as a part of God’s creation.


A Rogation Treat – OnBeing interview with author Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Listen to the interview

She is the author of the Braiding Sweetgrass. From Bookshop.org “As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert).

“Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings–asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass–offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return. “

Artists for Climate

 

Just in time for Rogation Sunday!

 

In 2021, TED Countdown launched a partnership with Fine Acts – a global creative studio for social impact – to kick off a series of SPRINTS, creative boot camps held at TEDx events worldwide.

The goal: Engage artists to envision a better future. In three years, this extraordinary collaboration has produced hundreds of inspiring works for The Climate Collection – a unique vault of open-license visuals.

They are here

Earth Day 2024

Earth Day originated in 1970 after Sen. Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin witnessed the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. He hoped it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. It did lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the passage of the Clean Air Act and a dialogue on a host of issues. In our time it focuses on climate change

The theme in 2024 is “Planet vs. Plastics”. The organizing arm earthday.org has the main goal of a 60% reduction in the production of plastics by 2040.

To achieve a 60% reduction by 2040, earthday.org goals are: (1) promoting widespread public awareness of the damage done by plastic  (2) rapidly phasing out all single use plastics by 2030 and achieving this phase out commitment in the United Nations Treaty on Plastic Pollution in 2024 (3) demanding policies ending the vast amount of plastic the fashion industry   produces and uses (4) investing in technologies to build a plastics-free world.

Plastics are a threat to human health. As plastics break down into microplastics, they release toxic chemicals into our food and water sources and circulate through the air we breathe. 

Scientists have found microplastics — or their tinier cousins, nanoplastics — embedded in the human placenta, in blood, in the heart and in the liver and bowels. Plastics can also carry other chemicals not involved in their production: “hitchhikers” absorbed onto plastics and later potentially released into the human body.

The chemicals in plastics have been linked to a variety of issues, including reproductive harm and obesity, organ problems, and developmental delays in children. Ingesting these plastics causes cell damage, which could lead to inflammation and allergic reactions, and once consumed, removing microplastics from your body is not an easy process.

Plastics surround us with the use of plastic bags, plastic containers, packaging materials and garments. (70% from crude oil releasing microfibers ). The small fragments linger for centuries. Animals die from our distribution of plastics

Cigarette butts (whose filters contain tiny plastic fibers), food wrappers, plastic bottles, plastic bottle caps, plastic grocery bags, plastic straws and plastic stirrers are among the most common pollutants. 

In 1950, the world produced 2 million metric tons of plastic; in 2019, that number had grown to a staggering 460 million tons. And when that plastic breaks down, it splits into tinier and tinier pieces that can slide more easily into the human body.

Plastics can take anywhere from 20 to  500 years to decompose, depending on the material’s structure and environmental factors such as sunlight exposure. 

Less than 14% of plastic packaging is recycled.  With plastics being composed of several different polymer types, it is nearly impossible to recycle different plastics together as they melt at different temperatures.  

Additionally, to be recycled properly, plastics need to be separated. This is not only time consuming, but costly. 

Links

1. Disposable plastics
2. Single use plastics
3. Ocean plastics
4. Microplastics
5. Threat to human health

Take action

1. Sign the Global Plastic Treaty
2. Educate yourself on plastics
3. Reject fast fashion
4. Take a Plastic Quiz

Manage Your Plastic Use

Individually we cannot change industries or policies but we can make manageable changes in our lifestyles to counter the threats.

Earthday.org calls these the 5R’s- Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, Recycle and Remove

1. Reduce – Before you shop…
Ask yourself two questions when considering plastic products or products with plastic packaging – Do I need it? Can I use something else?

2. Refuse – Say “no” to plastics
The substitutes for plastics are the ones you choose which can make a contribution to the environment.

Some key tips
A. Avoid plastic straws – use metal or wood/paper based straws.
B. Use reusable shopping bags. And buy cloth or mesh bags to carry fresh produce to the cashier.
C. Select products without plastic packaging.
D. Note products that use plastic microfibers – such as nylon and polyester
E. Bring your own coffee cup to the coffee shop.

3. Reuse – Avoid single-use plastics
Use dishes, glasses, and metal silverware instead of their plastic counterparts.
Avoid plastic items going to the dump – When you finally decide to get rid of old clothes, toys, furniture, or electronics, donate them rather than throwing them away.

For young parents -Trying washable reusable cloth diapers instead of disposable ones.

