The theology of ecology

I posted a prayer from God's Politics Blog earlier today and mentioned how that particular prayer touched a nerve with me and reminded me of the goal of the Good Steward Group. Well, there's another great post today on the same blog on the theology of ecology. It's a great reminder of our responsibility and the numerous reasons that we called to steward the environment. The post is worth the quick read if interested.

A Prayer of Reminder

Today I was reading through one of the blogs that I follow, God's Politics Blog (a blog for progressive Chrisitians) when I came across their prayer for the day. Here is their prayer:

"Maker of all things, Creator of heaven and earth, we thank you for the wonder and beauty of nature. May we be ever vigilant and responsible with the world that you have given us, keeping mindful not only that we are your stewards, but also that your creation is a gift for all generations."

This prayer reminded me of the intended mission behind the Good Steward Group. It also was a prayer that brought me temporarily out of my busy and excuse-filled life to call me out for not following through with the GSG more regularly. For that, I apologize to all of you and will plan on organizing another GSG event for us to take part in and work to restore that natural beauty God has given us.

So, if you have any ideas of what or where to take action please let me know.

Thornton Creek Success

The Good Steward Group joined EarthCorps, Seattle Public Utilities, GreenSEATTLE, and the Thornton Creek Alliance on Saturday, February 28th. Most of you are aware that Thornton Creek is 1 of 3 urban streams within the City of Seattle that salmon still use for spawning. However, the creek has undergone significant changes over the years.



We had a great time spreading mulch, planting trees and shrubs, and pulling the dreaded ivy and blackberry along the Thornton Creek riparian habitat. In total, we donated 20 hours of service!

Stay tuned...we're looking for another event to volunteer with soon. You too can come out!

Thornton Creek Stream Restoration

It's been way too long since we got together for a good ol'fashined Good Steward Group event. Fortunately, we have Beth Olsen who provided us with a fantastic idea. So, on February 28th (Saturday), from 9AM to 3PM (or as long as you can) we're going to join the GreenSEATTLE partnership, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Parks, and EarthCorps to perform some riparian (stream bank) restoration along Thornton Creek. It's going to be sweet! We'll install some plants, lay down some mulch, and pull some invasive weeds. Boo-yah!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Thornton Creek, this is one of 3 urban streams in Seattle that support salmon runs. Thornton Creek flows from the Ronald Bog park in Shoreline to the southeast, under I-5 and the Northgate Mall parking lot, before daylighting and eventually emptying into Lake Washington near Matthews Beach.

If any of you have been near Northgate recently, you may remember seeing new mixed-use apartment complexes being built south of the mall. Thornton Creek has been pulled out of its pipe and will flow through these two complexes. However, the reach that we're going to help restore is near Roosevelt Way NE.


View Larger Map
Directions to the event is as follows: From I-5 take the Northgate Way exit and follow Northgate Way east to Roosevelt Way. Turn right on Roosevelt and travel south to 104th. Turn right on 104th where it dead ends at the park entrance. We will be meeting at the street-end.

As always, I'd like to provide those we're partnering with with a rough head count. So, if you're available and are planning on coming, please let me know by February 21st (1 week before the event).

Evangelical Environmental Stewardship Becoming Political?

According to David Domke, a UW professor of faith and politics, evangelical Christians are bringing environmental stewardship to the forefront of the political agenda. Mr. Domke quotes Richard Cizik, vice-president and chief governmental lobbyist for the National Associated of Evangelicals, from a recent Newsweek article as saying, "The protection of the environment is a Biblically rooted epic task straight from God..."

While Mr. Cizik appears to be focusing on global warming with hopefully obvious and just cause, those of us familiar with the principals of ecology know that most everything in an ecosystem is interconnected.

Check out Mr. Domke's recent article in the Seattle Times here.

Pope Benedict XVI on Environmental Stewardship

Pope Benedict speaks out to rally support from people of faith to take a more active and responsible role in restoring and caring for God's creation. Pope Benedict (AKA 'BXVI' or the 'green pope' to the hip, young crowd) says that humankind's consumption has scared the earth.

Good Steward Group Update

The Good Steward Group is 7 months into its life and I thought it might be nice, for those of you who have participated and others that might just be interested, for me to give a quick update on our accomplishments. So far, we have had 4 fantastic projects that we have worked on, all of which have been with different groups. This is about an event every 7 weeks or so. These events have been as follows:

1. Madrona Woods Creek Daylighting: partnered with the Friends of Madrona Woods (31.5 volunteer hours)
2. Burke-Gilman Revegetation: partnered with Seattle Parks Dept., GreenSEATTLE partnership, and the Friends of the Burke-Gilman Trail (13 volunteer hours)
3. Duwamish Alive! Earth Day Event: partnered with People for Puget Sound (9.5 volunteer hours)
4. Berry Spectacular, University Farmers Market: partnered with the Seattle Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance (19.5 volunteer hours)

In total, we have donated 73.5 hours to local groups/organizations working on restoring our environment, not to mention all the weeds pulled, plants installed, and berry shortcake served. This is HUGE for these groups as they can often leverage our volunteer hours for grants to recieve additional funding and continue their great work.

I would like to thank everyone that has helped out at an event, offered words of encouragement, or even considered coming to an event (we'll get you out soon enough). While I would continue working with these groups if this group didn't exist, it sure does make volunteering more enjoyable when it's with great people like you all.

So, please continue e-mailing me your ideas for additional groups or environmental service projects that you think would be good for us. A running tab of ideas is on the right-side of the blog. The more diverse the better.

Thanks!