I am always trying to figure out the balance of being a creation-care Christian. I don't want to be a pessimist, buying into every "gloom and doom" scenario, a version of the wild-eyed individuals on street corners with signs saying The End of the World is at Hand. But I'm not willing to ignore the environmental "signs of the times" which tell us that human activity is compromising the health of the planet. Sometimes I think our motto as Christians should be "we can do better than this!"
So where are the signs of hope? During the summer I have read articles saying that the lack of monarch butterflies this summer is cause for concern. Another was on the drastic decline in the numbers of turtles in Ontario. Well, you can see from photos taken during a couple of recent rambles that monarchs still exist. At Second Marsh in Oshawa there are hundreds, feeding on the goldenrod to build up enough strength to make it across Lake Ontario. Their goal is Mexico, although it is a tag team journey through several generations.
Turtles? A couple of weeks ago we loaded up our kayaks and drove to the southeast corner of Prince Edward County. We paddled five or six kilometres up the Black River and back again. In those ten or twelve km. we saw scores of painted turtles on logs and rocks . They are very camera shy, but were present in abundance.
It's good to have the encouraging signs of life amidst the dismal news. Any sightings of critters that delighted or encouraged you this summer?
2 comments:
I was just out for a walk and saw Canadian geese flying south! I'm hopeful that they really are going south and not just to Lake Ontario for the night.
What we found encouraging this summer, was both lakes we visited had loons. This is a very hopeful sign as in the past one of the lakes did not have any loons. Loons are a sign of a healthy habitat and when they are gone one starts to wonder.
Thanks Nancy. Good point about the loons. Sightings often mean that there aren't motor boats and seadoos whose wake washes eggs out of loon nests which are at the waterline. I always feel that it hasn't been summer if I haven't seen or heard loons.
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