How and Why We Care for Creation: Book Recommendations

For the dark, cold days of winter, I would like to share a list of books to learn more about our present climate emergency which offer solutions that we can consider.

  • A wonderful devotional book is Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley’s Becoming Rooted: One Hundred Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth.  Woodley, of Cherokee descent, offers 100 two page reflections and suggested actions on ways we can care for the earth from the perspective of Native Americans, who have always had a philosophy of caring for and honoring “Mother Earth” through “the Harmony Way”, by accepting our place as “simple human beings – beings who share a world with every seen and unseen creature in its vast community of creation.” Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.
  • One of the most acclaimed climate scientists in the world, Katharine Hayhoe, wrote Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.  Hayhoe argues that one of the most productive things we can do to care about a changing climate is to talk with others about our concerns and possible solutions.  Facts are only part of the equation.  This book is a multilayered look at science and psychology from her perspective as a person of faith.  You can join a Lenten Study on this book at St. James’ Church, Skaneateles on the five Sundays in Lent beginning on February 26 at 12 noon.  Contact Kip Coerper if you’re interested in joining. Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.
  • Another great study book is Jim Antal’s Climate Church, Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu said “this book will inspire the courage and conviction people of faith need to provide the leadership necessary to realize God’s dream of a just world in which humanity is reconciled to all of creation.” Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.
  • 30 years ago James Hansen was warning of climate change and is considered “the planet’s great hero” by Bill McKibben for courageously predicting how the climate is changing and suggesting ways to address it with intelligent action in Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth about the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity. Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.
  • Another global warning book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert documents the mounting losses that human beings are leaving in their wake from a profligate use of natural resources. Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.
  • A National Bestseller, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis compiled by Ayana Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson is a wonderful compendium of provocative and illuminating writings from women (teenagers to grandmothers) at the forefront of the climate movement who are “harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward.” Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.
  • Award winning Canadian author, Chris Turner, has written 2 fascinating books of hope on what many forward thinking individuals, corporations, and governments are doing to address our climate issues:  The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need and How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World. Find the first book at your local library or online for purchase:  New and Used. Find the second book at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.

Three more books from the Christian perspective of stewardship of God’s creation are:

  • Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth  by Ilia Delio, O.S.F., chair of Spirituality studies at the Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C.;  Keith Warner, O.F.M., lecturer on sustainable agriculture and environmental policy at Santa Clara University, California;  and Pamela Wood, art therapist and spiritual director in Portland, Oregon. Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.
  • Sustainable Agriculture: A Christian Ethic of Gratitude by Mark E. Graham decries the unsustainable practices of the industrial farm production in the United States – “As American industrial agriculture continues its death march, it is leaving a wake of destruction in its path in the form of ghost towns that were once thriving, topsoil erosion, chemical pollution of the countryside, genetic homogeneity of our major cash crops, poverty in rural areas, and disenfranchised and powerless farmers.”  Graham explains those unfortunate realities and then offers an “ethics of everyday life”, where sustainable farming practices and supportive government legislation are suggested to enhance our health and environment. Find it at your local library or online for purchase: New and Used.
  • A Christian’s Guide to Planet Earth: Why It Matters and How to Care for It  by Betsy Painter describes many of the global warming issues prevalent today. At the end of every chapter she shares many practical solutions and resources in which we can engage. Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.

For people involved in creating liturgies or experiences to celebrate God’s creation, I recommend these reads:

  • Cherish the Earth: Reflections on a Living Planet by Mary Low is a collection of readings, poems, and liturgies that take the reader on a journey to ecological awareness, by “loving nature for its own sake.” Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used.
  • God’s Good Earth: Praise and Prayer for Creation by Anne and Jeffrey Rowthorn is collection of 52 liturgies for corporate worship or use in a small group or as a devotional. Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.

Finally, if you simply like a good read and want to capture the ethos of creation care, try Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Native American botanist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer, who captures the true reverence between Native Americans and the earth, the relationship we need to survive. Find it at your local library or online for purchase: Gently Used, New.

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The center of this graphic is a flat illustration of the globe. The globe is surrounded by concentric circles in shades of green varying from the darkest shade nearest the globe to the brightest on the outside. Simple twig/leaf illustrations are laid over the circles in shades of green and, on the top layer, white. Below the illustration, it reads: "GREEN CORNER" and "The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York."The center of this graphic is a flat illustration of the globe. The globe is surrounded by concentric circles in shades of green varying from the darkest shade nearest the globe to the brightest on the outside. Simple twig/leaf illustrations are laid over the circles in shades of green and, on the top layer, white. Below the illustration, it reads: "GREEN CORNER" and "The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York."