Any food containers from restaurants are durable enough to be reused for kitchen storage. Make sure to wash them by hand—putting them in the dishwasher can expose you to toxins.

4. Recycle -Know your waste management company/county. This is not the best choice when dealing with plastics. It cannot replace the need for reducing consumption or refusing and reusing plastics when you can.

If you have to throw away something, segregate it and give it a chance to be recycled!. If recycling is the best option, you should do so following the rules of your community.

For Caroline county -Eric Johnson is the Solid Waste Superintendent email – ejohnson@co.caroline.va.us or phone number (804)572-6301.

For the most part, only recycle if you are positive that the item is truly recyclable.

5. Remove – “Get it outta here!

Plastic/litter clean-ups are great community events that let you meet the people who live around you while cleaning up your local community at the same time.

I try to take an hour or two to walk different paths in the neighborhood to pick up trash. The walking and stretching are good exercises and help the community at the same time.

Biodegradable plastics have emerged as a potential solution and are made from natural sources like plant-based materials and micro-organisms such as bacteria that can be used in a variety of industries such as packaging, construction, and healthcare.

Parish Creation Care Committee – Additional ideas for Earth Day

From the Diocese of Connecticut, April 12, 2024

1. Purchase silicone containers as a substitute for plastic containers from restaurants for takeout

From St. Peter’s, Cheshire, CT

A Campaign to Minimize Single-Use Plastic and Food Waste -Contain&Sustain* was awarded *The Jack Spaeth Creation Care Environmental Grant* through ECCT and gained additional financial support from St. Peter’s ECW fund. In late July we launched a matching grant community crowdfunding campaign through Sustainable CT that ended Sept. 2.We reached our $3,000 donation goal and earned the 1.5 dollar-for-dollar match to equal $7,633.30!**

These funds purchased 1700 compact, reusable silicone take-away food containers, which we are distributing FREE to community members. Our goal is to build awareness of food waste AND the waste caused by single-use plastic/styrofoam carry-out containers AND to change behavior to minimize their use in Cheshire

2. Use sneaker collection Highland Elementary, is doing a sneaker recycling drive for Earth Day. Used sneakers will be collected and sent to a company that recycles them and keeps them out of landfills.

Read more

A Poem for Earth Day

“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Blessing of the Animals – Oct. 4, 2013 – 10 years ago

  Friday, Oct. 4, 2013  (full size gallery)

Oct 4 is the day set aside to remember St. Francis with his respect toward nature and his example of living the life of Christ in abject poverty. Traditionally it is the day for the Blessing of the Animals worldside.

Every Blessing of the Animals is different. We had 8 dogs with 17 people – the same number of animals as in 2012 but this blessing was characterized by the number of children which contrasted nicely with last year’s more subdued gathering. It was definitely livelier on an unseasonably warm day for this year However, one thing is constant – Elizabeth Heimbach’s mouse treats. They’re worth coming out for even without an animal.

After an opening by Catherine on the life of St. Francis ( the prayer of St. Francis ), we used this service . First is a part where we comfort the animals and then the priest goes around and blesses each individually. 

The animals seemed to enjoy the day and the Fishers got Jackie, a newcomer this year, to perform for us. And then the children performed with hoola hoops! 

The extensive yard of St. Peter’s gets a workout on this day. There is something magical between children and animals and the pictures try to capture some of that. Nature cooperated with a blanket of sunlight through the early evening. 

Season of Creation 2023 – a retrospective

The image shows the challenges and work to improve the environment in the darker areas with the light areas, the work we are doing now and a promise for the future.

We did fewer projects and concentrated on the beauty of creation and the need for renewal.  The Season of Creation was present in these areas:

  1. Five Sundays readings in the Season of Creation and highlighted a specific environmental area which we covered weekly.- Earth, water, energy, food (waste), deforestation. Link
  1. We began a new Christian Ed for Children ages 5-9 and they covered water
  2. The services during the month had the following different sections

Read more

Concluding the Season of Creation – Prayers for the Earth

Based on the Fifth Mark of Mission


To Strive

God, creator of the universe,
Fill us with your love for the creation,
for the natural world around us,
for the earth from which we come
and to which we will return.    
Awake in us energy to work for your world; 
let us never fall into complacency, ignorance,
or being overwhelmed by the task before us.
Help us to restore, remake, renew. Amen 

Read more