WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT SOLAR?
HOW DOES IT WORK?
ECONOMICS OF PV SOLAR?
WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL FOR PV SOLAR IN THE US AND VIRGINIA?

​Please join us as we discuss these and your questions
 
THE CARE FOR CREATION COMMITTEE PRESENTS 
 
A SOLAR EVENING
 
THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2022
7:30 P.M.
via ZOOM
Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85844697356?pwd=R2lYYVZ3NGErcjFRdTJ3SzIvQW14UT09

Use the link above or contact [email protected] to receive a link by email.
 
We are fortunate to have an expert in renewable energy in our parish, Jim Schretter has been part of the Care for Creation group from the beginning and he will lead the presentation and discussion. Jim has 20 years experience in renewable energy. As VP Development for EDF Renewables, he was officer in charge of $1 billion of currently operating renewable projects. He has founded or co-founded several renewable energy companies and as president of Beacon Energy LLC is currently developing 300 MW of PV solar energy and 150 MW of battery storage with a South Korean panel manufacturer with operations in the US. He has an MBA from the University of Virginia and a BSME from MIT.

One week until we celebrate Christmas!

Are we ready? Are we still preparing ourselves and our gifts for all those we care about?

I’m recalling some of the stories and traditions that surround the feast of the Nativity, such as the gift of the Little Drummer Boy and O. Henry’s classic tale, The Gift of the Magi. These show us true gifts of love.  And I wonder, what gifts of love can I offer that show my gratitude for God’s continual gift of loving us through creation?

The Saint Luke family generously responds to our neighbors who may be struggling through the Giving Tree project, and local food pantries and in many other ways at this time of year, but I wonder what I can do that specifically represents my Advent focus of caring for creation.

Thinking about this, I realize how God’s creation provides all we need to sustain ourselves in the world, giving us the means for food, water, shelter, clothing, rest, beauty, and inspiration.  But we know there are some who struggle to gain access to these necessary gifts, such as clean water, adequate shelter, and the ability to feed one’s family.

As we continue to strive to be good stewards of creation and to see God in creation and in one another, perhaps we might add a few last minute gifts that reach out to those who, through no fault of their own, are deprived of these original and necessary gifts of creation.

During this final Advent week, if you are still wishing to show your love of neighbor and appreciation for creation, why not consider helping with some of these basic needs?

There are many charities that deal with specifics such as water (charity: water; Water with Blessings), self-sufficiency (Heifer International; Fair Trade Cooperatives; SERRV, Upavim), and shelter (Habitat for Humanity) as well as our well-known local SOME and SHARE.

Good luck with your last minute gifting! and may we all find the love and peace of the Holy Infant in ourselves, in one another and in our world.  

If the simple fact of being human moves people 
to care for the environment of which they are  a 
part, Christians in their turn  realize that their 
responsibility within creation, and their duty to-
wards nature and the Creator, are an essential 
part of their faith –Pope John Paul II, Laudato Si’ #64

​SIMPLE ADVENT
When this is printed it will already be the third Sunday of Advent. Here’s an idea for spending the final two weeks of Advent caring for creation.

SLOW DOWN -- BE PRESENT -- SEEK THE SIMPLE ABUNDANT LIFE
What do these practices have to do with Advent? Or with Care for Creation?

I think we can all agree that the weeks of Advent, between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be some of the busiest and most stressful.  I know my response to self-imposed pressure to “get it all done” can result in snap decisions and choices just to ‘check something off’ and move on down the list. This attitude can result in behaviors that dishonor people and the earth and can lead to selfishness, waste, pollution, and disregard for sustainability.  When I fall into this mindset, I’m putting society’s cultural demands above living mindfully in the world. However, there is a different choice…
 
Do one thing slowly today – watch the sunrise with your morning coffee (instead of the news/traffic/weather), take a walk listening for birds (instead of plugged into the phone), don’t multitask, don’t rush, be in the moment and see how you feel.
 
The Simple Advent practice offered by NCR’s Earthbeat is a guide to this approach. It suggests simple practical ways that show the connections between spiritual preparation and caring for our common home.  Sign up to receive a short reflection and action suggestion via email.  
 
Search:  Simple Advent Revisited
Or, go to:
https://mailchi.mp/ncronline.org/earthbeat-reflections-advent
 
As we anticipate celebrating the mystery of God becoming one like us, how better to prepare than to pay attention to those I encounter each day, whether a tree, a bee or a neighbor; how better than to care for the earth, where God chose to join us and live in and among God’s own creation.  
What is your one thing?

​Youth Lead Climate Action
 
“My generation has largely failed until now to preserve justice in the world and to preserve the planet. It is your generation that must make us be accountable to make sure that we don't betray the future of humankind.” — United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres -- to a gathering of youth concerned about climate change.
 
Some accuse young climate activists like Greta Thunberg of being manipulated by socialist climate ideologues.  On the other hand, do we need to look any farther than our own families to find a loved child who is: acutely interested in climate change; stressed by visions of the future; motivated to speak out like never before? 
 
Recently, the news has been filled with stories coming from Scotland. One headline proclaims “At COP26, Youth Activists from Around the World Call Out Decades of Delay.”  This banner is accompanied by the following story:
 
Jon Bonifacio was on his way to becoming a doctor when the urgency and seriousness of the climate crisis began to sink in. The Philippines, where the 24-year-old was in medical school, is feeling global warming’s effects, with more intense cyclones striking the low-lying archipelago. Projections of sea level rise indicate that even the hospital where he expected to intern would be underwater by 2050.

‘The reality of it really makes you want to do something,’ he said. 
What he did was drop out of medical school earlier this year to devote himself full-time to addressing climate change. In November, he headed for the climate meetings in Glasgow, representing Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines, an organization he founded in 2019 with a small group of friends and that now counts hundreds of members all over the country. 

Thousands of diplomats, policy wonks, scientists and activists from all over the world have flocked to Scotland for COP26. Some of the most outspoken and visible participants are, like Bonifacio, also among the youngest. On Nov. 5, Bonifacio took the stage alongside Greta Thunberg of Sweden and Vanessa Nakate of Uganda as part of the school strike staged by Fridays for Future outside the COP26 meeting halls.  www.insideclimatenews.org.
​
Will we listen to our children, our youth, our next generation and let them excite us and motivate us, especially if we are having some difficulty seeing climate change as a crisis today?