Floods, Droughts and Garbage

While my neighbours on Ile Bizard, QC fight to save their homes from flooding, the National Post reported today that intense drought has hit the Panama Canal. Large ships must pass through the canal with less cargo.

A friend is currently on a dive trip in Wakatobi, Indonesia. On April 30th she sent the above photo of garbage with a note: "Took a 10-minute walk just at the bottom of our stairs (from our Villa) and this is what I came up with. So SAD!

"We see the climate change here too, not only in the weather but on the reef too. What we think is beautiful blue coloured coral (stag horn coral) is actually the coral releasing chemicals to try and save itself because of the acidity of the water or the ocean absorbing too much C02. It actually should be a healthy brown and beige colour.

"We walk the beach between the jetty and Villa at least 10 times every day and pick up handfuls of plastic and Styrofoam. The resort uses only glass straws, has refillable containers for their environmentally friendly toiletries, employs 75% of the local village people on this island and the next one so that the villagers don't go out fishing and use dynamite on the reefs.

"We see far more turtles than anywhere else as the resort used to raise them and release them at 1 year old (also employing locals to look after them) until the government wanted to tax them for every turtle released."

The temptation is to feel hopeless and helpless. It's a good time to remember that through Jesus the entire universe came into being (Colossians 1:16). He is Beautiful and he is the Light of the world. When light shines into dark places, the darkness cannot overcome it. We can believe what Jesus said about who he is. By faith we can live lives full of grace and truth. We can call on him to help us fulfill all the tasks he's called us to do, including stewarding this fragile globe we call home.