For the Love of Creation

The Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada are part of a coalition of 35 Canadian churches and faith-based organizations mobilizing an unprecedented, months-long campaign of personal environmental action coupled with federal climate advocacy. 

For the Love of Creation's faith-in-action campaign mobilizes people across Canada to reduce their household greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and demonstrate support for increased federal climate action by writing letters to key federal Cabinet Ministers on a range of climate justice issues: climate ambition, a just transition, Indigenous rights, and support for the Global South. 

Take Four Actions Now!

Make a personal pledge to reduce your GHG emissions and engage in acts of solidarity with justice-seeking communities!

 Make your personal pledge!

Share your pledge and call on federal Cabinet Ministers to commit the Government of Canada to:

A. Increase our national GHG emissions reduction target and invest in a just transition to a fair, inclusive, green economy.

Sign Letter A: Emissions & Transition

B. Implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including, but not limited to, the right of free, prior, and informed consent.  

Sign Letter B: Indigenous Rights

 C. Commit equal support for climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in the Global South.

Sign Letter C: Adaptation & Mitigation

Going Electric

Our Sisters of St. Joseph’s London, Ontario LEED building with its emphasis on everything sustainable, recyclable, and reusable is now over thirteen-years-old.  We compost and shun plastic bottles. Recently, we became a Blue Community, espousing water as a human right and all that such an endeavor requires. Since the 2007 opening of our residence, our staff has embraced these climate-friendly efforts and often practice them at home.

Victoria, RPN

Last week, as I sat comforting a dear friend in our care centre, Victoria, one of our RPNs, announced that she and her husband Josh are awaiting the arrival of their newly purchased electric car.  Her excitement was palpable as she thought about the amount of time and effort that they put into making this decision.  After explaining that the 2021 Ford Escape electric SUV is somewhat more expensive than a fuel-driven vehicle, she stated how important it is for them to invest in this electric model due to ever-increasing climate change.

Victoria eagerly outlined the unique features of the couple’s new purchase. As is no surprise, the vehicle needs to be plugged into an electric outlet every night.  A full, all-night charge provides 380 kilometers of carefree travel.  Of course, the battery is recharging during driving, braking and coasting.  Not only is the Escape pollution-free but it’s gas-free as well.

Victoria’s new vehicle has another neat, new technological feature.  The SUV is so quiet, that it has a beeping reversing signal system especially for pedestrian awareness.  In addition, if the electric vehicle driver follows too closely to the vehicle ahead of it, an automatic braking system will be activated.  For yet another perk, this SUV can parallel park by itself!  I have no doubt that when the happy couple finally receives the much in demand electric Ford Escape in February, even more exciting features will be revealed. 

Well before Victoria and Josh considered purchasing an electric vehicle, they were already eco-friendly and reducing their carbon footprint. They use reusable grocery shopping bags plus reusable mesh bags for produce.  A Culligan water filtration system eliminates plastic bottles.  Stainless steel straws are a must and conscientious recycling, has reduced weekly garbage from three bags to one.  A composting initiative is on the horizon.

Victoria reflected that over the past five years, gradual adjustments to daily living have benefitted the couple’s lifestyle. They know that they are working to reduce climate change and create a healthier environment for their future children and the earth. Happy motoring Victoria and Josh!

-Sister Jean Moylan, csj

50th Anniversary - Earth Day 2020

On April 22 1970 environmental fears mobilized 10 percent of American population, or 20 million people to demonstrate and demand from world leaders, a new strategy to save our environment.   Propelling this demonstration forward, was the unified response of ordinary people, who seized the opportunity/crises, from events such as the “oil spills, smog, river being so polluted that they literally caught on fire”.  To this day, solidifying a unified response to this problem, from world leaders, has been slow and ineffective. 

Perhaps some of the resistance is due to the fact, we live in a mechanistic age, lacking in “creativity, innovation, ambition and bravery, to meet our climate crises and seize the enormous opportunities of a zero-carbon future.”  In these turbulent times a new vision for the future is imperative, as we work together towards transformative change, in ourselves and our entire world.  However, it is imperative we maintain hope for progress leading to solutions against global warming.   

Currently, I want to imagine, that the coronavirus sweeping the world will be like a “thin edge of the wedge”, to open the door for a more unified response to our global environmental crises. Deep in our bones and DNA, we know that not addressing climate change, endangers not just the lungs and life of people, but of all creation, above, below, in the oceans, earth, and high into the stratosphere of our beautiful sky, mountains and solar system.  

Let us follow the example of former TV news anchor Walter Cronkite.  He kept a photo of the earth taken from space, “Earthrise” from Apollo 8, on his desk, to remind him of “The Earth’s Fragility”.  Art is of value, because art has the ability to shift consciousness, to help the viewer wonder and see things in new ways. It is my belief we will evolve with greater intimacy and commitment to mother earth. By changing inconsistent patterns and using our imagination, we are capable of finding a creative new global agreement. We can. We will. We must.

Visit www.earthday.org/earth-day-2020/ and discover activities happening on Earth Day in your neighbourhood,  around our world, and also the history of Earth Day.

- Sister Patricia St. Louis, csj

I Am Water: introduce yourself with water

From our CSJ Blue Community website. 

Many of the actions we can take to honour water as a human right, shared commons, and sacred gift are collective, yet the ways we describe who we are and where we are from can shift the broader water-agenda in profound ways. 

https://www.bluecommunitycsj.org/post/i-am-water-introduce-yourself-with-water

Prayer in Response to the Climate Emergency

Loving Creator,

You make all things in balance:

sun and moon

earth and sea

fire and ice

so that all Creation might exist in harmony.

We lament that our greed has disrupted this balance.

The climate emergency threatens all existence.

Droughts and flooding

extreme heat and ice storms

coastal erosion and rising sea levels

are increasingly the norm.

To change our climate for the better, we ourselves must change.

We ourselves must be transformed into a new humanity.

Loving Creator, we ask you to make us anew

Open our eyes – to see the beauty of Creation

Open our ears – to hear the prophets speaking Truth among us

Open our arms – to embrace our neighbours, human and other-than-human

Open our hands – to do the work that must be done

Open our hearts – to be instruments of Love in the world

Embolden us and our political leaders to take action now.

For act we must.

Prayer prior to the UN Summit on Climate Action, and Federal elections in Canada

UISG Canadian constellations —September 1, 2019.