Earth in Earnest

Welcome to the June edition of the New Community Project's environmental e-newsletter, Earth in Earnest

Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us.  ~Henrik Tikkanen

In this edition:
Facts to Act On - what can we do?
Book Review - by David Radcliff
What's to eat? – Dietary choices as an act of faith

I am a parent, and I have noticed lately that there is trend toward greater education of children in the area of environmental care. I see it in the schools' educational materials, in the children's television programming, in my daughter's Girl Scouting activities and even in our church Sunday School and Vacation Bible School curricula. Of course, it pleases me to see this greater focus on teaching children to better care for our planet and to work towards  undoing some of the damage that has been done. However, there is something about the whole thing that I find unsettling as well. It is as if the world's young people have been born into a planet that is on the brink of disaster on so many fronts (the environment being just one), and we are now handing them a mop and bucket and saying "Here kids, clean it up." It seems to me that we owe them something more than education and tools to clean up the mess. We need to make sure that we are just as committed to securing the future of this place for all of the worlds's children. And maybe, just maybe, we owe them an apology for our own complicity, for all of the wonders the world once offered that they'll never get to see, and for any hardships due to our own offenses against creation that they will endure after we are long gone.

"The Lord passed before him and, and proclaimed, 'The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation.'" ~Exodus 34:6-7

Facts to Act On

Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and jump in there with the kids to help clean up the earth? A couple of cool websites geared toward kids cleaning up the evironment can be found at http://www.kidsforsavingearth .org/index_high.html  and www.biggreenhelp.com. Still need further motivation? Go to   http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorations/kerc/  to see Scholastic Kid's 2008 Environmental Report Card. See how thousands of kids voted on how we're doing on a wide range of environmental issues.

New Community Project also offers loads of environmental resources. There are educational resources, Sunday School lesson plans, worship ideas and more. Or if you are looking for a project, our new Amazon Challenge is one of many you'll find under Care For Creation. Find all of this and more right here!

The land is a dream come true. Three streams and the Rio Aguas Negras cross the property. This is primary forest, with unbelievable flora and fauna. It is only 1.5 hours to the Cuyabeno lake by canoe, and believe it or not, you can also hike to the pristine reproduction lakes. Believe me, you are making a deal of a lifetime. Located at the headwaters of the Amazon River basin, this protected land will effectively control one of the two main tributaries which form the Cuyabeno River and subsequently the Cuyabeno lakes. These later flow into the Aguarico and Napo Rivers, which together substantially form the Amazon River itself.  - Pieter Brouwer, program staff for SELVA, the NCP partner for work in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." ~Native American saying

Book Review - by David Radcliff

New Community Project offers reviews by director, David Radcliff, of a variety of books and other environmental readings. Most pertain to children in that the future of the planet necessarily pertains to children. However, the following review is directly concerned with the state of the world's children.

State of the World's Children 2007 by UNICEF

These annual reports by this UN agency are basic reading for anyone wanting an unbiased assessment of the well-being of the world's children. A couple of stats to whet your interest: 115 million primary-age children aren't in school around the world; under-five mortality of children falls by half when mothers have a primary education; women do 75% of the world's agricultural work, but only own 10% of the world's land; the Millennium Development Goals for women could be achieved by an additional $20 billion a year rising to $73 billion a year by 2015-coincidentally just about the exact amount the US would be contributing toward aid for the world's poor if we were paying what the UN recommends (we currently contribute just $15 billion). Enough said?

You can read the whole report as a pdf at the UNICEF website.

Good grief: One in sixteen women in sub-Saharan Africa will die of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. That's 250 times the rate as industrialized countries.

What's to eat?

This month's recipe comes from one of my family's favorite cookbooks called 365 Foods Kids Love to Eat. However, I will confess that the grownups in the household love this one too!

Big Apple Pancake

1/2 cup of unbleached flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup of butter
1 apple peeled and sliced
1/4 cup of sugar
2 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C). Mix flour, eggs, and milk and set aside. Melt butter in a skillet and cook apple over medium heat until soft. Add sugar and cinnamon. Pour liquid mixture over the top of the cooked apple and cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Turn over onto a plate immediately, apple side up. Serves four.

Can also be served as a dessert with whipped cream or ice cream.

Find more tasty, earth-friendly recipes here.

To submit a vegetarian, vegan or otherwise environmentally friendly recipe, email kchaffin@newcommunityproject.org with "recipe" in the subject line.

NCP main office: 718 Wilder St. , Elgin , IL 60123 ; 888-800-2985 toll free; ncp@newcommunityproject.org