Wood Chips
From the shores of Lake Superior (The Third Coast)
We’re learning about our interdependency. And the stakes are high. Medical professionals from China, Italy, and South Korea are sharing what they know about COVID-19 with researchers in the United States. Everyone realizes that a “me first” approach, either ethnically, politically or religiously, isn’t going to work this time around.
This is something those of us who live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have come to learn the hard way. Some folks thought that by moving to a small distant corner of the Great Lakes Basin one could escape pollution and environmental degradation. No, we’re all connected. Studies now show that the greatest source of contamination for Lake Superior isn’t what is known as “point source” contamination. It’s atmospheric loading. Rainfall, carrying dioxins, traveling to us from factories in St. Louis and Beijing.
The pandemic swirling around our planet needs an international coordinated response. This may be a moment when the global community begins to understand that goodwill and a commitment to the honoring of common ground (protection of our world’s water and air quality) is the only path to survival.
Our faith communities, often existing quietly, and these days increasingly diminished in the background of modern life, have an opportunity, perhaps like no other time in human history, to step up and lead the way with this message.
Jon
The Cedar Tree Institute
“Wood Chips” is a series of brief reflections written by Jon Magnuson, Director of the Cedar Tree Institute.
