DEN Enews

The 10th Station of the Cross - Jesus is stripped of his garments.

“Jesus is stripped of his clothes by soldiers who gamble for them. In the same way, the Earth is stripped of her clothes - her soils, waters and forests - to fuel an economy where need is dwarfed by greed….To Jesus, the Earth was God’s “footstool” – the sacred resting place of divine presence.” God’s footstool is becoming more barren. (https://trinitychurchnyc.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/210404_sundayformation_stationsofthecross.pdf)

The question is whether clergy speak of this within their congregations. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “ while the overwhelming majority of Christian leaders accept the human-driven reality of climate change, nearly half have never mentioned climate change or humans’ role in it to their congregations.”

To quote the article cited below: “Churchgoers who think their religious leaders don’t believe humans cause climate change report being less likely to discuss it with fellow congregants and less interested in attending events that aim to address climate change or raise awareness of the issue.”

Interestingly, perceptions changed when informed of the statistics around the number of clergy who accept the reality of climate change. Please read more in this eye-opening article. https://theconversation.com/research-shows-that-a-majority-of-christian-religious-leaders-accept-the-reality-of-climate-change-but-have-never-mentioned-it-to-their-congregations-253303

We all know how busy this season is for clergy and lay people involved in church life but perhaps given the article above, perhaps spare a thought as to how your faith community can mark Earth Day in the weeks after Easter Day.

Lots going on this month and further with Save Our Old Forests. Find out more by checking our their newsletter

Lots happening with the Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick ( CRED ). Their latest newsletter has fascinating articles. Click on the link below and view their Latest News:

Looking for support for cost-effective clean energy and low carbon solutions for your faith building? You might want to apply for a grant from Low Carbon Communities, a provincial grant program from the NS Dept. of Energy. Click on the link below for all the information you need:

This upcoming federal election will determine the policies that guide our country during this pivotal time in history. We are living in a media age of noise, disinformation, and algorithms designed to create division, outrage, and individualism that distracts us. This petition is asking for Canadians to show support for the strong environmental and social justice values that unite us. Solutions that protect Canada, our communities, and the planet, include protecting at least 30% of our land and oceans, supporting Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, investing in renewable energy and facilitating access to energy efficiency for low-income families, and implementing a tax on Canada’s billionaires. Send a message to all party leaders saying you will be voting for climate, nature, affordability, and social justice in this federal election.

Public media and news play a vital role in a democracy by keeping us informed and helping to hold those in power accountable. With Trump threatening annexation and waging economic war, independent public media is needed more than ever. Defunding the CBC would leave millions of people more dependent on right-wing, US-owned media. Already, a US hedge fund owns the biggest news outlet in Canada. Protecting the CBC is vital in preventing the Americanization of our media. Ask federal party leaders Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre to commit to protecting the CBC and public media in Canada.

Vaquitas are tiny porpoises that live only in the Mexican part of the Gulf of California. There are less than ten left in the wild. Fishing nets are the biggest threat to vaquitas because they get entangled and then die a slow death by drowning. Mexico has already banned any form of fishing in parts of the vaquita habitat, but illegal fishing and lost floating nets are still a huge threat. Conservationists agree that this is the last chance for the vaquita. To have a chance, these shy mini-whales need a bigger protection zone, for gillnets to be banned completely and permanently, and for that ban to be enforced. Send a message to the Mexican government on behalf of the vaquitas.  

Greenpeace Africa have asked our help in getting the South African government to take action regards their lakes and rivers. Toxic industrial waste, unchecked mining pollution and untreated sewage is being released into their rivers and lakes. The statistics are shocking: 50,000 litres of raw or partially treated sewage seeps into rivers every second, only 26 of South Africa’s 958 water supply systems can deliver clean, drinkable water. Among other things the government must invest in sustainable water infrastructure, repair leaks, upgrade sanitation and improve reservoirs, hold polluters accountable and enforce stricter penalties on industries and guarantee water access for all, ensuring every South African has clean, safe water, regardless of location or income.

 An illegal wildlife trade of primate skulls has increased over the last decade in Indonesia. Tourists are taking bones from orangutans and gibbons out of the country in their airplane luggage. A lot of the species that are being traded are endangered. Unsuspecting tourists may not know this, and may be buying skulls on sale and unintentionally contributing to the hunting of animals for profit. There is already a law banning the trade, but airlines aren’t adhering to it. That’s where this petition to the airlines flying out of Indonesia comes in. Indonesia’s busiest tourism time is the middle of the year, so let’s ramp up the pressure on airlines now and get bans in place.

 “Control”

With all the political tension, the worry of food chains, the worry of stretching incomes, finding housing and all the frenzy the media can instill in us, life can be worrisome.

News people love to have a big “Oh, Woe is me!” story.

Then along comes Grandma saying “Calm down. We will be OK.”

