More than 15 citizens took an opportunity Sunday, May 5, to discuss the interconnected issues of faith and ecological issues.
The Social Justice committee at Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church hosted the interfaith discussion.
Jessica Wiskus, member of that committee, said those in attendance are here speaking on this issue because it was important to all citizens, not just that of one denomination.
Pope Francis recently wrote a letter about the ecological issues being faced by everyone around the world.
Francis came to his point after visiting with scientists and other theologians on this issue. With scientists, he asked them to outline the problems the world is facing due to climate change, and with theologians he worked on the message.
Scenes from the documentary “The Letter: Laudato Si Film” also known as “The Pope, the Environmental Crisis and Frontline Leaders” were screened.
Francis noted that he stumbled on this issue discovering that there was a tree in the middle of a lake when he was visiting a community and he thought that was odd. When he visited with others, he discovered that wasn’t just a tree, but an entire island that was flooded by rising waters across the globe caused by climate change.
One of the voices that spoke in the documentary was also Aroune Kande, a citizen of Senegal. He spoke about how drought had impacted his farms growing up, and forced his uncle to relocate him to a larger town for education. It was when he was at that school he discovered his parents died due to the continued drought.
The town he now lived in, however, has seen impacts from climate change, as the rising sea has washed away thousands of homes, displacing 3,200 people in temporary housing many of them have now resided in for more than five years. The documentary indicates 1.2 billion people could be experiencing similar issues by 2050 due to climate change.
In Brazil, Chief Dada Borari of the Maro Indigenous Land, spoke about the impact of deforestation is having on his land. More than 212 have been killed in the past standing up against those invading the land who were standing up for their rights. Deforestation and converting the land has led to an area twice the size of the country of Spain to be converted in the Amazon rainforests.
After those scenes, Wiskus shared some of the viewpoints from local farmers about issues that are in the area.
Judy Poduska was set to speak as a representative for the community gardens program, which raises more than 4,000 pounds of produce locally that is distributed through Southeast Linn Community Center. Those gardens are worked on by numerous citizens in Lisbon and Mount Vernon at locations near the Rehabilitation Center of Lisbon and Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center.
Laura Krouse, who works at Abbe Hills Community Supported Agriculture and serves as a Linn County Soil and Water conservation efforts.
Krouse said as a Mennonite, they take a lot of their faith guidance from the Sermon on the Mount and being responsible to one another. They practice faith through their service to others.
One issue Krouse noted is while she runs a CSA, she consistently worries about her carbon footprint.
“While I know I’m doing what I can in the house I live in, people driving SUVs to my home weekly to pick up their orders seems like it is counterintuitive to that reduction,” Krouse said. “I think we should look at more food hubs that send food from one centralized location to where it is needed.”
Krouse does believe that Iowa could grow enough food to feed Iowans year round, but more citizens would have to adapt to environmental rational eating, eating foods only when they are in season.
Josh Henik, a seventh generation farmer, said what concerns him is that only seven percent of the ground in the world has growable soil that feeds people.
He said while Iowa has some of the strongest soils in the world, the other rich area for soil is in the Russia and Ukraine territories, which have been impacted by that ongoing conflict.
“We’re seeing that trading partners with Ukraine are being impacted by the lower crops getting to them as this conflict continues,” Henik said.
Henik said that it is important for farmers to be good stewards of the land and do what they can to grow crops while mitigating impact.
Community members noted the importance of their own actions on farming.
One attendee encouraged more non-farmers to look at the impact of their consumption and carbon footprints. Planting more native plants to help native insects and animals is a step to help your environment as opposed to traditional lawns.
Father Andrew Awotwe-Mensah said that the message from Senegal was one he has witnessed in his own home country of Ghana, another country on the Atlantic Ocean coast in Africa.
“The government has had to borrow significant money to put up a seawall to keep rising sea levels away from citizens,” Awotwe-Mensah said. “That’s when they have citizens struggling with food to eat, or no access to health care. They’re spending money to try to stave off rising sea levels.”
Awotwe-Mensah said that the actions taken by us here have an impact on these other countries.
He recommended citizens think of more ways to help regenerate the Earth.