September 24, 2023
Season of Creation – September 1 – October 4
“Let Justice and Peace Flow” -- Reaffirm our Vocation as Stewards of Creation – Responding to The ‘Throwaway Culture’
When I cannot find cheese or yogurt without plastic packaging, I wonder -- how much am I contributing to the ‘throwaway culture’? Am I powerless in a society focused on buying and tossing?
Early in Laudato Si’, the reality of the ‘throwaway culture’ is deplored, especially the outsized impact on the most vulnerable. At the same time, Pope Francis points to the ‘throwaway culture’ as one of the “questions that will not be dealt with once and for all but reframed and enriched again and again.” LS 16
We hear that we need to persevere while being open and learning to see things differently. To remain encouraged as we strive toward the Holy Father’s long term goals, let’s find something good that is already happening and be thankful and energized to find what’s next.
This summer in Washington DC, a partnership with The Conservation Fund and DC Central Kitchen provided more than 50,000 high quality meals for hungry people. This is a success on several levels: people ate nutritious food, cooks in training learned to prepare new dishes with fresh salmon, and the harvest proved the success of an aquaculture system that provides a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to produce local seafood.
Read more about the Freshwater Institute in Shepherdstown, West Virginia where the closed loop system uses little water, re-uses waste, has a small carbon footprint, reduces transportation costs and avoids overfishing all while producing healthy native local seafood. https://www.conservationfund.org/projects/get-to-know-the-freshwater-institutes-west-virginia-raised-salmon
DC Central Kitchen reports: “Thanks to this collaboration, we are transforming 20,000 pounds of sustainably grown salmon into 50,000 delicious, high-quality meals, like salmon spinach fettuccine, salmon BLTs, and barbecue salmon for our community while providing our culinary students with wonderful opportunities to learn fish fabrication.”
Be encouraged by Pope Francis’ words: “There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions“ (LS 211). Feeding the hungry while preserving creation’s resources feels very encouraging to me.
Season of Creation – September 1 – October 4
“Let Justice and Peace Flow” -- Reaffirm our Vocation as Stewards of Creation – Responding to The ‘Throwaway Culture’
When I cannot find cheese or yogurt without plastic packaging, I wonder -- how much am I contributing to the ‘throwaway culture’? Am I powerless in a society focused on buying and tossing?
Early in Laudato Si’, the reality of the ‘throwaway culture’ is deplored, especially the outsized impact on the most vulnerable. At the same time, Pope Francis points to the ‘throwaway culture’ as one of the “questions that will not be dealt with once and for all but reframed and enriched again and again.” LS 16
We hear that we need to persevere while being open and learning to see things differently. To remain encouraged as we strive toward the Holy Father’s long term goals, let’s find something good that is already happening and be thankful and energized to find what’s next.
This summer in Washington DC, a partnership with The Conservation Fund and DC Central Kitchen provided more than 50,000 high quality meals for hungry people. This is a success on several levels: people ate nutritious food, cooks in training learned to prepare new dishes with fresh salmon, and the harvest proved the success of an aquaculture system that provides a sustainable and environmentally friendly way to produce local seafood.
Read more about the Freshwater Institute in Shepherdstown, West Virginia where the closed loop system uses little water, re-uses waste, has a small carbon footprint, reduces transportation costs and avoids overfishing all while producing healthy native local seafood. https://www.conservationfund.org/projects/get-to-know-the-freshwater-institutes-west-virginia-raised-salmon
DC Central Kitchen reports: “Thanks to this collaboration, we are transforming 20,000 pounds of sustainably grown salmon into 50,000 delicious, high-quality meals, like salmon spinach fettuccine, salmon BLTs, and barbecue salmon for our community while providing our culinary students with wonderful opportunities to learn fish fabrication.”
Be encouraged by Pope Francis’ words: “There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions“ (LS 211). Feeding the hungry while preserving creation’s resources feels very encouraging to me.