“Sure we will, Grandma. I could lose my job. I could not have enough food for the kids. They could do this or that and make my life miserable.”

Listen and you can feel the anxiety rising, globally.

Anxiety loves to fill us with worry and fear. Then it starts a panic. All because we feel we can’t control what the world is throwing at us.

So, start doing something you can control! Just hear me out.

Since Covid, Grandma has found herself starting to worry about things. Maybe she always did worry but not at such a high pitch hum as the last years have produced.

Grandma knew she had to find a way to turn the frenzy off or at least dial it back a bit. How could she do that? What could a Grandma control?

Grandma could control getting supper on the table. Sounds too simple, right? Not so when your mind is going a few extra km an hour than it should.

So, I planned supper: the protein, the veggies, the carbs. That first day I peeled carrots and put them in water before lunch. I had the meat out of the freezer before breakfast. Whenever my mind started with a worry I turned it to suppers. I planned meals for a week. Then came deserts. OK, I made too many and froze a bunch, but I wasn’t worrying. I caught myself humming a tune while I worked.

It's not anything new. For decades people said to keep busy when having troubles. Goodness knows I washed enough floors after tucking my darlings in bed, just to keep myself away from some trouble at the time.

What good will this do? It did me a world of good. I turned off the world for a while, and sort of got my feet under me again. When the next worry or fear started to zing at a panic level, it didn’t bother me as much.

The world hasn’t changed. There will always be some strife going on. It is how Grandma reacts to whatever comes her way, that has changed.

These are troubled times, but we WILL BE OK. Want to make it better? Find your equivalent to making suppers and chip away at it even for a few minutes a day when that fizzy worry comes your way. You may even hear yourself humming a tune.

Can’t wait for Flowers

Grandma is outside every day it is above freezing and not blowing a gale. Like every other year, it seems like forever till you can start plants inside. Then it is forever for the crocus and other flowers to bloom.

Grandma cheated

One limb of her forsythia kept swatting her as she went by. Pruners turned it into many sticks. Put them in a bottle of water and a few days you have FLOWERS.

Thanks be.

The Benefits of Mulch

Grandma always felt that mulch was that stuff in the fancy bags at expensive prices in the gardening stores. It can be the sawdust from woodworking projects or from cutting up a cord of wood for winter. It could be leaves or grass clippings or inorganic stuff like the black weed kill. What good does mulch do?

It conserves water. Mulch acts as a barrier reducing evaporation so you need to water your plants less.

It blocks sunlight around your plants, cutting down on weeds

Mulch is a blanket over your soil. In summer it is a sunscreen but in cooler temperatures, it helps to keep heat in.

Mulch made of sawdust or woodchips decompose over time making a fertilizer for the plants.

My personal favourite is that mulch prevents erosion. Grandma put seaweed over all her gardens in the fall. The newer garden beds may have sunk a bit (as those papers and cardboard on the bottom decompose) but the older beds stayed at the same height. The wind did not steal my topsoil this year.

Grandma has been gifted mulch recently, the black cedar in fancy bags type of mulch. As always, will let you know how that works out.

Spring Banner

This is too simple but lets our boys crawl around the floor.

Grandma received a nice strip of brown paper in a parcel recently. Smoothing it out it looked great for a banner.

You can iron the brown paper to make it look less crumbled.

Then I wrote Happy Easter with letters they could colour in.

Next, we passed out stickers to put all over the banners.

Then Grandma found a few dowels for the ends and middle, just right for small hands to hold. We taped them in place.

Although we have to wait till Easter Sunday to “party”, there was no harm in giving folks a “sneak peek” as we plan to add to our banner for Easter.

Rice Krispie Cake Pops?

You guessed it. Mix up Rice Krispie squares but quickly form them into balls. If lucky you will have helpers put sticks in the balls and add sprinkles over them

It is as simple as my cracker dessert that I already have a request for Easter.

Both recipes below

Rice Krispie Pops

¼ cup margarine

A bag of large marshmallows or 5 cups of miniature ones

6 cups Rice Krispies

In a large saucepan melt butter. Add marshmallow and cook till melted. Add Rice Krispies.

Now comes the fun and messy part. I have a half cup little measuring cup. Quickly portion and shape into balls. Insert sticks. Roll in sprinkles or chocolate chips and let stand to dry. Try to stay away from them for 20 minutes

Remember to save a cracker box and cut slits in it to stand up the pops.

CRACKER DESSERT

1 sleeve crackers

1 can pie filling

1 container whipped cream mixture

In an 8 x 8 cake pan, layer soda crackers on the bottom.

Add a third of the pie filling, then a third of the whipped cream

Repeat twice

Put it in the fridge overnight and you have what looks like a fancy truffle dessert the next day. So good!

There will not be a newsletter next week. Carole is busy enough during Holy Week. See you in two week’s time.

Hugs

Grandma