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Local
groups model environmental responsibility
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| Jean
Aller, left, purchases fresh produce
from St. Wienken at a farm stand
operated by the Tiffin Franciscans. |
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In recent
years, Tiffin Franciscan Sister Rita Wienken, garden
manager of the sisters’ Seeds of Hope Farm, has
noticed dramatic shifts in temperatures and extreme
variations of rainfall unlike any she has seen before in
her 27 years of farming.
“Last year we couldn’t buy a drop
of rain … and then we get three inches at a time,”
she says. “I really believe the climate is just
teaching us here about global warming, and what it’s
doing to us.”
Though climate change is a forefront
issue in the news, Sr. Wienken and two other religious
women who are leaders in environmental activism in the
diocese stress the interrelatedness of all environmental
issues.
Urban sprawl has encroached on much
of the land once used to grow food locally; Ohio is
second in the country only to Texas in loss of prime
farmland. For the past two years, the United States has
imported more food than it has exported according to
Ursuline Sister Christine Pratt, diocesan director of
the Catholic Charities rural life office.
Sr. Wienken worries about the
disappearing farmland. “You find the development on
the best land,” she points out. “Once you’ve
developed the land, it’s very difficult to reclaim it
back to agricultural land.”
On land that does remain
agricultural, the loss of topsoil is a problem in a food
system dependent on chemicals. Synthetic fertilizers
feed the plant, but not the soil, explains Sr. Wienken.
Soil and water systems are also impacted by large
amounts of manure used as fertilizer, and other toxic
waste affects local water quality.
The consensus among scientists is
growing that it is human activity that is affecting
climate change at a higher rate than before. Choices
made by each individual have environmental implications.
Christian stewardship is a
responsibility with scriptural foundations, says Sr.
Pratt. But in 1990, Pope John Paul II particularly
brought the ecological crisis to the attention of the
church in his World Day of Peace message by introducing
“care for creation” as the seventh principle of
Catholic social teaching.
Stewardship of creation is the belief
and acknowledgement that all belongs to God. We are to
care for it as God would, and are not to claim it as our
own — especially not for our time alone, says Sr.
Pratt. We have a responsibility to pass it on to the
next generation in as good or better condition.
This concept of caring for the
greater good, referred to as a “social mortgage” by
Pope John Paul II, runs counter-cultural to the notion
of individual property rights. But as Sr. Pratt points
out, “Water as it flows doesn’t just stop at my
property.”
A global response
Care for creation relates to the
dignity of the human person, since humans depend on the
health of the planet for their health.
After Pope John Paul’s 1990
statement “The Ecological Crisis: A Common
Responsibility,” bishops around the world issued
statements on caring for creation, including the U.S.
Bishops’ “Renewing the Earth” in 1991. Today the
bishops have called a particular focus to climate change
as an environmental justice issue.
Ohio has been chosen as a pilot state
for a project being developed to address climate change:
a coalition closely linked to the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops will help the church better implement
the U.S. Bishops’ 2001 statement, “Global Climate
Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence, and the Common
Good.” Executive director Dan Misleh explains the
Catholic Coalition on Climate Change will convene church
and business leaders, Catholics in diverse fields like
human services and agriculture, and scientists and
theologians for discussion on the Catholic approach to
climate change. Dialogue will focus on the common good,
prudent action and how climate change will impact the
poor — three themes of the bishops’ statement.
The impact of environmental
degradation on the poor is one of the factors connecting
the environment with social justice. Toxic dumpsites
tend to be in the backyards of poor neighborhoods;
increasingly frequent natural disasters, an effect of
climate change, take greater tolls on the poor who are
often left behind. Sr. Pratt cites the phenomenon of
environmental racism — a tendency for minority
neighborhoods to be the grounds for toxic waste disposal
or pollution sites.
“The poor are always the ones who
suffer the most,” says Sr. Wienken. “When it comes
to the environmental crisis, it’s no different.”
Change in attitude
Care for creation might begin with a
change in thinking. Consciousness of the implications of
one’s actions on the environment is the first step,
says Sr. Pratt. Cultivating an appreciation of creation
and awareness of the interrelation of humans with the
rest of creation is essential.
“People can do the same job
they’re doing with a totally different mindset,”
says Sylvania Franciscan Sister Rosine Sobczak, a
co-founder of the Science Alliance for Valuing
Environment (SAVE).
Parishes can have plans for recycling
old bulletins, gardening on the property or modeling
energy conservation. Some Catholic schools and parishes
have already taken up the call, like Our Lady of Lourdes
School in Toledo. A wildflower garden on the wooded
campus cultivates an appreciation of nature. Fourth
graders digently take care of emptying the paper
recycling bins from classrooms every Friday. Teacher
Laura Rusch says the kids have embraced the task of
conserving and recycling with enthusiasm.
Sr. Wienkin and Sr. Sobczak, both of
whom are involved in hands-on environmental education,
agree that children are the place to start.
Sr. Sobczak is the program director
of the Lourdes College Life Lab. She and others who work
in the lab teach children to see the importance of life
on every level, from the tiniest bugs and plants on up.
The lab is in part supported by SAVE,
which works to raise environmental awareness and instill
appreciation of nature into society. One of the ways
SAVE does this is by giving scholarships to allow
children to come to summer camps at the Life Lab.
In Tiffin, the Franciscan Earth
Literacy Center always has a calendar full of school and
scouting field trips, summer camps and other programs.
Founded in 1994 by the Tiffin Sisters of St. Francis as
part of a plan developed in response to an environmental
audit done on their property, the center is located in a
renovated barn that models environmental sensitivity
with its use of recycled materials and energy
efficiency.
In 2005, the Tiffin Franciscans added
the Seeds of Hope Farm to the Earth Literacy Center on
their property to model techniques of natural farming.
They start planting as early as February in their
energy-efficient greenhouses.
The farm teaches adults and children
where food comes from — and the risks of agriculture
— through the community-supported agriculture (CSA)
model. CSA first arose in Japan and Switzerland when
people were growing out of touch with where food comes
from and local farmers were losing their land. In CSA,
community members pay for a share of the harvest at the
beginning of the growing season.
“What they’re doing is taking a
risk with me,” explains Sr. Wienken. “When you
spread that risk around, the risk doesn’t just fall to
the farmer.”
The majority of CSA shares at Seeds
of Hope are “working shares,” in which families
donate their time to help at the farm. In return they
receive a portion of the harvest every week.
Hope for the future
After 13 years, Sr. Wienken says she
can see an impact by the Tiffin Franciscans on the
community around them, particularly in terms of
attitudes toward natural farming.
“By example is the best way you can
get people to see what you’re doing, and get them to
come around,” she says. “More and more people are
concerned about the environment and what they’re
leaving their children.”
“I see a lot of good things that
are happening in small levels,” says Sr. Sobczak.
“And you know, many times things don’t change
because a big group changes it; it changes because of
small organizations and groups of people.
“I really have faith and trust that
all this beauty we’ve been given will finally be more
and more realized by people,” she adds.
BY LAURIE STEVENS Chronicle Writer |
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