Faith and the Common Good: a query

Bill Curry, a Saskatchewan Friend, sends this quotation from Faith and the Common Good newsletter, November 2004:

For most of us, the connection between our faith and respect for creation seems fairly straightforward. Of course, God calls us to be good stewards of creation just as we are called to love and care for one another. Many of us have traveled through our lives appreciating the beauty and bounty of Canada, but with limited awareness of how our so-called modern living is impacting the natural world.

Even though  scientists such as David Suzuki have been warning us for decades about human abuse of the planet, it still seems terribly sudden that we have escalated from 'the good life' to an ecological crisis that threatens our very existence. It's like going from fast-forward to reverse without slowing down in-between. After generations of hard work by Canadians to build a prosperous nation, we now discover that we have seriously soiled the nest and that our good life is our children's hellish legacy.

Except for the most consciously greedy, I don't think any of us imagined we were using up our children's inheritance. We want our children to live as well or better than us. They are entitled to the basics that we take for granted: fresh air, clean water and healthy soil. But these staples of life can no longer be assumed.

What, then, are we called to do?

See specific activities for greening churches, towns, and national campaigns in multifaith Faith and the Common Good, Christian ecumenical KAIROS and its ABCs of municipal lobbying, US Quaker Earthcare Witness, UK Living Witness, Transition Towns PPT and wiki, Transition Culture, FEASTA, Climate Group, Joanna Macy's Work that Reconnects, Bill Rees' OneEarthWeb. See also our Feb 13 and 17 postings. Many more ideas in the Delicious tags (lower right column) click governance.