I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights,
the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun,
and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on.
I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table,
the bed on which you lie, and the timber that builds your boat.
I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead,
the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin.
I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty.
Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer: Harm me not.

Read the fascinating story of this prayer.

Knowledge

Yesterday I rediscovered an email I had stored from May 2022. It came from Environment America and the first line read, “What if I told you one of the best solutions to curbing the climate crisis was to do nothing?” I remember immediately going for the delete button thinking this was an organization pretending to be concerned with caring for creation. But, I decided to read on!

The email was about the importance of old-growth forests and how much more effective older trees are at cleaning the air than young trees. Our nation's forests offset nearly 870 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Current mature forests keep the planet a ½ degree cooler due to their dense canopy and help slow erosion with their complex root systems. Current North American forests protect the incredible biodiversity of plants, animals, birds, and insects. In 2021, 4 in 10 Americans lived in counties that were hit by a climate-related disaster. Without mature forests, our weather will only become more extreme.
The teaser line in the email referred to doing nothing. This means all we have to do it NOT cut down the trees. Sounds pretty easy, right? It seems like we should all realize keeping our mature trees is more important than slightly softer toilet paper and fancy wood trim in our homes.

But, as Sr Dorothy Stang’s life shows, this is not the case. We are losing the Amazon Forest at an alarming rate. But we are losing the mature-growth forests in North America as well. When we point to the loggers and ranchers in the Amazon there are three fingers on our hand pointing back at us. Our advocacy and purchasing decisions matter. We can take direct action now.

Action

Environmental America is currently asking these things from us:

• Call on Congress to permanently protect the Tongass National Forest -- our last remaining intact temperate rainforest -- by supporting the Roadless Area Conservation Act.
• Advocate with companies like Home Depot, and P&G not to source wood pulp and lumber from critical areas of the boreal forest.
• We can advocate with our Congressional leaders as well as the companies where we shop to take action to protect our planet. We can also change our own purchasing decisions. Buy printer and toilet paper with high recycled content. Buy alternatives to other paper products as well. Demand options!